The Assassination of Robert Kennedy

CIA involvement
It didn't take long for the word 'conspiracy' to raise its head. And inevitably the CIA were implicated. But is there any evidence to suggest CIA involvement in the assassination of Robert Kennedy? There is certainly much controversy about it.

Sirhan's defence team claimed he was under a trance at the time of the shooting. To this day, Sirhan himself claims he has no recollection of the incident. And even under hypnosis he has no recollection - though this is a debatable point. Just after the shooting, in the struggle for the gun Sirhan was said to have shown enormous strength in resisting Kennedy's bodyguards, suggesting that he may have been hypnotized. And when police officers arrived they claimed he was in a trance like state when they shone a light into his eyes, his eyes were apparently dilated and didn't react.

Dr. Herbert Spiegel, an expert on hypnosis, suggests Sirhan was a very hypnotizable person. And it's highly possible he was hypnotised and in a trance like state for the whole event. And after coming out of the trance he would not remember anything of the event. The LAPD, who had arrested Sirhan said he chatted to them while in custody for some time after the arrest, apparently at ease, not seeming to realise why he had been arrested, again suggesting he had just come out of a trance.

Sirhan did possess a notebook found in his apartment which appeared to incrimate him. It contained repetitious phrases such as 'RFK must die' written on various pages. Also written was "My determination to elimanate RFK is becoming more and more and unshakable obsession, RFK must be assassinated". Sirhan admitted that it was his handwriting but that he could not remember writing the notes, suggesting he may well have been in a trance while writing the statement in the notebook. He also possessed a paper clipping, found in his shirt pocket after he was arrested, about Kennedy's plans to sell 50 bombers to Israel, suggesting a motive for a Palestinian (or perhaps it was planted there)!

But could someone have programmed Sirhan. Was he highly hypnotizable? This was well into the era of the CIA mind control programs such as Project Artichoke, and project MKULTRA, where we saw the beginnings of psychological warfare.

Sirhan repeatedly states that he could not remember the incident of the night. Neither defense and prosecution teams disputed or challanged this claim at the trial. Could the memory lapses (writing in his notebook, returning to his car to get his gun, firing at Kennedy) be evidence of mind control by persons unknown (remember the Manchurian candidate!)? Is he lying about what he can and cannot remember or was he programmed to kill and programmed to forget?

Can someone be hypnotised to murder another person? Supposdly it's not possible to hypnotise someone and get them to carry out an act against their moral beliefs. But how accurate is this and what if murdering a particular person was not against your moral beliefs and was considered a justified action before you were hypnotised?

Some people have positively identified three senior CIA figures present at the Ambassador hotel that night, both from photographs and video evidence. But others have disagreed about their identity.

One such figure was David Morales, Chief of Operations, at JMWAVE, the CIA's Miami base. He was a legendery covert operator for the CIA. It was also common knowledge that he despised the Kennedys. And five years after the assassination of Robert, he was quoted as saying "I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard". Strong words indeed to suggest implication in these crimes.

Is this Gordon Campbell and George Joannides at the Ambassador Hotel?