Sirhan Sirhan

Reader comment on item: Faces of American Islam[: Muslim Immigration]

Submitted by Cee Gee Dee (United States), Jan 17, 2005 at 21:18

Do you think Sirhan Sirhan was the lone assassin of Bobby Kennedy or were there others involved?

Your thoughts.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Daniel Pipes replies:

Having read Dan E. Moldea, The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy: An Investigation of Motive, Means and Opportunity (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995), I have no doubt that Sirhan acted alone.

Incidentally, Moldea initially distrusted the official version that the convicted killer, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, acted alone and instead accepted the conspiracist belief in a second gun and a wider conspiracy. But thorough research, including a revelatory interview with Sirhan himself, led him to conclude that Sirhan did act alone. "I now realize that even law-enforcement officials . . . do make mistakes." Moldea found he had previously expected too much of the authorities: "if one does not account for occasional official mistakes and incompetence, then nearly every . . . political murder could appear to be a conspiracy, particularly if a civilian investigator--with limited access and resources--is looking for one" (p. 307).

DP