STAR WARS

Who Killed The Jawas, Old Man?

We again break into a conversation between the farmboy and the hypnotist.
Luke has apparently been making an astute observation and is proving his case.
Kenobi, of course, is ready with an answer:

Jedi mind tricks again.
He is telling Luke what he wants him to believe.
Are the tracks really side by side?
Kenobi's contention is that 'somebody' is making this look like a Tusken raid.
Hmmm... Who would do that? Who needs to hide their actions and their presence?
Kenobi's the one in hiding, and anybody helping him needs to hide as well - from the Empire.

Luke is lost, but he notices that these Jawas are the ones we saw earlier.
Kenobi actually grabs Luke and physically directs his attention:

Beware lest you fall under Kenobi's spell, too.
I did not question Kenobi's ascertions until nearly twenty years later.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Jedi master, remember.
This is what he does - the Jedi will hypnotize you to do their bidding.
Failing that, they will summarily cut you to pieces with their laser swords.
Trust no Jedi.

Kenobi's using the exact same methods that we saw Vader's droid, C-3PO, used on Luke;
Eye to eye contact and physical redirection.
Classic hypno-suggestion techniques.

Ask yourself a couple of questions;
Why would the Empire need to cover their tracks on this shit-hole Outer Rim planet?
They're the only power structure in the galaxy, so who would they be hiding their actions from?
Do they have some treaty with the Jawas that we don't know about?
Are we asked to believe they're hiding their presence but they can't clean up their mess?

And why don't we get to see Imperial troops attacking the Jawas or Luke's foster folks?
These are historical documents pieced together after Luke takes power.
Anything that could damn the Empire would be (and is) used.
The Imperials seem to make extremely accurate records of everything, yet not a single report, transmission, still photo, spent round, or piece of armor to positively link them to these two incidents?
Not so much as a Stormtrooper bootprint or the whine of a TIE figher winging off into the distance...

The Imperials are not only absent in this scene, as the audience we never get to see them commit or even discuss these crimes.
Pretty obviously, these brutal acts were carried out under Kenobi's directives by his 'Rebel' hit squad.
He's either using Tuskens or highly trained Jedi-sympathising operatives who masquarade as Tuskens.