Leonard Peltier -

the facts about his case

K. Gould - 9/12/97 - in a letter to a newspaper

I have come to believe that the plight of Leonard Peltier and the terrorization of the Oglalala Sioux by FBI supported reservation police between 1973 and 1975 is a sorely neglected national story with far reaching implications. I have been aware of the Leonard Peltier situation for a few years now.

I learned about it watching the the searing Robert Redford documentary "Incident at Oglalala." It's so odd that in this decade of Waco, Ruby Ridge, the OKC bombing, and periodic militia standoffs, the mainstream media never thinks about Leonard Peltier or the struggles of the American Indian Movement.

I don't know what you've heard about the Indian Movement in the seventies, but as far government conspiracies, FBI abuse of power, and disinformation conquering truth go, this is the clearest example. AIM is not a fanatic violent group like the Christian Identity Movement with it's mix of Nazi and Old Testament doctrine. The case is so transparent, when examined, that if only the mass media would notice it, public interest would be immense. Before any reform of the FBI can be respected they must reckon with the crimes they committed against AIM Indians as part of their COINTELPRO (counter intelligence program) in the seventies. Leonard Peltier is America's Nelson Mandella. He, like Mandella, is an imprisoned symbol of Liberty. As long as Leonard Peltier is falsely imprisoned we are all less free.

Oglalala Sioux are decedents of the People of Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Black Elk. Black Elk was a Sioux shaman who had profound visions of great Power. He saw that his people would live in cold box houses.

He saw a Black Road of troubles for his people when they would be like lost rabbits running wild, each chasing his own little vision. Eventually, after terrible times, his people would find the good Red Road and the Tree of Life would return.

Mainstream America has a great attachment to the Indian, likely I suspect, because most of us have some Indian blood in us. Yet I doubt many Americans know that the U.S. policy of Indian genocide continued into the seventies.

Basically what happened was that in retaliation for American Indian Movement civil disobedience, over sixty Indians were murdered by reservation police/GOONs between 1973 and 1975. The GOONs (Guardians Of Oglalala Nation) were armed by the FBI with M-16s as a part of the domestic COINTELPRO.

On June 26, 1975, at the peak of Dick Wilson's "Reign of Terror", two FBI agents engaged in a gunfight with somebody in a red pick up whom they had followed onto the Jumping Bull farm. The folks on Jumping Bull farm got their guns and ran to the defense of their old people, women and and children in the houses above the gunfight. The fire-fight between three or four men quickly grew as the Jumping Bull residents were drawn into the fight and the Federal reinforcements arrived.

According to FBI documents, approximately thirty five American Indians were surrounded by and exchanged gunfire with over 150 combat armed FBI agents, Bureau of Indian Affairs police, US Marshals and local police. Two FBI agents and one American Indian were killed. The FBI launched the largest manhunt in U.S. history. They chose several high visibility American Indian Movement leaders to hunt down. Dino Butler and Bob Robideau were arrested. Leonard Peltier made it to Canada.

Both Butler and Robideau were tried in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and acquitted on grounds that they were acting in self-defense. An FBI agent suggested the AIM members had threatened the jurors. Jurors disagreed, explaining that it was the FBI they feared when the verdict was read.

Using false testimony from a coerced incompetent and by orders from then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Peltier was illegally returned to the United States.

Only Peliter was tried in Fargo, North Dakota. A 1976 FBI memo called for the use of "full prosecutive weight of the federal government . . . against Leonard Peltier."

Peltier's trial saw a wide range of dirty tricks by the FBI including the fabrication of evidence and outright lying. It's all exposed very clearly in "Leonard Peltier the Oglalala Incident". Peltier was sentenced to two life terms to be served consecutively. He has now been falsely imprisoned for twenty three years. Peltier is suffering from a degenerative jaw disease. Because of maltreatment he received at the Springfield Medical Facility Leonard can not open his mouth enough to bite or chew his food, nor can he close his mouth completely.

He was removed from the federal medical facility before his recuperation period was completed. Inadequate medical care of the degenerative jaw disease has resulted in a severe health crisis created a by an approximately one half inch gap between his upper and lower molars.

Besides the fact that the constant pain is torturous, this condition could prove to be life threatening if infection should occur. The degenerative jaw disease has created a severe eating disorder which is the basis of an inability to ingest and digest food properly. All this is causing a nutritional imbalance. Leonard Peltier is in need of specialized non-prison medical care for the treatment of a condition that is still treatable!

On top of all this the prison officials threw away the skirt-towel he wore in the sweat lodge. He had this towel for 18 years (since at least 21 years of age) and wore it at Sundance. Needless to say he was very disappointed at this theft by the his officials of the personal religious item.

Peltier and his supporters have been waiting five years to hear from Clinton regarding his petition for clemency. A final appeal has been filed based on a recently discovered error made by his (Peltier's) attorney during the original trial. Peltier will not be allowed to petition for parole until the year 2008.

The Issues in which there is evidence of the "Obstruction of Justice" by the Justice Department :

1. The FBI coercing and intimidating witnesses.

2. The FBI withholding evidence and fabricating eyewitness affidavits.

3. Use of perjured affidavits to extradite Peltier.

4. Use of perjured firearms evidence at his trial.

5. Fabrication of ballistics evidence and suppression of proof.

6. Fabrication of evidence that Peltier killed the agents and suppression of eyewitness accounts that others were responsible.

7. Jury tampering by the FBI.

8. The FBI sponsoring armed assaults, assassinations on AIM individuals and their residences.

9. The FBI providing illegal arms and ammunition to select Indians to be used against their own people.

10. Ex parte contact between the Justice Department (FBI) and the Federal judges involved in the Peltier case resulting in denying Peltier rights to a fair trial and impartial trial jury.

11. Federal appellate court judge William Webster who sat on a panel that heard Peltier's case was then elected to head the FBI.

12. The FBI conspiring to assassinate Peltier in prison.

13. The dissemination of false and inflammatory information to the jury and court.

14. Coercion of children into giving perjured testimony.

15. Manipulation of the judge and jury through the creation of a climate of fear in the courtroom.

Peltier's case has come to symbolize injustice for all Native people. The government has conceded numerous times that they do not know who killed the agents or what involvement Peltier may have had in their deaths.

They say that someone must pay. An investigation into the sixty murders of traditional people, AIM members, and supporters during the FBI backed "reign of terror" (1973-1976) on the Pine Ridge Reservation has never happened. To Native people this exemplifies America's continued attitude that Indigenous lives have no value, but when white lives, especially those of law enforcement officers, are lost someone must pay--innocent or guilty.

The situation is desperate, life threatening and mind numbingly quiet in the media. It would be great if you would perhaps research the mountain of evidence available and report the news of this historically signifgant story.

http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/lpeltier.html

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