SIRHAN SIRHAN, A Mystery No More

On June 5, 1968, a Muslim-Arab immigrant from Palestine, shot and killed Senator Robert Kennedy, who was then running for president. Most of us who watch closely the issue and history of Islamic terrorism against America and the west usually place the Iranian hostage takeover in 1979 as the start of the ‘modern’ era of this terrorism. Of course, we are also aware of the Islamic terrorism that pervaded the Philippines prior to World War II, and which was confronted forcefully by Generals Pershing and MacArthur, and we are aware of the Islamic terrorism behind the colorful stories of the Barbary Pirates, but until recently, I had not made the mental connection between Robert Kennedy’s murder and Islamic terrorism. Sirhan acted like and seemed to be a madman who had gone through many religious belief systems and whose diaries and notes were incoherent. Kennedy’s murder has been attributed to the incomprehensible actions of a madman – without purpose or explanation.

A recent story about Sirhan got me to thinking. In 1968, when this horrible act took place, the farthest thing from my mind was Muslims and Islamic terrorism. I remember right where I was when it happened; I was in Times Square and saw the announcement on the famous billboard there. Now I have come to understand that Sirhan’s act was the leadoff in the reign of Islamic terrorism against America that escalated eventually to 9/11 and continues to this day.

“Sirhan was an Arab who had emigrated to the United States in the 1950s and was reportedly disturbed by Kennedy's pro-Israel positions. After a 1969 trial lasting nearly four months, Sirhan was convicted and sentenced to death. That sentence was commuted to life in prison and Sirhan has been in prison in California ever since; his repeated applications for parole have been denied.

Sirhan supposedly believed himself deliberately betrayed by Kennedy's support for Israel in the June, 1967 Six-Day War, which had begun exactly one year before the assassination.” Answers.com

Even though there were numerous witnesses and five other wounded individuals at the scene, his trial was touch and go at times. Now that these madmen have access to weapons that can kill many thousands of innocent people, our criminal justice system cannot possibly cope with Islamic terrorism and its plots. We have to catch and stop these guys BEFORE they get a chance to act, and when we catch them, we have to put them away forever. No amount of downplaying by the liberal press of events like the JFK plot or the 10 airliners plan can change that. We will be committing suicide if military commissions are not allowed to do their job.