From: "LPDC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 21:12:27 -0600
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: PELTIER UPDATE!
FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!!!
CALL THE WHITE HOUSE DAILY!!!
GO! GO! GO!
IT'S NOT OVER!!!
202-456-1111
Dear Friends,
A decision on Leonard Peltier's petition for Executive Clemency has yet to
be made. The White House has confirmed that the President will be making
another round of decisions on clemencies and that an official decision on
the Peltier case has not yet been made.
Meanwhile, our campaign continues to build strength. Mary Robinson, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has written to the
President to urge clemency. The Human Rights Commission is the second
largest body of the United Nations and Mary Robinson is the most important
figure in international human rights. (letter below) She wrote the letter
after the United Nations Workshop on Indigenous Media unanimously supported
Peltier and asked her to intervene.
On December 31st Congresswoman Maxine Waters released a strong statement
supporting clemency and condemning Leonard Peltier's imprisonment.
(statement below).
On December 20, a former BIA empoyee who worked on Pine Ridge and witnessed
the Pine Ridge reign of terror came forward with lengthy testimony about
what he experienced in a letter supporting clemency for Leonard Peltier.
(letter below).
We know everyone is anxious and it is very difficult not knowing what will
happen in the next weeks. A decision could be made any day, although it
would not be unlikely for it not to be made until the last minute. We have
until January 20. PLEASE hang in there. PLEASE keep up the phone calls,
faxes, and letter writing. And continue doing outreach work in your
communities. You are doing great! Operators say they are getting lots of
calls from us. If you want more to do, contact your reps in Congress and
your senators. Urge them to make a personal call to the White House
supporting clemency. THANK YOU!
-In Solidarity,
LPDC
WHITE HOUSE:
1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. NW
WASHINGTON DC 20500
P. 202-456-1111
F. 202-456-2461
CONGRESSIONAL SWITCHBOARD:
202-224-3121
UNITED NATIONS
HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Address:
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 GENEVE 10, SWITZERLAND
REFERENCE: EIF/ai
22 December 2000
Dear President Clinton,
I should like to take this opportunity to raise for your
consideration the matter of Mr. Leonard Peltier, a prisoner in the United
States of America whose case has attracted major national and international
attention. As you will be aware, Mr. Peltier was tried, convicted and
sentenced to prison over twenty-five years ago in proceedings which have
raised serious due process concerns.
The case for clemency for Mr. Peltier has drawn support from a
remarkably broad range of observers and institutions, including the European
Parliament, Amnesty International, President Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond
Tutu and Ms Rigoberta Menchu Tum. Indigenous people from around the world,
including the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, as
well as many others have expressed grave concern about the case against Mr.
Peltier.
As United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, I would like to
ask that you give all possible considerations to exercising your power of
executive clemency in this case.
Yours Sincerely,
[ signature ]
Mary Robinson
High Commissioner for Human Rights
MAXINE WATERS
MEMBER OF CONGRESS
35th DISTRICT, CALIFORNIA
CHIEF DEPUTY WHIP
December 31, 2000
STATEMENT OF CONGRESSWOMAN MAXINE WATERS URGING PRESIDENT CLINTON TO GRANT
EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY TO LEONARD PELTIER
I join the many voices today calling on President Clinton to grant
Executive Clemency to Leonard Peltier. Mr. Peltier, like Mumia Abu Jamal and
Assata Shakur, is a victim of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI)
infamous Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). During the 1960s and
1970s this program launched illegal and clandestine attacks on a wide
variety of politically active groups and civil groups and civil rights
leaders.
I have written tot he President in the past regarding Leonard Peltier
's case and requested he grant Executive Clemency. The history of Mr.
Peltier's trial and conviction is a shameful stain on the U.S. Judicial
System. Leonard Peltier was denied some of the basic civil rights we
cherish. The government illegally extradited him from Canada using knowingly
falsified affidavits. He was convicted of murdering FBI Agents Jack Coler
and Ronald Williams with fabricated evidence, falsified testimony, a judge
who has been described as racist by several people and documentation that
important evidence was denied during this trial.
My heart goes out to the families of Agents Coler and Williams, as well
as the families of the many Native Americans murdered during the same time
period on the Pine Ridge Reservation. However, Leonard Peltier has spent
over two decades of his life imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. He
was made the target of the FBI's search for a killer they could not find.
During one of Leonard's appeals, the government's own prosecutor admitted
they did not know who actually killed the agents.
We cannot allow these injustices to remain unexamined or uncorrected.
Those who maintain Mr. Peltier's guilt have used the same lies and deceit in
continued attempts to deny Leonard his freedom. They must not be allowed to
continue to disgrace this country and what it stands for, liberty and
justice for all.
I support the movement to free Leonard Peltier, not as an affront to law
enforcement who put their lives on the line everyday, but as an American who
believes in justice. For the sake of the country and in the name of truth
and justice, Leonard Peltier must be set free immediately.
# #
#
His Excellency Mr. William J. Clinton
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, D.C.
U.S.A.
December 20, 2000
To the President of the United States
Office of the White House Council
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President,
My name is Paul Berg and I am writing in regard to the case of Leonard
Peltier. As a BIA employee who served with the FBI during the siege of
Wounded Knee in 1973, I have information to share that may be of value to
you. Prior to coming to the Pine Ridge Reservation I had served the Vietnam
War with Naval Intelligence. I was part of a learn charged with locating
bunloare, artillery positions and staging areas around Khe Salm. My military
experience provided me with limited, but useful familiarity with siege
operations.
After I was discharged from the Navy, I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree
in Education at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. I was a
teacher on the Pine Ridge Reservation from 1971 to 1976 and had a unique
opportunity to observe the tribulations first hand. Since leaving the
Reservation, I have lived and worked in Alaska as a bush village teacher, an
education Specialist for the Alaska Department of Education and as a faculty
member for the University of Alaska. In 1991 I was under contract by the US
Department to write a paper for the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force
meeting at the White House. The US Dept. of Education graciously referred in
their literature as a "national expert" in this field. I have also written a
number of articles and co-authored several books in the filed of education
technology. At the present time I am the owner and headmaster of Thunder
Mountain Academy, a private middle school in Juneau, Alaska.
In determining clemency for Leonard Peltier I believe that it is very
important that you be provided with insight into the historical and social
contacts that lead up to the tragic deaths of agents Williams and Kohler on
the Pine Ridge Reservation in June of 1975. In 1971, when I arrived on the
Pine ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the weights of historical events was
evident, even among the children. When I asked my seventh graders to write
an essay entitled "Ten Years From Now," half my students wrote about their
own death. The source of this hopelessness lay in the recent past. The Sioux
and the 7th Calvary clashed in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.
Subsequently the participating bands of Sioux were hunted down and confined
in conditions of squalor on Federal Reservations. In 1980 the Sioux were
broken as a culture and as individuals. They collectively embraced the Ghost
Dance, a form of cultural hysteria. Government agents at Pine Ridge
incorrectly interpreted the Ghost Dance as an aggressive threat to
non-Indians and called in the army. As fate would have it, the responding
army unit was the 7th Calvary, an Army unit with a score to settle with the
Sioux. At Wounded Knee Creek on a cold winter day, the 7th Calvary extracted
revenge by massacring over 200 old men, women, and children. It cannot be
emphasized enough that the Battle of Little Big Horn was a battle between
armed soldiers on both sides. Wounded Knee, in contrast, was a massacre of
mostly unarmed people by a military unit bent on revenge. Women, and
children were found as far as two tribes from the site. The women had thrown
blankets over the children so that they would not see their executioners.
Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to several of the soldiers in the
massacre. These medals have never been recalled. The people on Pine Ridge
Reservation have lived with the collective cultural memory of a government
massacre.
In 1973, on he second day of the siege of Wounded Knee, I brought a powerful
field scope to the hills above Wounded Knee and began observing. After an
hour I approached the FBI roadblock north of Wounded Knee and reported the
construction of a bunker north of the Catholic Church in the village. I also
told FBI agents that the bunker was no threat, only a symbol for the media,
because it was being constructed far forward of the military coast of the
hill in an exposed position. The agents received my report of the new bunker
with alarm, but seemed unable to comprehend the tactical information. These
agents had no military field experiences.
The next day I was reassigned from my normal BIA duties as a teacher (the
schools were closed anyway) to become a "spotter" for the FBI. I was armed
with an assault rifle and became part of the FBI operation. While in this
role I was able to observe the FBI operation under live fire conditions.
There were several surprises. The first was that the FBI agents were
unprepared and untrained for a tactical operation on an Indian Reservation.
They did not understand field operation and were physically, emotionally and
doctrinally unprepared to conduct a siege. Secondly, most of the agents were
flown in from urban areas and were disoriented to the point of bewilderment.
It was skin to being placed in a foreign country with strange looking people
without a roadmap or plan of action. Put in this situation, the younger
agents seemed particularly prone to overact to perceived threats. And last,
as the siege progressed several of the less experienced agents did brutalize
the local people.
The FBI had a thoroughly nasty habit of stopping their cars on reservation
roads and aiming their M-16's at approaching vehicles. Since FBI cars were
unmarked, people approaching in an oncoming vehicle would frequently panic
and flee. The agents would pursue and apprehend the fleeing vehicle. One of
them pursuits took place the FBI team was assigned to. An old man and woman
with their six-year old grandson and ten-year old granddaughter were run off
the road. Everyone was made to lay spread eagle on the ground. One of the
FBI agents nudged the girl with the barrel of his weapon like he was going
to roll her over. The child was trembling and whimpering in fear. A tribal
employee and myself reported this incident to the FBI leadership in Pine
Ridge. The two agents denied any wrong doings. However other federal agents
in the vicinity had witnessed enough to verify our report. I do remember a
man coming to see me who, I was told, was the number two FBI agent in charge
of the siege. I explained to him that what was done to the child would
affect her for the remainder of her life. I explained to him that I was a
teacher and that I did not want to be placed in situations where I would be
in direct conflict with armed and out-of-control FBI agents. He informed me
that two agents were being removed from the reservation immediately. He also
told me that he needed me in this position and asked me to stay on as a
liaison officer with the FBI. He said that a number of the younger agents
did not know what they were doing, they needed guidance or people were going
to be killed. He also promised to support me if anything like this happened
again. After he put that responsibility on me, I agreed to continue.
After this I received a message from the American Indian Movement. The
essence of the message was that as long as I "keep those animals from
killing anyone," they would have no problems with me. I was also advised by
AIM to never fire any weapon and to never point any rifle at anyone.
Several weeks later I witnessed two young FBI agents panic under fire. The
agents were on the perimeter in a bunker. They were under fire and, in one
of strangest events I have ever witnessed, they seemed to lose their nerve.
They overacted by yelling and screaming for help. I asked Federal Marshals
to extract them in M113 (armored personal carrier), much to the chagrin and
announcement of the Marshals.
The Wounded Knee siege lasted over 70 days. The two years following the sieg
e were a hell on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Scores of people were killed in
beatings, drive by shootings or disappearances. Government records
substantiate at least 60 unsolved murders during this time. The actual
number may be as high as several hundred. The main instigators of the
violence were the Guardians of Our Oglala Nation-the GOON Squad. These were
supporters of Tribal Chief, Dick Wilson. It was common knowledge on the
Reservation at the time that several members of the GOON Squad were off-duty
tribal police. In the plains South Dakota, America had a situation similar
to present day Columbia; the police were participating in killing squads
assigned to neutralize political opposition. These officers were being paid
with Federal money and the situation was allowed to continue on a Federal
Reservation. The victims of the violence were mostly full-blooded and
traditional Sioux, who were political, opposed to what they perceived as
corrupt, self-serving tribal leadership.
Many people on the Pine Ridge Reservation were living in fear of their lives
during this time. I witnessed the effects of this pervasive fear on a number
of occasions. Once, when I was driving along the road from Pine Ridge to
Wounded Knee I saw 8 or 9 vehicles stopped along the road. I stopped to see
what was going on. People were lined up on the roadside looking down at a
body of a woman in the ditch. Then I noticed that the body was moving. No
one moved to help her. People were concerned, but too fearful to give direct
help. To aid her would be to align one's self against those who had her in
this condition. I, as a non-Indian and a mission teacher, (having resigned
from the BIA after the siege) was under no such constraint. I went down to
her and addressing her as "Grandmother" helped her up to my vehicle. No one
helped. Fear of retribution overcame sympathy.
The traditional people on the Reservation felt abandoned by any form of
civilized protection. And in reality, this was true. When the GOON Squad
came to Wamblee to punish the community for opposition to tribal chairman
Dick Wilson, the local residents were able to call through to the FBI office
in Rapid City. The residents informed the agents that the community was
under attack. They were told that the FBI is an investigative agency, not an
enforcement agency. The FBI took no action and the shooting went all night
without intervention. One resident was killed that night. (This incident was
verified by the US Commission on Civil Rights.)
When I worked with the FBI, several other liaison personnel and I made
efforts to educate the young FBI agents about the danger of acting
aggressively in this climate of fear. We explained that people were afraid
of being killed. I remember after one particularly unnerving incident I
began shouting at several agents that they were going to get themselves
killed by pointing guns at people. I tried to impress upon them that
posturing with guns would not work on the Reservation. The "hands up, I've
got you covered," mentality may work in urban America, but on the
Reservation, people assumed that if you had a gun pointed at them you
intended to kill them. They also knew that no one would be held accountable
for their killing. We would tell the agents not to lead with a gun, but
instead lead with kindness. Call a man "Sir" and a woman "Ma'am," even if
you are doing a march or taking someone into custody.
Intro this climate of intimidation, fear and killing two young agents
Williams and Kohler. According to testimony, agents Williams and Kohler
approached a compound with weapons drawn. That posture, at that place and
time, was a signal which sent the message "We are going to kill you!" They
were apparently aware of the historical legacy of sanctioned, official
violence on the Pine Ridge Reservation, nor were they aware of the level of
fear is the minds of the traditional Sioux. Their deaths were a tragedy,
part of the on-going human tragedy of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The
manufactured evidence against Peltier is another issue that I cannot address
in this letter, but it has been thoroughly documented by others.
What has happened, Mr. President, is that the Federal bureau of
Investigation demands a victim for the death of three young men. The agency
and the Federal Government have taken no responsibility for the condition
that lead the agents' death. An no one is concerned about the killing of
Native American Joe Stuntz during the same Incident that took the lives of
agents Williams and Kohler.
Please above the politics and racism and allow Leonard Peltier to have
justice. Let him go home. I urge you to have the moral courage to do the
right thing. History will thank you.
Sincerely,
Paul Berg
Call the White House Comments Daily!
Demand Justice for Leonard Peltier! 202-456-1111
Be in New York City December 10th
Peltier Walk For Freedom!
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
www.freepeltier.org
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