Dear Supporters:
1)
Mo Money:
In
an announcement entitled “What do we do next?” dated 2/28/13 the LPDOC tried to
shore up its flagging support and thinning support groups. To answer their
question: Maybe…Punt? They say that one of their ongoing efforts has been with
Amnesty International. Yes, the same U.N., UN-American group that provides
support provided that they have neither used nor advocated violence. Go
figure! The LPDOC ends with a startling comment, and for once perhaps an honest
one (but no way of really knowing): “the New York concert was not successful
financially.” So much for the great plans of mice and men AIMed (no pun
intended) at fringe elements and convicted murderers. Truth is, nobody is
admitting how much the concert really made, but it comes as no surprise that
maybe it was a complete flop as they beg again for ‘mo money’ from unwitting
supporters, and then embarrassingly advertise the price of Peltier T-shirts
have been drastically reduced. What a bargain. Maybe they should just give them
away. They would make handy dust rags.
2)
Escape plan Part 3:
Since
Mr. Peltier hasn’t responded to the first two straight-forward questions (see Blogs
2/5 and 2/19) regarding any first escape plan that didn’t involve phantom
assassins and government plots, we’ll have to pursue this a little further to
seek some answers, or at least get to the bottom of the issue.
After
being arrested in Canada on February 6, 1976 Peltier was housed at the Lower Mainland
Regional Correctional Centre, Burnaby, British Columbia, previously known and
still then locally referred to as Oakalla Prison (although it closed in 1991
and was replaced by pretrial services and a correctional center, or ‘centre’ as
our northern neighbors call it).
Peltier
was in the “Observation Ward” along the certifiably criminally insane and some
IRA terrorists (same category, different causes and titles), which kept him
under constant security surveillance.
Peltier’s
first priority to move forward with any alleged first escape plan was to get
out of “observation” and into general population where the opportunities for
escape would be considerably better.
* * *
But
first a little more history:
Peltier
and the others fled Pine Ridge after the murders of Agents Coler and Williams
and was nearly captured, and slightly wounded, during his escape from Oregon
State Troopers on November 14, 1975 while riding in Marlon Brando’s motor home.
Peltier was helped by a doctor who
was sympathetic to the American Indian Movement (AIM) and participated during
the pillaging and murders of WKII in 1973 (one has to wonder if he provided any
assistance or had knowledge of the injuries and death of Perry Ray Robinson).
Apparently—the killing of FBI agents be damned—the good doctor was an aider and
abettor, after-the-fact to felony murder. Anyway, Peltier eventually made his
way over the border into British Columbia and later over the mountains to
Alberta to Smallboy’s camp way out in the
bush near Hinton where the Mounties finally nabbed him. No secret about who
gave him up…concerns about Anna Mae Aquash notwithstanding. Peltier said “the
person who was responsible for our arrest was the old man Yellow Bird who we
learned later was paid for his work by the R.C.M.P.” (Footnote #1) Peltier was
on the run in Canada for approximately 2 ½ months and another five months prior to that.
Why
is this relevant? Because Peltier said “I’d been in and out of Canada a half
dozen times…I wasn’t running to Canada just to hide…I (spent) most of my time
in the Untied States.” (Fn. 2)
This
could very well be empty boasting but also significant timing. AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash was killed
in December 1975 because she was suspected by AIM hierarchy, in their raging
paranoia, of being an informant—let alone that during the escape she heard
Peltier’s admission and details of the agents’ deaths, including the key
admission, “The m... f... begged for his life but I shot him anyway.” She was
in jeopardy at the hands of those she had faithfully supported. She already had
a warning as Peltier previously put a gun-in-her- mouth to make her confess and
prove what a tough guy he was with Indian women. Although two are now serving
life sentences for her murder, Peltier’s participation—or contribution to the
orders to kill her—have yet to be unearthed;
Peltier’s
shallow laments over her death do not sit well with Anna Mae’s family. (Fn. 3)
Yet,
ironically, even the sleazy, ponytailed, wannabe, “I’ll take the 5th”
AIM lawyer, Bruce Ellison, (at least according to Matthiessen’s reporting),
didn’t believe Anna Mae was an informant, but his actions then and later
indicate otherwise. (Fn. 4)
* * *
Peltier’s
scheme to work his way into general population was through winning support from
Amnesty International...playing them like Nero’s fiddle, which points to one of
the greatest ironies in the entire Peltier matter; had his name been John Smith
and the killings took place in Indiana, no one would even know his name; or
care.
Another,
slightly lesser, but significant
irony was a November 1976 letter from the A.I. visitor to Oakalla lamenting
poor Leonard Peltier’s treatment at the hands of the Canadian prison
authorities that demanded, or at least proffered, “Once again I must urge
you to transfer Mr. Peltier into the general inmate population.”
A
third irony was at the bottom of this letter, on official stationary, a
statement of Amnesty International’s mission, which said in part, “Amnesty
International works, irrespective of political considerations, for the release
of men and women who are in prison because of their beliefs, ethic origin,
colour or language, provided that they have neither used nor advocated
violence.”
Ooops.
Yes, Peltier was, in fact a Native American (part French though), and was apparently
successful in selling the A.I. visitor a bill of goods that he was being
discriminated against because of his ethnicity and beliefs. Or, less likely,
but just as evident , that Amnesty International speaks out of both sides of it’s
mouth, or to put it colloquially, with forked tongues.
Maybe
they just forgot or overlooked that Peltier was in jail suspected (at that
point) of a brutal double murder.
So,
Mr. Peltier, please answer these questions: Was your whining to Amnesty
International to get into general population just a ploy to help facilitate an
escape? And, was this step-one of the first escape attempt that was devoid of
assassins but had some other, more obvious, motive?
“In
the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed
Woods
Postscript:
Unrelated
to the one’s above, yet one more irony in the Peltier saga is that Peltier is
serving time in Coleman, Florida with Melvin Guyon, the murderer of yet another
FBI agent.
Footnotes
1)
Matthiessen, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, pp. 250, 403
2)
Trimbach, American Indian Mafia, p.457; Footnote 8: Unpublished interview
provided to News From Indian Country by the late Yakima journalist Richard
LaCourse.
4) ITSOCH, p.252
