Submitted by:

Grant Lawrence b. Garcia

Submitted to:

Mrs. Mallari

“Can the Assassination of a Cruel Dictator be justified?”

Assassination is the act of murdering a political figure for a particular purpose. But what if

that purpose is to save a country from many potentially disastrous consequences from the decisions

of a cruel tyrant? This might be a very difficult question answer, since the results of assassinating a

cruel tyrant would surely save a lot of people from further harm, but no matter what positive thing

that might come out as a result of assassinating a dictator/tyrant, murder is still wrong. The

definition of a tyrant is person who has taken power by his or her own means as opposed to

traditional hereditary or constitutional power of a country. These abusive dictators, according to

Aristotle and Plato, are people who rule without law, looks to his own advantage rather than that of

his subjects, and uses extreme and cruel tactics against his own people as well as others. A perfect

example of a cruel tyrant is Adolf Hitler, or the “Fuhrer” of the Nazis. As supreme Chancellor of

Germany in the 1930’s, Adolf Hitler suppressed the political oppositions in Germany, formed the

fearsome Gestapo or the secret state police, a train of interconnected concentration “death”

camps, and started the genocide of the Jews throughout his entire empire. After the defeat of his

Nazis, he then committed suicide. Another example of cruel tyranny is Kim Jong Il, or the “Dear

Leader” of the North Koreans. Stated by numerous human rights associations, Kim Jong I, son of the

infamous Kim Il Sung, dominates the world’s most tightly controlled society. The people of North

Korea cannot leave the country or even move freely inside it, since their freedom is mainly

controlled by the government of Kim Jong Il. The UN resolution on human rights abuses in North

Korea says that the country practices torture, public executions, imposition of the death penalty for

political reasons, construction of numerous prison camps, extensive forced labor, trafficking of

women for prostitution, infanticide, and etc. These things however, don’t even scratch the totality

of North Korea’s atrocities, since the only information that is leaked out to the world is from those

refugees who escaped the country. The government of North Korea shows that dictatorial

supremacy is not uncommon in these modern times even if most of the world has adapted

democracy into their political systems.

But of course, there are still people who would say that it is reasonable to assassinate a

cruel tyrant because of the alleviation of future disastrous events. There are four major reasons

why some people would assassinate a cruel dictator/tyrant. First of all is the prevention of further

sufferings. As with the two examples of tyrants mentioned before, the people of the nation wherein

the tyrant dominates is distraught with numerous problems and sufferings because of the

consequences of the decisions of those tyrants. Second is the prevention of civil war or internal

strife within a country. Since the cruel tyrant imposes rules and laws that are hated and disliked by

the citizens, rebellions would form to wage war against the ruling dictator. And if numerous rebel

groups would form and merge, an escalating civil war would surely erupt, and the casualties would

be very drastic for that country since both sides are of the same nationality. Third is the prevention

of international wars due to foreign interventions. The United Nations Organization or simply U.N.

and the United States of America have been always interfering with the peace and order of

different countries for the sake of the establishment of worldwide peace. And of course, if you’re a

cruel dictator who is unjust and uncaring for the welfare of the people, then obviously you won’t

succumb to the rules and regulations of an international body who advocates unity and peace.

International strife might happen if these two opposing forces would contend for the control of a

country that is ruled by tyranny. And the fourth reason why some people would want to assassinate

a cruel dictator is to prevent other attempting dictators/tyrants in assuming absolute nationwide

power. If it is justifiable to murder a cruel tyrant in one’s country, then most often than not, no one

would even try to make himself into a selfish dictator, for fear of his own life. These four reasons

are the main controlling excuses of some people so that it would be justifiable to assassinate a cruel

dictator so that further pain, sufferings, and possible deaths would be stopped for the price of one

man’s life.

However, human beings mainly adhere to the rules of two governing bodies of law: the

government of one’s nation, and God. The human government or law states that murder is

considered the most serious form of homicide, in which another person kills another either

intending the cause of death or intending to cause serious injury or malice aforethought.

Assassination is manslaughter according to government law, and is a crime which is punishable by

death or a lifetime sentence in jail. And of course, we follow God’s laws which are found only in the

Bible, His Word. According to the sixth commandment of God in the Old Testament of the Bible, it

says there that “thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). And the word “kill” in this statement, translated

from Hebrew, means to murder with premeditation. It means that the sixth commandment of God,

who rules the universe, clearly states that we should not murder people. And since we have derived

that assassination means “planned murder”, therefore God also indicates that we should not

assassinate people. Henceforth, assassinating a dictator is not justifiable, because murder lowers

the value of human life, no matter how great the benefits would be derived or achieved, since

killing man is an offense against almighty God because man was made in the image of God himself.