Posted at PSLweb.org
A statement from Leonard Peltier
Thanks to an urgent campaign launched by his supporters, Native American political prisoner Leonard Peltier was recently transferred back to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania.
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Below is a recent statement from Peltier following his return to Lewisburg.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your efforts in my urgent time of need; you cannot imagine how much my spirit has been lifted from the cards and letters, the phone calls and how everyone kept up the pressure. My gratitude is really more than I can express.
My return to Lewisburg was met like a hero’s welcome, and many people came to assure me of my safety there. It is so ironic that the prisoners in a federal maximum-security prison can guarantee my safety, but the Bureau of Prisons will not. I did not say, “cannot”, but “will not” do so. You have to remember the BOP is a little brother to the FBI and they came from an illegitimate mother called the JUST-US (Justice) Department.
Do I sound a little angry? Well, I am angry that many of my friends have died in assuring my survival while I’ve been in prison. All the men who were involved in my escape at Lompoc, all died mysteriously soon after: Dallas Thundershield at Lompoc, Bobby Garcia at Terre Haute, and Rocky Dueñas, whose body was never recovered.
And Standing Deer, he gave away his life when he revealed the assassination plot against me. He lived under the shadow of death for years, waiting to be killed for defying the government, until he was eventually paroled to Texas. He was murdered soon after the same person who contracted him to have me assassinated warned him about his involvement with my campaign.
Surviving this attack brought back memories of those losses, and it is with tears of more gratitude in my eyes and in my heart that no one died this time. I don’t ever want to lose another brother in protecting me; a human life is precious and important.
I know in other countries, prisoners who have been held by their government have been placed in house arrest after they have attained international support as I have. If the BOP cannot guarantee my safety to the extent the prisoners here can, then I demand to be returned to my nation, Turtle Mountain, where I can be assured of my safety!
Turtle Mountain has issued a resolution to transfer me into their custody, and they have asked to meet with Obama on a nation-to-nation basis. This has to happen and it will when a lot of energy is placed behind it. In the past 18 days your efforts brought me out of the hole and to where there is a measure of safety.
The FBI has said that I will never leave prison alive, and we should not accept that as an idle threat. There have been a few times that my life was targeted by the FBI in the 33 years since my capture, and each of those who have helped me to survive are now dead.
The transfer and attack at Canaan is just a warning to me of what is to come. The wardens know of the psychological make-up of their inmate population in their prison, and they clearly knew that placing someone who is well known, as I am, with connections to many famous people and at my age, I would be subject to predatory attacks. This was deliberate by the BOP, and as far as the motivation for the attack, it could have been ordered by any prison official at the request of the FBI, or someone trying to curry favor from the feds. It could have also been a tactic to beat me into submission for purposes of extortion or something as stupid as trying to make a reputation.
We know they are afraid and Trimbach’s smear letter supports that. They see pressure, in the form of your letters and calls, growing and they know that my committee has been tirelessly developing plans to set up a wave of activity. The FBI is now afraid that they will fail to keep me falsely imprisoned. We are becoming stronger and we must keep building our network to succeed.
I am proud of the brother’s & sisters, the Elders and my family who make up the committee; they have all personally sacrificed more than many people may ever know. It is humbling when I hear about the difficulties they have had due to being associated with me, but they do not quit. They are putting in many hours of their lives that they could be spending with their own families, but I hear they are on the phones talking to people, writing letters, and networking through the computers. They have been criticized by a few people and attempts have been made to create divisions within the committee through spreading accusations about them. So let me say this, I know the people I have invited to serve on my committee, and I’ve known most of them for years. A couple of them are my Sun Dance brothers and I have entrusted my life in their abilities and their commitment to bring about my freedom.
The decision I have made to place them in their positions of responsibility is mine, not the critics. I ask all my supporters to ignore those who would have you waste your time listening to or reading petty gossip based upon jealousy or personal dislike. These are activities that the FBI uses to destroy a movement, and they are not the Indian way of doing things. So we need to be aware that those who are bad-mouthing my committee, and talking behind their backs to smear them, may be infiltrators sent by the feds to tear down the committee. Watch out for those people and make some distance from them.
I am also asking all of my supporters and allies to follow the directions of the committee when the plans and strategies are presented at the Feb. 6th event in Boulder, CO. It had begun as an educational event and now it will be a very important event because of everything that has happened recently. We had wanted to release it when Obama was sworn in, but my transfer placed it on hold. I am a believer that nothing happens by accident or coincidence. It all happens for a reason, and it feels as if things are coming together the way they should. It is significant that an intense campaign will be begun after 33 years in captivity and with a newly elected President who could be receptive to my clemency appeal in office.
We will be making our message stronger in what we do and in how we will do it. I cannot stress how important it will be to increase our numbers after this event because the committee members, spokespersons, and their families will be making more personal sacrifices to help increase awareness. They’ll need your support in organizing other events and networking in your area.
Again, I want to thank everyone who wrote, called and emailed. My hand in appreciation is extended to those who have held rallies and protests on my behalf to call attention to the attack on me. I also extend my gratitude to Cynthia McKinney, former congresswoman, for her recent letter to President Obama urging him to free other political prisoners and myself.
In all these years, there have been so many people who have prayed for my safety and freedom from all faiths. There is power in those prayers and that is what I know will bring about my freedom. I can feel something different this time, and many others have expressed the same thought to me. So when you pray, don’t pray only for me, but the warriors of AIM who have died for our people, the victims of the “Reign of Terror” on Pine Ridge, and other victims who has suffered as we have. Pray for their families as well. They must not be forgotten and they must have justice!
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Dallas Thundershield, Bobby Garcia, Rocky Dueñas, Standing Deer, and in The Spirit of Total Resistance,
Leonard Peltier
Posted to IPR by Paulie
See the Peltier video at this web site for another side to the story.
Wikipedia also has a lot of articles that say if they’re not trustworthy.
paulie I agree. In my opinion it is good enough for what we do on line, but I think we need more rigorous material if doing something else, say for publication.
Tks,
MW
Thanks, Michael.
I don’t think that’s really a realistic option for most online debates like this.
BTW, wikipedia is also peer reviewed, and journals which are only peer reviewed by accredited scholars have made many mistakes as well.
Also, wikipedia frequently links to scholarly articles in peer reviewed journals, often representing different sides of an issue.
I think it’s a great resources. Sure, it isn’t perfect – I don’t know of any source that is.
I’d go to the library and start there with research material if I was doing serious research say for an article. Simply because most of the material written in scholarly journals has been peer reviewed in many cases. That doesn’t mean it is accurate, or complete which is why I always look for two or three pieces on an issue, but that minimisizes the chance of error.
For example I have been working on some transit material. I have two books and two articles from journals and a magazine piece or two specirfically on urban transit.
MW
Take your pick. As research/reference source material.
paulie writes: “So, what sources would you use? ‘
Michael then ask; for what purpose?
I think Leonard did it but I admit I obviously wasn’t at the murder when it happened. Either way, Leonard will NEVER be freed.
Obama won’t release him. It would make him look bad.
So, what sources would you use? One good thing about wikipedia is that it links to many outside sources, from more than one side, if you want to explore the topic of any article further.
paulie I am aware of the shortcomings of the media, both broadcast and print, which is why I try to read across the spectrum.
The best case of media bias may have been the reporter for the N.Y. Times who reported from Moscow during the 1930s, as i recall the date, and who praised Stalin’s regime.
Then there was Judith Miller of the Times who prior to the Iraq War reported much of what she was told without questioning.
And there are stories about the drug war that have been hyped, etc. I could go on forever.
I would still not quote Wikipedia as a serious source if I was doing anything such as this discussion about the fairness of a man’s trial. I wouold certainly hope the LP would never use it as a source. Especially as the only source.
As to to Mr. Peltier. I thik he was up to his eyeballs in this mess. Do I think he got a fair trial? No way!
The fairness of his trail and his guilt, or innocence are connected, but seperate issues. One is about us, or the justice system. The other is about him.
Thank you,
MW
I suppose at least some of the comments are related to the article.
because of the number of articles I have read in the newspaper that have been critical of wikipedia.
Wikipedia fires back:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias_in_the_United_States
More seriously, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
Yes, it’s on wikipedia, but it has links to lots of outside sources you can pursue for further reading, and is far from being universally uncritical.
That is not to say that those articles have been entirely correct. The possiblity of error exist on boths sides, but there have been instances when information being placed on wikipedia has been sourced back to the government.
Not like that ever happens with standard reference works, mainstream media, etc. LOL
Apparently government people have used wikipedia to their advantage in some cases.
If you think that’s bad, just read the history of what they have done with, for instance, the NY Times.
And I also use wikipedia frequently, but in a serious case that involves live and death issues I would certainly want a more qualified resource.
But that’s the trouble – why do you think those “more qualified” sources are more qualified?
Wikipedia is far from the only research tool that is ridden with a history of errors, both intentional and not. I don’t know of any that aren’t.
At least wikipedia has a mechanism for real-time peer review and correction, unlike traditional media such as newspapers, printed books, etc., where errors persist for many years, if they are ever caught and correcetd at all.
paulie the reason I wrote : “Anyone who uses wikipedia as a serious research source has a problem to start with.” is because of the number of articles I have read in the newspaper that have been critical of wikipedia. That is not to say that those articles have been entirely correct. The possiblity of error exist on boths sides, but there have been instances when information being placed on wikipedia has been sourced back to the government. Apparently government people have used wikipedia to their advantage in some cases. And I also use wikipedia frequently, but in a serious case that involves live and death issues I would certainly want a more qualified resource.
MW
Earlier, I said
open source tends to be better at finding and correcting problems than a centralized alternative.
The same, I think, is true of the economy, and is also how “nature”/the environment works.
To expand on this in a slightly different direction, this is also why I think anarchism can work.
There is a tendency towards spontaneous order in society, and in nature. It works best when it is not centrally planned and organized.
For instance, see I, Pencil.
I think Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, was as far as I know the first writer to address these subjects.
He may have also been the first libertarian (at least in writings that have survived and been translated into the world’s most commonly used languages).
More recently, some of the insights of Taoism have been rediscovered and given new life by recent developments in science, for example The Tao of Physics (full title: The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism) , a 1975 book by physicist Fritjof Capra.
Also of interest in exploring this dynamic balance interplay of entropy and extropy in the creation of spontaneous order, “Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (commonly GEB) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Douglas Hofstadter, described by the author as “a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll”.”
shes real:)
Susan – are you real or are you just pretending to say what I’ve wanted someone to say for so long?
One nitpick.
The Pattern: Holz knows only one thing. The government can do no wrong. The state is never in error.
Susan Hogarth: This sort of puerile hyperbole doesn’t do the movement or the Party any good. It is a poor reflection on *the person who said it* – and unfortunately, many non-radicals who are just as shallow-thinking as the original insult-hurler will extend that justly poor reflection to the entire radical wing of the LP.
Paul: I did not see The Pattern claim allegiance to any wing of the LP, radical or otherwise.
But Susan’s larger point remains correct.
Anyone who uses wikipedia as a serious research source has a problem to start with.
MW
Actually, wikipedia has been found by serious studies to be roughly equal in accuracy to standard reference works, as well as more comprehensive and far more convenient (right on the internet, hyperlinked, and available for cut and paste).
I use it all the time, and I don’t think that’s a problem.
Yes, errors do slip by, but the same is true of any research source. It’s sort of like software; open source tends to be better at finding and correcting problems than a centralized alternative.
The same, I think, is true of the economy, and is also how “nature”/the environment works.
How many people have actually read the wikipedia entry?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peltier
For example:
Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement, who, in 1977, was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the murder of two FBI Agents who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. There is considerable debate over Peltier’s guilt and the fairness of his trial. Some supporters and organizations, including Amnesty International, consider him to be a political prisoner. Amnesty International said, for example, that “Although he has not been adopted as a prisoner of conscience, there is concern about the fairness of the proceedings leading to his conviction and it is believed that political factors may have influenced the way the case was prosecuted.”
….
There has been debate over Peltier’s guilt and the fairness of his trial. Several allegations have been made by Peltier’s supporters which they claim point to his innocence, and all of these have been disputed by the FBI:
* An FBI agent who testified that the agents followed a pickup truck onto the scene (a vehicle that could not be tied to Peltier) is alleged to have later changed his account to describe a red and white van, a vehicle type which Peltier did drive. Further, as the FBI did not record radio communications in 1975, there was an unresolved discrepancy between Agents as to whether Williams said he was pursuing a “red and white van” or “pickup truck.”
* Three witnesses testified they saw Peltier approach the slain officers’ vehicle. They later alleged that the FBI had threatened and forced them to testify. The FBI answered that the witnesses’ testimony was not necessary for conviction.
* An FBI ballistics expert testified that a shell casing found near the dead agents’ bodies matched the gun tied to Peltier. Critics argued that an FBI teletype stating the firing pin of the recovered weapon did not match the shell casings proved that Peltier’s weapon was not the murder weapon. It was counter-argued in testimony by the FBI that although the marks from the firing pin did not match those on the casing, the firing pin had probably been replaced after the murders, and that the marks made by the rifle’s extractor were an exact match to the recovered weapon.
….
Peltier’s conviction sparked great controversy and has drawn criticism from a number of sources. Numerous appeals have been filed on his behalf; none of the rulings have been made in his favor. Peltier is considered by some to be a political prisoner and has received support from individuals and groups including Nelson Mandela, Rigoberta Menchú, Amnesty International, the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, Tenzin Gyatso (the 14th Dalai Lama), the European Parliament, the Belgian Parliament, the Italian Parliament, the Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Peltier’s supporters have given two different rationales for overturning the conviction. One argument asserts that Peltier did not commit the murders, and that he either had no knowledge of the murders (as he told CNN in 1999), or that he has knowledge implicating others which he will never reveal, or (as told in Peter Matthiessen’s In the Spirit of Crazy Horse) that he approached and searched the agents but did not execute them. The other rationale holds that the killings (no matter who committed them) occurred during a war-like atmosphere on the reservation in which FBI agents were terrorizing residents in the wake of the Pine Ridge standoff in 1972.
More than one side of the story is presented in the wikipedia article, with links for further research for those who are so inclined.
To expand on Susan’s point in comment 9, here is my email today in response to receiving a long and nasty exchange between libertarian activists. The exact details of the exchange are not pertinent to what I am trying to get across here, IMO.
I have a question for you Brian . A litmus test sorta and somewhat off topic , though not entirely.
Do you think Lon Horiuchi is a murderer?
im going to assume you know who that is .
incidentally wikipedia is usually the first thing that pops up when you search engine any topic , that doesnt make it true.
If anybody has facts on the Peltier case that differ from those documented in Wikipedia, I invite him to add them to the article and see how they fare in the marketplace of ideas operated by the Wikipedia community. The Wikipedia article is the top web search result on Peltier, so if the State is demonstrably wrong here than this is a great outreach opportunity for anarchists who believe that killing an agent of the State is never murder.
Or, keep calling people names just because they prefer evaluating evidence over exercising spinal reflexes that trigger mutterings about “the gummint”…
*sigh*
Holz knows only one thing. The government can do no wrong. The state is never in error.
This sort of puerile hyperbole doesn’t do the movement or the Party any good. It is a poor reflection on *the person who said it* – and unfortunately, many non-radicals who are just as shallow-thinking as the original insult-hurler will extend that justly poor reflection to the entire radical wing of the LP.
Some days I don’t know who irks me more – my adversaries or my allies.
I disagree with Brian profoundly on many matters (and I do think he is an apologist for *some* mass murderers), but it’s never crossed my mind to say something as ridiculous as that he believes ‘the government can do no wrong’.
I know that responding to what is actually said is more difficult than casting a wide net of aspersions and pithy phrases, but I’m begging you to give it a try. You’ll find that it’s rewarding to think clearly and speak precisely.
For I who served in vietnam, fully believe with what CHRIS has to say about this so called gov’t. For it is said that ” BUY THE PEOPLE – FOR THE PEOPLE- OF THE PEOPLE – ALL THE PEOPLE-WE WILL HAVE A GOV’T that will be EQUAL for ALL. . This is not happening here within this country that I love & fought for & was willing to die for. So stick that in ur F______ pipe & smoke it.
and you call yourself a “socialist”? What is that supposed to infer? That I accept what you evil people say? hm no
And you Call yourself a “Libertarian”
Agree Michael – wikipedia is handy reference tool but hardly the compendium of facts it is often touted as.
And as far as the rest of it….you weren’t there were you Brian? You dont know what happens when certain individuals take it upon themselves to start applying cowboy diplomacy against certain groups of people. We have seen it time and again from the time this country started – in the original wounded knee massacre the officer couldn’t stop the soldiers from hunting down all the Native Americans once the shooting started – women children – didnt matter.
In Waco we saw it again – Koresh wasnt in his right mind but did that give the feds the right to apply the same kind of brute force and terrorist tactics we have come to expect from the russians?
In Ruby Ridge – again a handful of feds step over the line and make it a personal mission to take innocent lives. Randy Weaver even won his civil court case against the feds for killing his son.
And what came out of Ruby Ridge other than two dead – Rage and Oklahama City Bombing – more innocents killed.
If Peltier did say those things I am sure it is out of rage of how the government has treated the American indians as a people – are they even recognized as a Nation? They ought to be – but no not really – not in any sense that matters to their dignity. Instead they are treated with contempt – no quarter given to them even today.
Treaties broken, their rights and heritage minimized – time to stop and think about this people.
Peltier deserves at least a fair trial – he didnt get one- if his trial were held today and the kind of discrepancies came out that came out back then – the case would be thrown out.
The hypocrisy of the US is almost too much to bear sometimes and thats coming from a ex-military man who served his country in the Gulf War. While I watched Waco unfold on the armed services network I was horrified and gripped with rage – when I saw the invasion of Iraq, The torture of prisoners, the oil ministry protected by US forces while the museums in Iraq were looted I was horrified – what has become of this country? We cant change the past but we can put right some of the wrongs – one of them is giving Peltier a fair trial. On the surface it may seem a small thing – but doing the right thing is never a small thing.
Anyone who uses wikipedia as a serious research source has a problem to start with.
MW
I don’t trust anything a commie bastard party has to say.
“I really dont think you know much about this case Brian.”
Holz knows only one thing. The government can do no wrong. The state is never in error. When the state slaughters innocent men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, it is not the fault of the state. When the military slaughters men, women, and children at Hiroshima, the Empire of Nippon brought it on themselves. The state slaughtered all those Branch Davidians, and Holz is enthusiastic. No one, from Leonard Peltier to Thomas Jefferson who has ever opposed an organized government was ever doing a good thing. Only the all knowing and all powerful Holz can occasionally deign to “school” us on how to bring mild corrective action to the moderate inconsistencies of a few state programs. Nothing radical.
The facts seem to thoroughly establish that the FBI agents were motherfuckers and should be shot, anyway.
Theres a whole lot more to the story than wikipedia lets on . Many believe the evidence was fabricated and the testimony coerced .
His co-defendent , accused of the same thing , was aquitted.
I really dont think you know much about this case Brian .
Who was heard by two witnesses to say “The mother fucker was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway”? Who do witnesses say interrogated at gunpoint an Indian activist who knew of the aforementioned statement and was murdered execution-style as a result? Find out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peltier