Sunday, June 26, 2016

PELTIER: DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA; 41st Anniversary

Dear President Obama:

Concerning any review of Leonard Peltier's recent clemency petition on this 41st anniversary of the unprovoked attack and brutal murder of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, we would respectfully offer several crucial details.[i]

“Just After Noon, June 26, 1975”[ii]
This depiction of the crime scene reveals many of the critical facts from that fateful day at Pine Ridge.

For nearly twenty years, even captured on film in Incident at Oglala (“This story is true” said Peltier[iii]), Peltier’s only claimed alibi was that someone he and the others knew, the phantom Mr. X, was coming to the AIM camp to deliver dynamite and that he was the one who was followed by the agents onto the Jumping Bull property. Mr. X was the one who wounded them at a distance with rifle fire, then shot them both in the face at point blank range and drove off in the infamous red pickup truck.[iv]

This stood until it was proven a lie by one of his codefendants, his defense committee, and even one of his key attorneys.[v]

The reality is that Leonard Peltier was the actual killer and the real Mr. X.

The AR-15 was recovered on a Wichita turnpike in an exploded station wagon driven by codefendant Bob Robideau. It was damaged but the bolt mechanism was intact. 

Found at the scene of the murders in the trunk of Agent Coler’s vehicle was a .223 shell casing that was matched with extractor marks to Petlier’s AR-15, the murder weapon. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals stated, “When all is said and done, however, a few simple but very important facts remain. The casing introduced into evidence had in fact been extracted from the Wichita AR-15. This point was not disputed…” and, “The trial witnesses unanimously testified that there was only one AR-15 in the compound prior to the murders, that this weapon was used exclusively by Peltier and carried out by Peltier after the murders.” [vi]

We know from the crime scene and autopsies that Agents' Coler and Williams were both shot at point-blank range destroying their faces, yet their bodies were found rolled-over on the ground. This can only mean that in addition to stealing their weapons, the dead agents were also manhandled after death.

In addition to trial testimony there was an eyewitness. We know there were at least five people who knew exactly what happened at the agents' vehicles after they were initially attacked, severely wounded and then approached to be slaughtered: Dino Butler (who publically called the Mr. X alibi a lie, Bob Robideau, who said “they died like worms,” [vii] Leonard Peltier, (believed by the government, the jury, and courts of appeal to be the killer), and victims; Jack Coler and Ronald Williams.

Ron Williams was a critical witness because he was able to tell a number of agents over the FBI radio exactly what was about to happen. They also heard him get shot at least one of the times as he told them that if they didn’t get there soon he and Jack Coler would be dead.

There are countless fabrications, myths and folklore surrounding Peltier as he and his supporters (who haven’t made the effort to understand all the facts or simply don’t care to know) have diminished and tainted an otherwise proud Native American culture into believing that in some tragically perverse way freeing Peltier would atone for the historic ill treatment of First Americans. Peltier’s criminal acts contradict that he is worthy of clemency.

Peltier’s latest attempt at any semblance of remorse in his latest petition can be seen for exactly what it is: the pitiful cry of a shameful panderer for sympathy. Leonard Peltier’s character and guilt is best defined by his own public admissions, “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again because it was the right thing to do.” (2010), and, “I don’t regret any of this for a minute” (2014). 

These are not the words of someone who has accepted any responsibility for his actions nor paid his debt to society.

There are others who are deserving of clemency consideration. However, Peltier’s petition should be cast aside as he did with the lives of two young men who were brutally murdered in the line of duty.

"In the Spirit of Coler and Williams" 
Ed Woods [viii]

[i] Leaders and members of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI held memorial services at the gravesites of Jack Coler and Ronald Williams in Los Angeles on June 26, 2016.
Not so ironically, but consistent with his decades-long fabrications and twisting of facts, Leonard                                      Peltier NEVER mentioned Mr. X in his autobiography, Prison Writings. http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#amazon
 Excerpted from the below NPPA Editorial Essay, January 20, 2001:
 Mr. X and actual guilt: If Peltier was indeed innocent as he has claimed, his statements of what happened that day at Pine Ridge should have been simple, straight forward and unchanged over these years. But instead, he has altered his story as if searching for the scenario that most would accept, and along with Robert Robideau and others, created the phantom killer who drove off in the red pickup truck. Now that Peltier and the LPDC have distanced themselves from this obvious fabrication, all Ms. Harbury can say is, "Mr. X, has long been a controversial topic, by both supporters of Leonard Peltier and those who oppose his release." No kidding, Ms. Harbury?
This is such an obvious lie, perpetuated for the better part of two decades, that the LPDC cannot sweep it away or ignore it. It is another glaring example of Peltier's guilt.
[vi] http://www.noparolepeltier.com/800.html (Section: The .223 casing)
[viii] This Blog was begun on Father’s Day 2016. The NPPA is not in a habit of referring to, or commenting on Leonard Peltier’s family; this is about him and him alone. However, Kathy Peltier, described as a “Daughter of Leonard Peltier,” posted an impassioned letter entitled “Help me free my father.” Although factually inaccurate and opinionated, she certainly has the right to express her feelings. A legitimate answer to her pleadings would be to offer a rhetorical reply: Wouldn’t Jack Coler’s widow, his two sons, and now his grandchildren, (but thanks to Peltier and other AIM cowards Ron Williams never had the chance to marry and have children of his own), have wanted to celebrate this day with their father? But that was stolen from them by Leonard Peltier.





Thursday, June 16, 2016

PELTIER: CLEMENCY APPLICATION PART 3; LIES AND FABRICATIONS


Dear Supporters:

Apart from being a remorseless convicted murderer, over the years Peltier has said and done many pretty outrageous things. But aside from some of his incredibly self-incriminating public admissions and statements, fabrications and outright lies, releasing or allowing his attorneys (Garbus, Dunne and Nadler) to release his Clemency Petition was not a smart move. If they thought it would be of any benefit, they are sadly mistaken. The Petition is replete with falsehoods that collapse under even casual scrutiny. Like this old canard about “paramilitary operations.”

On page 19 of the Petition and in footnote 15, Peltier states:

On April 24, 1975 the FBI began preparing to conduct “paramilitary operations” on the Pine Ridge Reservation particularly against the AIM.” The footnote stated: See April 24, 1975 Memorandum, Gebhardt to O’Connell. “the use of Special Agents of the FBI in Paramilitary Law enforcement Operation in Indian Country

This was the allegedly infamous “Sanctioned Memo” that was addressed in detail by the NPPA in 2006 in an Editorial Essay debunking claims by another AIM thug and lowlife, the now deceased Bob Robideau.[i] Peltier also made this ridiculous claim in his ninth-grade reading level autobiography, Prison Writings.[ii]

There’s no surprise that Peltier and previous attorneys, and Robideau, would only see want they want to see in the memo, but it is surprising that Messrs. Garbus didn’t take the time to vet Peltier’s bogus claims about the meaning and significance of this very straight-forward memorandum. So much for thorough research and pitifully weak advocacy.[iii]


It would be too kind to say that Robideau at the time, was just honestly mistaken regarding his characterization of the purpose of this memorandum because he had alleged this before, as had the LPDC and Peltier. This has become one of the cornerstones of Peltier folklore. Peltier, and now his misguided attorneys, deliberately misrepresent the purpose and meaning of this memo in their pathetic cries for clemency. However, any reasonable person (current legal scream team notwithstanding) who takes the time to read and comprehend the memo would easily understand that Peltier is wrong (kind assumption) or deliberately lying (a reality) about this fatally flawed claim.

The purpose of the April 24, 1975 internal FBI memo,[iv]  "The use of Special Agents of the FBI in a paramilitary law enforcement operation in the Indian Country," is stated in the very first sentence;

“…to brief the Attorney General…on the role of the FBI in the event of a major confrontation in Indian Country…"

The memo clearly states the problems the FBI encountered while coordinating the American Indian Movement (AIM) siege of Wounded Knee in February 1973 by still attempting to establish a clearly defined chain of command structure and decision making process. The memo shows that no less than a dozen agencies: Department of Justice attorneys, United States Attorney, White House officials, Department of the Interior, FBI, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Marshal's Service, Public Information Officers, Community Relations Service, Department of Defense, U.S. Army, Tribal Police, in addition to church and social groups and the media, all contributed to a situation that FBI officials regarded as detrimental to resolving what was first and foremost a hostage situation. 

Conflicting directives emanated from a lack of continuity, divided authority, and an indefinite command structure that fostered confusion during the seventy-one day siege. The FBI wanted, but did not secure: the operational direction and leadership role it desired, to remove any political influence and considerations from what was essentially a tactical law-enforcement operation.

This position paper was reviewed by a number of FBI officials as evident by the eight (8) sets of initials at the end of the memo. In addition, a handwritten notation at the bottom of the cover page, and a date of August 11, 1975, clearly shows that there were still questions about control and accountability even after the murders of Special Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams in June, 1975.

Can Peltier and The Three…Stooattorneys, grasp that distinction? Evidentially not. Or more likely, they just ignorantly evade it in the hopes that everyone one else does also. (The USDOJ Pardon Attorney, the Attorney General and the President certainly won’t.)

Without restating the entire memo (which concerned readers are encouraged to read for themselves), some of the more relevant points follow:
Problems confronting the FBI:

           -Throughout the operation there was a definite lack of continuity as each senior representative replaced another.

           -There was divided authority among the many agencies present at Wounded Knee…

           -The senior Government representative, Departmental Attorneys, and members of the USA's staff issued conflicting instructions.

          -The FBI was not equipped logistically to operate in a paramilitary situation in open terrain which ultimately ended in a 71-day siege.

          -In essence…complete confusion existed as there were a number of DOJ (Department of Justice) representatives on the scene, each issuing conflicting orders.

          -There was no coordination between the agencies other than that provided by the FBI, nor was there any advanced planning done.

           -(DOJ officials) would fly back to Washington, D.C., presumably for conferences and would return with new policy of which FBIHQ (FBI Headquarters) was not aware.

          -SAC Held (FBI Special Agent in Charge) at the time advised FBIHQ to have any success at Wounded Knee it would be necessary to withdraw the "political types" and make it an FBI operation under FBI direction and leadership.

          -…there was a constant vacillation of instructions and policy which was devastating.

           -It was necessary to constantly explain matters and give advice from a law enforcement standpoint.

          -It should be clearly stated that the FBI does not desire to become involved in any political situations and definitely not participate in any discussion where it is obviously political in nature.

And,
          -All SAC’s recommended should we in the future become involved in another situation similar to Wounded Knee where Special Agent personnel are deployed that the entire operation be under the direction of FBI officials and when law enforcement personnel from other agencies are involved it should be clearly understood the FBI is in the decision making role.

          -(The Attorney General should)…fully understand if such an incident occurs in the future or an incident similar to Wounded Knee and the FBI is involved, the FBI will insist upon taking charge from the outset…

                                                    * * *

If Peltier’s present clemency attorneys took the time to thoroughly read and understand this memo they would not be able to claim it was somehow a mandate for the government to sanction anything in Indian Country. Quite the contrary, this memo means exactly what it states; the folklore fabrications notwithstanding.
So who is Peltier and his lawyers trying to fool anyway? Peltier supporters? Perhaps, and this is easily done. People who took the effort to properly read and understand what is a very straight-forward government position paper? Not hardly.
Garbus, Dunne, Nadler, Et. Al, thank you again for making Peltier’s clemency application public. It was really a dumb move.

We’ll end with a familiar refrain:

Dear President Obama:

It’s unlikely, but if Leonard Peltier’s clemency application should ever reach your desk, please weigh it in regard to just two of Peltier’s many public statements concerning the unprovoked attack and brutal murders of two federal agents, “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again because it was the right thing to do” (2010), and, “I don’t regret any of this for a minute” (2014). Peltier remains a remorseless and unrepentant murderer.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods


[i] http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#critic The reason why Robideau abandoned Peltier can be found on the Rezinate Blog. 
[ii] Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999) 129
[iii] There may be positions open at the law firm of Boring and Leach, 118 NW. 4th St., Guymon, OK 73942
[iv] http://www.noparolepeltier.com/letters.html It should be noted that the hand-written underlining in this copy of the memo (provided for reference and educational purposes under the "fair use doctrine" from the original LPDC website), were made previously by someone in the LPDC. Concerned researchers are invited to compare those identified sections to the ones enumerated in the editorial essay, and then determine of the two which is the honest evaluation of the purpose and intent of this FBI memorandum.

Monday, June 13, 2016

PELTIER: SAME ANSWER, SAME LIES...



Dear Supporters:

Reposted from Rezinate:

Rezinate and I don’t agree on everything, but one thing we certainly do.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed

Rezilnate Blog 6/13/16:


“I’ve given the same answer for 40 years. I didn’t do it and I won’t say that I did. I won’t betray my people like that, I won't betray my culture,” said the activist.

The more accurate statement would be to say Peltier has told the same lies for forty years - some of which he has been obliged to drop like the Mr.X fairytale and the no he never even went near the slain agents or their vehicles - but who can keep count when the lies have been part and parcel of the fabricated myth?
Peltier now belatedly says:

“Of course I feel remorse,” he added. “Nobody should have died that day, the whole thing should never have happened. It was a terrible tragedy.”

That may be the most truthful thing Peltier has ever said as he now to quote his very words related to shooting Coler at point blank range “begs like a m...f...” for clemency.

And were it not for his mistaken belief that agents Williams and Coler were looking for him related to a Wisconsin fugitive warrant no one would died that day  - not Williams or Coler, nor Joe Stuntz whose death is directly attributable to what ensued as initiated by Peltier and whose blood is on his hands.

So what exactly is Peltier remorseful about at this stage of the game in the midst of a clemency application?

Is it the stupidity of his actions that landed him behind bars?

Is it the grief of his victim’s survivors or what he has put his own family and the nations through?

Or is merely about the fact that he threw away his own life and longs for the thug days when he got to tote a gun and stick it in a woman’s mouth to interrogate her?

Peltier says he won’t confess because to do so would be to “betray my culture”.

Which culture is that exactly? Is it the one based on traditional values, a culture where assuming responsibility for one’s actions was a lynch pin and lying was anathema?

Where integrity was the hallmark of a man rather than a lot of whining, crying, and posturing?

Doesn’t  sound like it to me - it sounds more like the thug culture of the AIM gangbangers - the code of silence and forsaking everything including family for the brotherhood.

Peltier says he’s prepared to die in prison, well that’s wisdom and probably unavoidable - nothing heroic about it, no warrior’s stance, just an inevitability based on personal guilt so he might as well try to talk the talk because he ain’t going anywhere.

“Indian lives matter”? Damn right they do Peltier - Annie and Joe’s life mattered, as did the life of every individual that AIM took.

Perry Ray Robinson Jr., a black man AIM murdered at WK2, his life mattered - the lives of two white men Williams and Coler mattered, as did the lives of those buried in unmarked graves at WK2.

But the life of thug related to whether it is spent in prison or not ……. some might say that’s arguable.


Rezinate

Sunday, June 12, 2016

PELTIER: Spiritual BS...Rezinate


Dear Supporters:

Reposted from Rezinate:


The BS emanating from ILPDC just keeps getting deeper and deeper - it isn’t enough to portray Peltier’s participation in the murder of two federal agents as “fighting for treaty rights”, or attempt to portray him as some honored AIM leader.

Now the public is to be told another lie, that he was “called” to “help provide security amidst political tensions and violence between rival groups”- a contrived way of describing a cheap petty thug.

Really, tension between rival groups - would that be AIM and the Dick Wilson group, or would it be the rival factions within in AIM vying for territory and ascendency?

Was Peltier at WK 2? No.

Was he at the standoff in Ajo, Arizona between rival AIM groups? No.

Did he seek to provide his security and political expertise to tamp down the talk of labeling Annie Mae Pictou Aquash a snitch?

No, he in fact contributed to it and interrogated her gunpoint.

Did he demonstrate his “spiritual” nature or act “in the spirit of Crazy Horse” when he and Dave Hill forced Annie into making bombs with them? No.

Peltier in his latest interview makes an attempt to cast the Jumping Bull encampment and by extension AIM as being a “spiritual camp”.

Well how spiritual is it to intimidate, threaten, and bully people?

How spiritual is it for Peltier to steal Dino Butler's "pancake story" and attempt to make it his own, or to swear Mr. X was a stand up guy and actually existed?

How spiritual was it when he and Dennis Bank$ fled like scared rabbits during the Oregon RV stop leaving women behind to fend for themselves?

How spiritual are the unmarked hidden graves of AIM’s WK 2 victims?

How spiritual was it to ransack, pillage, burn, loot, and take elders hostage as AIM did at WK2?

How spiritual was all the drug and alcohol use or chasing after young girls thirteen or fourteen years old?

How spiritual were all the scams, all the grants and donations that went into the leaderships pockets?

To hell with AIM and Peltier.


Rezinate

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

PELTIER: NY DAILY NEWS, NEVER FORGET...NO CLEMENCY...

 
Dear Supporters:

As appeared in the New York Daily, News, May 7, 2016:

No clemency for Leonard Peltier

Manhattan: The May 30 article on Leonard Peltier “Won’t say I’m guilty” is filled with the same factual misstatements and false allegations used over the past four decades by Peltier in his failed legal appeals and clemency petitions. Similar to Peltier’s failed petitions for clemency, the article is filled with a combination of out-of-context court excerpts and falsehoods that have fueled the folklore surrounding Peltier since his conviction.

The facts have never changed. On June 26, 1975, Peltier was involved in an unprovoked attack on FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams while they were searching for a fugitive on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Both agents were caught in an open field in a deadly crossfire by members of the American Indian Movement. Both agents were critically wounded and then summarily executed by Peltier at point-blank range.

Peltier was convicted of murdering Coler and Williams. In well over a dozen appeals, twice reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, every aspect of Peltier’s trial has been reviewed in minute detail. Each time, Peltier’s conviction has been upheld.

Peltier has never taken responsibility for his crimes while imprisoned, nor has he ever expressed remorse. He has been far from a model prisoner and would never be considered a candidate for clemency but for his status as a political celebrity. In 1978, he was involved in an armed escape from Lompoc Penitentiary, during which shots were fired at prison guards. For this post-conviction criminal act, Peltier received an additional seven-year consecutive sentence.

The families of Coler and Williams continue to suffer from the loss of their loved ones, and the FBI Agents Association, comprising more than 13,000 active and former FBI special agents dedicated to providing support and advocacy to colleagues, will not allow Peltier’s legal and public relations team to portray him as anything other than who Peltier really is: an unremorseful, cold-blooded killer.
Peltier should not be shown a mercy he refused to offer to agents Coler and Williams in 1975, and has denied to their families and friends over the past four decades. President Obama should deny his petition for executive clemency. FBI Special Agent Reynaldo Tariche, President, FBI Agents Association

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/june-7-article-1.2663547

"In the Spirit of Coler and Williams"
Ed Woods

Sunday, June 5, 2016

PELTIER: NY DAILY NEWS; GINGER OTIS…SKEWED (SHAKY) REPORTING

Dear Supporters:

On May 30th the New York Daily News published an Exclusive, authored by Ginger Adams Otis, entitled Native American activist imprisoned 40 years for FBI agents deaths still fights for clemency from President Obama: ‘I am prepared to die here’ [i]

The fairly lengthy piece, along with several pictures, is just a litany of the same tedious and discredited myth and folklore that Peltier and his uninformed supporters have been peddling over the past four decades.

It is pathetically inaccurate, drawing on fabricated conclusions long ago discredited, and based on it’s own link, is on shaky grounds as serious reporting.

The below email offering to challenge Ms. Otis’s reporting has received no reply to date. A phone message left for her today, June 5th, will be followed-up again to reach her for comment.

NPPA Email dated May 31, 2016:

Ms. Otis:

I would like the opportunity to respond to your May 30th Daily News “Exclusive."

The piece is factually incorrect in so many respects:

Would it come as a surprise that you are 100% wrong when you stated:

“The FBI insisted that the agents were fired at first—but those claims were hard to substantiate without any firsthand eyewitness.”

Ms. Otis, there was an eyewitness who saw everything unfold and who told many others what was about to happen. Ron Williams was on the radio telling those in the FBI’s Rapid City office and other agents within radio contact that the occupants of the vehicle they followed onto Jumping Bull had rifles and were about to shoot at him and his partner, Agent Jack Coler. Those listening (as other AIM members joined in the assault on Coler and Williams) heard the gunfire and that Ron had been shot.

So your reporting, as unprofessional and one sided as it is, twists the facts for the readers, and perhaps in your own mind…if you had done some serious research...that Peltier shooting Ron Williams through his raised hand, blowing his fingers through the back of his head, is the same thing as you claiming there wasn’t a “firsthand eyewitness.”

Your reporting, or actually a puff piece promoting the Peltier myth and folklore, demands a rebuttal and I would challenge you on the misrepresentations and ignorance of the facts of this case.

If you have courage to stand behind your work and defend any scrutiny, please contact me.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Peltier extradited “illegally?” Really? Read what the Canadian Government concluded that Peltier was lawfully extradited to the U.S., and even without the Myrtle Poor Bear affidavits there was sufficient evidence to justify his removal. http://www.noparolepeltier.com/canadaletter.html

The government “reversing their position at trial?” The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals called Peltier’s claim,

And there’s so much more...

In other words, do some serious research other than relying on the ILPDC website as a primary source.



[i] http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/native-american-activist-jailed-40-years-shaky-prosecution-article-1.2654197 How ironic that the link to the NY Daily News and Ms. Otis’s, unreliable, untrustworthy, questionable, dubious, doubtful, tenuous, suspect, weak, unsound, unsupported, unsubstantiated and unfounded article includes its best descriptor, Shaky…