PELTIER: SHAMELESS PANDERING, DISTORTED HISTORY

Dear Supporters          

Peltier’s June 26, 2014 “Press release” regarding the 39^th anniversary of the line-of-duty murders of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams would have had some meaning if it came from someone with credibility. If the past four decades have proven anything it is that Peltier will say whatever he thinks he can to garner the sympathy of those few who have bought into the folklore.

Peltier takes a giant and fallacious leap into his own history as he provides us with:

“By the time of the Oglala shoot-out there had already been some 60 something of our Native people killed. These people are the ones we are commemorating here today. I always especially remember Joe Stunz (sic) who was a mentor to some of the younger boys in the community.”

Really? “60 something” and “a mentor?” 

Peltier consistently demonstrates that he can’t keep straight or remember his own fabrications (lies) or those proffered by the LPDC and LPDOC. The number of those alleged victims has varied over the years but now it’s down to “sixty something.” Repeating the fable has not validated the facts. Well, and for perhaps the hundredth time, believers and non-believers are invited to look at list and decide for themselves.  Remember too, that one of those on the list was Anna Mae Aquash; the AIM member who Peltier stuck a gun in her mouth suspecting she was an informant (this was consistent with Peltier’s reputation and disregard for women in general), and who was killed, by AIM.  (Footnote 1). Regardless of what AIM thought, Anna Mae was not an “agent provocateur” (a term they love to brand people with). She was not an informant but that mattered little when she was shot in the head and dumped in a ditch.

This is the second time in less than a month that Peltier and his dwindling network cannot even get Stuntz’s name right. Nonetheless, Peltier is directly responsible for Stuntz’s death. As has been pointed out, Joe Stuntz was shooting at responding law enforcement and was killed in that exchange. Joe Stuntz followed Leonard Peltier to his own death.  Peltier’s feckless leadership of AIM members placed them all in jeopardy that June day.

But let’s assume for the moment that after the assault and wounding of Agents’ Coler and Williams, and the brutal point-blank killing shots to their faces, and after stealing Agent Coler’s FBI jacket and giving Peltier a smile in the process…lets imagine what kind of “mentor” Stuntz would have been had he escaped from Pine Ridge that fateful day.

Peltier offers no examples (the NPPA submits there are none) of what kind of mentoring Stuntz had or would have provided the younger AIM members.

Had Stuntz successfully escaped, what lessons would he have imparted to other AIM members, young or old? Let’s not forget that during the escape Peltier made that fateful admission “…the M…..F…..was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway.” (Fn. 2)

So Stuntz makes it out alive and is on the run. He is speaking to others in a private and secluded place not being able to display his trophy in public. He wears the FBI raid jacket and points to the large F.B.I. initials and tells them, “See that’s what you do when the white man and Feds come to the Reservation. You attack. You shoot them and if they ain’t dead, you shoot them in the face like the dogs they are. We counted coup and rolled them over to honor our warrior heritage that the enemy must face Mother Earth so he will never meet the creator in the afterlife. That’s what we did. I took the wasichu’s  jacket instead of a scalp like our brave ancestors would have done so I can show you how brave we were that day. We stole their weapons too, and following the Eagle made our way out of the battle…”

Some mentor Stuntz would have made.

On July 7^th Peltier’s latest message stooped to levels that the NPPA could not believe even he could reach. Entitled “A very personal request,” and concluding with a “Friend in Need,” he claims he has found the “best legal team” and all he needs ”to book him immediately” is $50,000 along with donations solicited on Indiegogo. Not a mere pittance he admits, and in a follow-up on July 10^th from the rented room in Lake Mary, Florida, probably Harry David Hill (aka Mr. X; and the jury is still out whether he was an agent provocateur as well. Fn. 3 ) offers the conundrum:

“It was the great and beautiful Jane Fonda who purchased it last to help Leonard. Jane donated it to the current owner who has been gracious enough to let us sell it for a percentage.   It is Leonard's most sought after piece of artwork.  Beautiful in every way.  The iconic portrait of a warrior.  It is called " Protector of the Woods"

Hanoi Jane. (Fn. 4)

It’s “gracious” (hardly generous) that the current owner is willing to give up a “percentage.”

 Indiegogo as of 7/12/14 reached 10% of it’s projected goal of 175K with $17,818. So there are a few gullible people out there who have never asked Peltier the tough questions. How much has he taken in and where has all the money gone? Has he paid his taxes on this income? Money and funding remains Peltier’s dirty little secret. Transparency is not a word he either understands or honors. Perhaps more follow-up letters to the IRS are in order.

Peltier’s motivation for all this is designed to generate a false sense of hope to keep the coffers from completely draining with donations from  über-gullible, misinformed and misguided supporters. Those who are incapable of moving past the fabrications (lies), myth and folklore; the fantasized version of who Peltier is in real life.

The heart of the matter is the new dream team.

Looking back over the years there have been many capable attorneys who have, as a matter of course, reviewed the entire legal history, from the trial, evidence, testimony and transcripts and throughout all the appeals. Some were motivated by notoriety, trying to glean some free publicity from representing the likes of Peltier, others, were genuinely committed to ensuring that no stone was left unturned and devoted hundreds, even thousands of  hours of their professional time and effort, and many, a significant amount of their own personal finances (pro bono; free to Peltier), to advance the Peltier cause. Collectively they have all reached the same point in the process; there’s nothing left. Only once in the four decade history of the Peltier case has there been any progress, and that was the October 1984 “ballistic hearing” where they alleged that an October 2, 1975 FBI teletype received through the FOIPA meant something other than it really did. But the final word from the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals was crystal clear: “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; although the defense had its own ballistics expert, it offered no contrary evidence.” (Fn.5)

In other words, another allegation without substance.

Peltier’s attorneys have collectively, and valiantly in some instances, tried every manner of legal technicality and maneuvering to no avail. There are no smoking guns or loopholes to explore. Many of those who have tried to support Peltier learned the hard way that his ungrateful, ragged demeanor and sociopathic, unrelenting personality pushed away even the best of them.

None of this goes to innocence however. We just don’t need the intimately examined court record proving his factual guilt; we have Peltier’s own statements over the years, proving beyond any doubt, his actual and unrepentant guilt; “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.” (Peltier 2/6/10) (Fn.6)

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods

Footnotes:

1) http://www.noparolepeltier.com/response.html#7

http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#right (For more details of AIM related and suspected murders see http://rezinate.wordpress.com/

2) http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#right (Paragraph 14 and footnote #4 of that essay: Looking Cloud trial transcript at 144-145; in reference to a statement made to the witness by Leonard Peltier: Prosecutor: “Exactly what did he say?” Witness: “He said the M…..F…..was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway.”)

3) http://rezinate.wordpress.com/

4) http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#fraud

From 2004 Editorial Essay: The funding issue is a constant source of frustration for the LPDC and may help explain why they are still in El Paso instead of Lewisburg. Their online store is filled with hackneyed and uninteresting flea market items except for one puzzling piece of artwork entitled "Protector of the Woods."  The painting is uninspiring, even confusing; it's difficult to tell exactly what's hiding behind that white birch. But the real problem with this particular piece is that the original is owned by the one person who is an anathema-the antichrist-to every American serviceman and servicewoman, prior, present, living and deceased; Hanoi Jane³, aka Jane Fonda.

5) http://www.noparolepeltier.com/800.html

6) http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#confession

 http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Not the only place in town....

where Peltier's alleged innocence is dismantled.

Recently posted to Rezinate by the NPPA:

When launched on April 30, 2000, the NPPA was the only website, to my knowledge, (aside from the FBI Minneapolis Office that had a RESMURS section), to challenge what was the dominance of the LPDC on the Internet. The initial reaction was rabid and rapid. It started with a “guest book,” (admittedly naively) believing that there could be some meaningful debate. After about six months of trying to reason with Peltier supporters (with the record and facts) it became a diversion…perhaps their intention…because every time it came down to specifics, the response was to segue into the ether of irrelevance, or the old standby, Cointelpro. So it was shut down. In the meantime the “Debate Continues” section continued with Editorial Essays laying out the facts and responding to every-single-one of Peltier’s shallow claims of innocence. Much of this was shared with him personally in July 2009. All the questions have been answered and the material speaks for itself; now the periodic Blog is sufficient to bring current issues up to date. I have neither the time nor the patience to reargue points with people who’s minds are closed or with those obstinate ones who don’t have the proverbial dog in the fight, or that it’s in their nature just to be annoying. Although, some personal debates have resulted in Peltier supporters changing their opinions about the folklore they had accepted as fact; the out of touch with reality Swearingen being one of them. The many others I have kept in confidence. And, to be certain (because the evidence was there years ago that the LPDC was keeping important matters…from…Peltier), that every time something is posted on the website, Peltier, initially at Leavenworth, then Lewisburg, and now at Coleman, receives a hard copy in the mail. And as for clemency, and for whomever cares what anyone in Belgium has to say on the matter, we’ll just remind those who will contemplate his freedom what he said not very long ago, “I never thought my commitment would mean sacrificing like this, but I was willing to do so nonetheless. And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.” And, of course, the old standby of Peltier watching as Joe Stuntz put on the dead agent’s jacket, and smiling. Peltier wasn’t in Seattle that day. I’ll leave the exposure of AIM to those, like Rezinate, LBW and others, who have studied, experienced it, and know the facts about the damage AIM has done to the ’cause’ of Native American rights. The NPPA will concentrate on Peltier, exposing his lies and fabrications, ensure he remains where he is, while continuing to honor the memory and sacrifice of two young men who died a brutal death at his hands.

"In the Spirt of Coler and Williams"
Ed Woods

PELTIER'S $1,000 DONATION...

On September 26th, in an impassioned, if somewhat pathetic plea, the LPDOC laid out their dire financial straits. “We need money, envelopes, paper, donations of any size, sponsor a delegate, make a monthly pledge,” they say in effect. In other words, they’re broke. At least, thank goodness they didn’t go down the “tax-deductible donations” road this time…perhaps they have learned a valuable lesson from the IRS…but no one at the LPDOC will admit to that. And it’s no wonder that this “grassroots organization” (and all the while we thought it was an International effort—Elsie are you still out there?), is dying on the vine. Over the past several years at least Native America and intelligent supporters are seeing through the fog of Peltier folklore.

This begging is nothing new and has been addressed by the NPPA too many times already with a major review going back to May, 2004 (please see Editorial Essay #24; Peltier Donations: Scam, Fraud?, in the NPPA Debate Continues Section).

That essay repeated a statement from one of the LPDC’s (predecessor of the LPDOC) leaders, Bob Free that;

“Transparency regarding accounting and donations will be posted on the web.”

Two points; it was obviously a problem within the organization, and of course, that never happened. Too many financial skeletons in the closet perhaps?

But we’ll up the ante from a previous offer (please see NPPA Blog dated September 6, 2010 below). The NPPA will donate $1,000 (up from the prior offer of $500) to Peltier and the LPDOC if they honor a commitment made to their supporters years ago:

Post on whoisleonardpeltier.info the following:

Peltier’s last five years (2006-2010) federal and state tax returns, and the federal and state tax returns for the LPDC (2005-2008) and the LPDOC’s returns for 2009 and 2010.

That’s all they have to do and a check for a grand will be in the mail. Promise.

But we know this is more than just problematic for Leonard and the Committee…what they don’t want supporters (either the die-hards or the well-healed) to know, is how much has been taken in, or more importantly, where has it gone?

As an aside, the September 26th message also stated “Leonard’s recent transfer to USP-Coleman in Florida has created sudden and unexpected increases in the cost of attorney travel.” Which is interesting, and silly, because, as we’ve understood over the years, the attorney’s working on Peltier’s behalf have done so, pro bono. And there is no reason for any attorney to travel to Coleman to speak with Peltier anyway (unless it’s just to meet the legend), because anything they would contrive as an issue is all a matter of record. Even pursing the FOIPA material can be handled from an attorney’s office and not Peltier’s prison cell. Besides, there’s still the U.S. Mail.

But let’s not stray too far from the fundamentals, from Peltier’s actual guilt and total lack of remorse for what happened at Jumping Bull, or even acceptance of any responsibility for that day.

The two most important sentences for Peltier supporters and detractors alike to contemplate over the past thirty-six years still remain;

“I seen Joe when he pulled it out of the trunk and I looked at him when he put it on, and he gave me a smile.”

(Of course that was the dead agent’s jacket Joe Stuntz was wearing when he was shot while shooting at responding agents and officers later that day. Please see Editorial Essay #54) Write Leonard and ask him to explain that one. And,

“I never thought my commitment would mean sacrificing like this, but I was willing to do so nonetheless. And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.”

(Please see Editorial Essay #52) It was “The right thing to do?” Instead of Leonard, write the President to demonstrate Peltier’s attitude towards his crimes and that he is not deserving of the slightest consideration for clemency.

Add to that the decade’s long lie that “Mr. X.” did it; if there’s any doubt about that, just watch the movie (http://www.noparolepeltier.com/lie.html).

And then there’s what the jury had to consider; distilling down all the other evidence to that core testimony each juror needed to weigh truthfulness, and the degree of Peltier’s guilt or innocence. Those “Critical Witnesses,” taken as a whole, left little doubt then, as they do now. (Please see Editorial Essay #55.)

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
NPPA

"I was railroaded, victimized," "I'm innocent"

In Leonard’s September 6th statement it’s almost as if he’s calling his loyal supporters idiots. He must think that because even the most ardent follower…those who won’t be sidetracked or confused by the facts…can’t read. However, if they read just 10% of the legal history of this case they’d start asking Peltier some serious questions. But that’s not likely to happen and just how Peltier wants it…follow me he says, I was railroaded, I’m innocent, I was victimized. Drinking the full-dose Cool Aid, laced with all the mythology and folklore, is exactly what he wants his supporters to do…but don’t ask too many questions…and definitely don’t seek those pesky details. Just follow Peltier blindly into the forest.

“Staggering Constitutional violations?” (Peltier’s October 16, 2010 meeting with his “team of lawyers,” his “dream team” must have been quite a gathering.) Hardly. If there was one, let alone many, he still wouldn’t be sitting in Lewisburg. To think that at this stage there would be a legitimate basis for any procedural legal action is inane. But then that goes along with the grand Peltier plot that the entire government and the judiciary, right up to the U.S. Supreme court conspired, as he put’s it, to convict the last Indian standing for the brutal deaths of two FBI agents. Gee then, it must have been Mr. X.
And everyone knows Leonard lied about that little matter. (http://www.noparolepeltier.com/lie.html)

“But I was in Seattle that day.”

No, Leonard didn’t really say that, but for argument sake (again…) let’s repeat the twenty-seven (27) most important words—one single sentence—from the thousands of pages relating to this case: “I seen Joe when he pulled it out of the trunk and I looked at him when he put it on, and he gave me a smile.” (ITOSH p.552; See also July 12, 2010 blog for a further explanation and http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#finished)

If those twenty-seven words were changed to: “I thought those agents were after me. I panicked and started shooting and other’s helped. But I had to kill them because dead men make poor witnesses,” their meaning and significance would not be any different.

“As a young man, all I wanted to do was make a positive difference in People’s lives.” He made a difference for sure, but Leonard came very late (about two years earlier) to the “movement” and any pretense of support for his “people.” Prior to that he was just getting by, and “When I was younger,” Leonard says, “I thought it was a lot of fun running around like that, shaking off all those wives. Now I’m older, I realize I hurt a lot of those women, and I feel very bad about it, I really do. I think about them all the time now, especially the ones that had my kids.” (ITSOCH p.533) Then he turned to murder and hijacked an otherwise proud native tradition.

If Leonard believes all this rhetoric…and he does…and because he’s no fool and is milking the only thing that has kept any light shinning on him (although the bright light has faded to a dim bulb) he needs to stand up and become the warrior he’s claimed to be…to use a colloquialism, he needs to find a backbone.

Stand up and show your remaining supporters where the money has gone (post yours and the LPDOC/LPDC’s tax returns), and if you’re not terrified about showing the whole story, link to the No Parole Peltier Association (NPPA) website.

If you won’t do that, then you remain the same coward you and the others were at Jumping Bull.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

June 26, 2010: Peltier's confused history...

Peltier’s June 26, 2010 statement asks what remains of his dwindling supporters (for those very few who even have American Indian roots) that they should never forget. “So don’t forget. Not ever,” he proclaims in yet another scamming metaphor as he continues to confuse and blur the correlation between a proud Native American history and his own criminal acts.

And, he uses the dreaded G-word yet again.

It’s not difficult to separate truth from falsehood. It is totally irresponsible to state that the United States pursued a policy of genocide toward the Indians, to cite the Washita as an example. The United States did not follow a policy of genocide; it did try to find a just solution to the Indian problem. The consistent idea was to civilize the Indians, incorporate them into the community, make them part of the melting pot. That it did not work, that it was foolish, conceited, even criminal, may be true, but that doesn’t turn a well-meant program into genocide (Stephen Ambrose).

Peltier prophetically and thankfully mentions two very important people in this saga, Anna Mae Aquash and Joe Stuntz.

Anna Mae is intoned by Peltier for one reason, and one reason only, to deflect guilt. Do we have to remind Peltier that her kidnapping and brutal rape and murder sits on the doorstep of the American Indian Movement? Anna Mae was suspected of being one of the “scouts” that Peltier erroneously compares to “an informant,” which has been proven not to be true. But AIM’s suspicions prevailed and without any benefit of a presumption of innocence she was sentenced to a horrible and demeaning death, and Peltier’s involvement will hopefully still come to light. That inquiry is still ongoing and her family anxiously awaits her final justice. AIM, on the other hand, was an abject failure, it accomplished nothing and only worsened the plight of those they allegedly claimed to help; the history of AIM is replete with examples.

Joe Stuntz, wearing a dead FBI agent’s jacket, was killed that June day while shooting at responding law enforcement.

Arguably one of the most important quotes of the entire Peltier matter comes from Peltier himself, and it is critical to place it in its factual context:

“I seen Joe when he pulled it out of the trunk and I looked at him when he put it on, and he gave me a smile (ITOSH p.552).”

For those with some common sense, picture this: There are two government sedans, Peltier, Stuntz, and others are gathered around stealing whatever they can from the vehicles. Stuntz grabs agent Jack Coler’s jacket from the trunk and puts it on, smiling. Laying in the dirt next to them are two dead FBI agents. Both had been first shot and wounded and then had their faces brutally blasted away at point-blank range, while one even begged for his life. Since they were both shot in the face, someone there had to actually touch them and roll them over to face the ground. (We won’t dignify that act by even suggesting counting coup.)

These are the actions of brave warriors? In 1975? Hardly.

No, these were the actions of cowards led by Leonard Peltier.

Peltier’s confusion about the facts of his own case and how it does not tie into the history of Native America, reinforces the notion of how Peltier thinks others perceive him. It is clear that his life at Lewisburg has taken its toll and allows much time to reflect about his actions that day. Perhaps in fleeting moments of honesty—if he is even capable of that, it’s certain he would have acted differently. But that’s an immense stretch, as he looks at the bloated figure in the metal mirror on the wall of his concrete cell.

We can thank Leonard Peltier for the reminder, and no, we won’t forget the cowards of Jumping Bull. Peltier can rehearse his confused rhetoric and practice his scamming technique for those who blindly follow. Followers who don’t have the stamina or insight to seek out and understand the facts surrounding his guilt while he shamefully continues to denigrate what is otherwise a proud culture and heritage.

Real Native America understands that. Leonard Peltier never will.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

(Next Parole Reconsideration Hearing: July 2024)

PELTIER CONFESSES TO "INCIDENT AT OGLALA"

PELTIER CONFESSES TO “INCIDENT AT OGLALA”
February 6, 2010

In a statement today celebrating the anniversary of his arrest in Canada and the beginning of his thirty-four year incarceration, Leonard Peltier confesses to his crimes at Jumping Bull.

But as always, and with self-serving drivel, he couches it in terms of himself—the perpetual victim of circumstances.

Peltier laments Joe Stuntz; as well he should, the young Indian probably thought he was doing the right thing by following the older leaders and not realizing he was being led down a dark path by Leonard himself. After agents’ Coler and Williams were executed, young Joe Stuntz (who perhaps even witnessed the murders), helped ransack their vehicles, stole and wore Jack Coler’s FBI raid jacket and then shot at agents and officers responding to Jumping Bull—until a law enforcement bullet stopped him.

Peltier, not the tough guy anymore, whines like a baby “it isn’t fair,” “I don’t deserve this,” “I have cried so many tears,” and is still not willing to accept or understand that this is the price he pays for his feigned hubris.

“I never thought my commitment would mean sacrificing like this, but I was willing to do so nonetheless. And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.”

In other words he never gave any serious consideration to what his actions really meant or what price would be paid for those decisions. If his decisions were made “nonetheless” then they were made out of ignorance of the consequences like most common criminals.

Peltier telling whomever will listen that he’d do it all over again because it was the right thing to do, clearly establishes one critical element of his crime for this moment, and his next parole hearing:

Peltier knows better than anyone that two human beings were brutally attacked, severely wounded and then summarily executed that day. That’s what happened at Jumping Bull…and now there are no other excuses from Peltier. From his own words, gone is the lie of self-defense, and what remains is an admission of complicity and guilt.

To reinforce the notion of unrepentant culpability he assures us that given the same circumstances he would “…do it all over again.” What he fails to realize is that he’s making the case that he is still a danger to society. He reaffirms there has been no rehabilitation for him over the past thirty-four years.

Every breath he takes denigrates the sacrifice of two young agents who died a violent and horrible death. He raises money on their destroyed faces trying to convince the ignorant or enamored of some historic legitimacy as he maligns an otherwise proud Native American tradition. He is an affront to every genuine warrior from that rich past and when Peltier does meet The Creator, a judgment will be made as he answers for his crimes at Jumping Bull and against the proud heritage he’s hijacked from the past.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
NPPA