Leonard Peltier Honor Page

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Leonard Peltier is an Anishinabe/Lakota who was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, and who today is incarcerated in the federal penitentiary of Leavenworth, Kansas, although there is NO PROOF AT ALL that he is guilty of any crime or offense whatsoever.

A page, where we hope, to show honor to our Brother. Please feel free to contact Leonard and let him know that there are those of us who are thinking and praying for him. Contact LPDC and see what you can do to help.......

"Brother, our prayers and hearts are with you." SH

Subject: [nwpeltiersupport] Leonard Peltier Transferred to Terre Haute

Subject: Leonard Peltier Transferred to Terre Haute - IMMEDIATE ACTION

FROM THE Leonard Peltier Defense Committee HEADQUARTERS

This morning, July 1, 2005, Cyrus Peltier, grandson of Leonard went to

visit his grandpa as he has for the last 13 years. He was stopped at

the visiting area and was told, "He's gone". Upon questioning, he was

told that Leonard was transferred and after further inquiries, finally

found out that Leonard has been moved to USP Terre Haute, Indiana. At

this time, Leonard is in the hole and is being kept there indefinitely.

It is basic procedure to keep transferred inmates in the hole while

processing takes place, however we do not know how long that will take.

We are asking anyone and everyone to get on the phones and get out their

pens and paper. Let's flood the telephones with calls regarding

Leonard! Let's stuff their mailboxes with letters about Leonard! Urge

the prison to allow Leonard to contact his family as soon as possible.

Ask how he is, ask where to write, ask if he's OK, ask about his health,

his privileges (phones, letters, visits, religious rights, ability to

paint, etc.) inquire as to his safety-anything-just keep calling and let

the prison know that the entire world is watching and is concerned about

Leonard. Please be sure to be courteous and professional, as we do not

The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Peltier Legal Team and Leonard's

family are working hard to ensure Leonard's safety and we will keep you

Supporters should use this new address for writing to Leonard Peltier.

Please send him cards and letters to keep his spirits up !

The Lakota Oyate speaks regarding Anna Mae and the American Indian Movement (I'm not quite sure what to make of this...I list it here for persons to make their own judgements)

~Below is an article discussing the sentencing of Arlo Looking Cloud, the man convicted of Anna Mae's death. Has her killer come to justice, or is this just another situation of "someone has to pay"?) Read Dennis Banks' statement in the article following this one.~SH

Despite its carefully contrived image as the nation's premier crime

fighting agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has always

functioned primarily as America's political police. This role includes not

only the collection of intelligence on the activities of political

dissidents & groups, but often times counterintelligence operations to

Although covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history,

the formal COunter INTELligence PROgram, or COINTELPRO, of the period from

1956 to 1971 was the first to be both broadly targeted & centrally directed.

The stated goals of COINTELPRO were to expose, disrupt, misdirect,

discredit, or otherwise neutralize those persons or organizations that the

At its most extreme dimension, political dissidents have been eliminated

outright or sent to prison for the rest of their lives. Many more, however,

were neutralized by intimidation, harassment, discrediting, & a whole

Neutralization, as explained on record by the FBI, didn't necessarily

pertain to the apprehension of parties in the commission of a crime, the

preparation of evidence against them, & securing of a judicial conviction.

Rather, the FBI simply made activists incapable of engaging in political

For those not assessed as being in themselves a security risk but engaged

in what the Bureau viewed to be politically objectionable activity, those

techniques consisted of disseminating derogatory information to the target's

questioning them. False information was planted in the press. The

targets' efforts to speak in public were frustrated, & employers were

contacted to try to get them fired. Anonymous letters were sent by the FBI

to targets' spouses, accusing them of infidelity. Other letters contained

death threats. These strategies are well-documented, for example, in the

case of Martin Luther King, Jr. Records also show that activists in the

1960s were repeatedly arrested on any excuse until they could no longer make

In addition, the FBI made use of informants, often quite violent &

emotionally disturbed individuals, to present false testimony to the courts

& frame COINTELPRO targets for crimes the FBI knew they did not commit. In

some cases the charges were quite serious, including murder.

Another option was snitch jacketing where the FBI made the target look

like a police informant or an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.

This served the dual purposes of isolating & alienating important leaders,

as well as increasing the general level of fear & factionalism in

Many counterintelligence techniques involved the use of paid informants.

Informants became agents provocateurs by raising controversial issues at

meetings to take advantage of ideological divisions; promoting enmity with

other groups; or inciting the group to violent acts, even to the point of

providing them with weapons. Over the years, FBI provocateurs repeatedly

urged & initiated violent acts, including forceful disruptions of meetings &

The full story of COINTELPRO may never be told. The Bureau's files were

never seized by Congress or the courts or sent to the National Archives.

Some were destroyed. In addition, many counter-intelligence operations were

never committed to writing as such, or involved open investigations making

ex-operatives legally prohibited from talking about them. Most operations

remained secret until long after the damage had been done.

The FBI has continued to use proven COINTELPRO tactics into the 21st

century. In fact, many such techniques are now overt, conducted under the

guise of Homeland Security & even codified in key pieces of legislation such

as the U.S. Patriot Act, the government's response to the September 11,

2002, attack on the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City.

The American Indian Movement (AIM), an Indigenous rights group committed

to uniting all Native Peoples in an effort to uplift their communities &

promote cultural pride & sovereignty, was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis,

The FBI used all of the above COINTELPRO tactics against AIM, including

the wholesale jailing of the Movement's leadership. Virtually every known

AIM leader in the United States was incarcerated in either state or federal

prisons since (or even before) the organization's formal emergence in 1968,

some repeatedly. After the 1973 siege of Wounded Knee, for example, the FBI

caused 542 separate charges to be filed against those it identified as key

AIM leaders. This resulted in only 15 convictions, all on such petty or

contrived offenses as interfering with a federal officer in the performance

of his duty. Organization members often languished in jail for months as the

cumulative bail required to free them outstripped resource capabilities of

In 1975, against the American Indian Movement in Pine Ridge, South

Dakota, the FBI COINTELPRO conducted a full-fledged counterinsurgency war -

complete with death squads, disappearances & assassinations - not dissimilar

to those conducted in third world countries such as El Salvador &

Leonard Peltier is a citizen of the Anishinabe & Dakota/Lakota Nations

who has been unjustly imprisoned for nearly three decades.

When the government can select a person for criminal persecution because

of their political activity, when they can fabricate evidence against that

person & suppress evidence proving that fabrication, & prosecute a person &

put them in prison for any amount of time, let alone for life, then you have

a political prisoner. Accordingly, Amnesty International considers Peltier

a political prisoner who should be immediately & unconditionally

It began in the early 1970s on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (SD),

when tensions between then tribal chairman Dick Wilson & the traditionalists

began to escalate. Wilson was pro-assimilation, meaning he believed Native

Peoples should discard their traditions to join mainstream American society.

Traditionalists, on the other hand, felt it important to maintain their

culture & land base. Wilson favored those who were pro-assimilation by

giving them jobs & other assistance while neglecting the needs of the

The growing conflict prompted traditionalists to join together with AIM

to protect their way of life. In response, Wilson joined with the FBI to

destroy the Movement the agency perceived as a threat to the American way of

In 1973, local traditionalists & AIM occupied the Pine Ridge hamlet of

Wounded Knee to protest the many abuses they were suffering. (This was the

same site where, less than 100 years earlier, the horrific Wounded Knee

massacre was perpetrated against over 300 Lakotas, mostly women & children.)

Instead of listening to the Natives' grievances, the government responded

militarily, firing over 250,000 rounds of ammunition into the area & killing

two occupants whose deaths were never investigated. The occupation lasted

71 days & ended only after the government promised investigations into the

complaints. The investigations never materialized & conditions on the

After Wounded Knee, Wilson outlawed AIM activities on the reservation.

Traditionalists were not allowed to meet or attend traditional ceremonies.

Wilson hired vigilantes who called themselves Guardians of the Oglala Nation

The three years following Wounded Knee are often referred to as the Pine

Ridge Reign of Terror because anyone associated with AIM was targeted for

violence. Their homes were burned & their cars were run off the road. They

were struck by cars, shot in drive-by shootings, & beaten. Between 1973 &

1976, over 60 traditionalists were murdered. Pine Ridge had the highest

murder rate in the United States. Scores of other people were assaulted.

In almost every case, witness accounts indicated GOON responsibility, but

nothing was done to stop the violence. On the contrary, the FBI supplied

the GOONs with weaponry & intelligence on AIM & looked the other way as the

GOONs committed crimes against members as well as supporters of AIM.

As the situation worsened, the traditionalists asked AIM to return to the

reservation to offer protection. Leonard Peltier was among those who

answered the call. He & a dozen others set up camp on the Jumping Bull

ranch at Pine Ridge, the home of a number of traditional families.

On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents in unmarked cars pursued a red pickup

truck onto the Jumping Bull ranch. They were ostensibly looking for Jimmy

Eagle, who had gotten into a fistfight & stolen a pair of cowboy boots.

their children, other residents started to return fire. A shootout

Law enforcement immediately mobilized. Within a couple hours, over 150

FBI swat team members, Bureau of Indian Affairs police, & GOONs surrounded

Peltier helped lead a small group of teenagers out of the area, barely

When the shootout ended, AIM member Joseph Killsright Stuntz (below) lay

dead, shot in the head by a sniper. His death has never been

investigated. The two FBI agents also lay dead - wounded in the gun

Years later, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, it was

* the FBI had been closely monitoring AIM activities on & off the

reservation & had even been preparing for paramilitary law enforcement

operations on Pine Ridge one month before the shootout.

* the two agents had possessed a map that highlighted the Jumping Bull Ranch

According to FBI documents, over 40 Native people participated in the

shootout, both AIM & non-AIM. Yet only 4 persons were indicted for the

deaths of the agents: 3 AIM leaders - Dino Butler, Bob Robideau, & Leonard

Butler & Robideau were the first to be arrested & tried. The jury found

that Butler & Robideau were justified in returning fire given the atmosphere

of terror that existed on Pine Ridge during that time. Further, they were

not tied to the point blank shootings. Butler & Robideau were found

The FBI was outraged by the verdict. They dropped charges against Jimmy

Eagle so that, according to their own memos, . the full prosecutive weight

of the federal government could be directed against Leonard Peltier.

Peltier, meanwhile, had fled to Canada believing he would never receive a

The FBI presented the Canadian court with affidavits from a woman named

Myrtle Poor Bear who claimed she had been Peltier's girl friend & had

witnessed him shoot the agents. Peltier was extradited to the U.S.

However, Poor Bear had never met Peltier, nor had she been present at the

time of the shooting - a fact later confirmed by the U.S. Prosecutor.

Despite Poor Bear's subsequent declaration that she had given false

statements under duress, having been terrorized by FBI agents, Peltier's

Leonard Peltier was returned to the U.S. where his case was mysteriously

transferred from the judge who had presided over the trial of his

co-defendants to a different judge - one who made rulings that severely

handicapped the defense. Also, the FBI had carefully analyzed the

Butler-Robideau case and, this time, they were determined to secure a

conviction. The cards were stacked against Peltier & a fair trial was out

* Myrtle Poor Bear & other key witnesses were banned from testifying about

* Testimony about the Pine Ridge Reign of Terror was severely restricted.

* Important evidence, such as conflicting ballistics reports, was ruled

* The red pickup truck that had been followed onto the ranch was suddenly

described as Peltier's red & white van. (Agents who described the vehicle

as a red pickup truck during the Butler-Robideau trial could no longer

* The jury was sequestered & surrounded by U.S. Marshals at all times,

leading them to believe that AIM was a threat to their safety.

* Three young Native witnesses were forced to falsely testify against

Peltier after being detained & terrorized by FBI agents.

Still, the U.S. Prosecutor failed to produce a single witness who could

identify Peltier as the shooter. Instead, the government tied a bullet

casing found near the bodies to the alleged murder weapon, arguing that this

gun had been the only one of its kind used during the shootout & that it had

The above FOIA suit uncovered FBI documents that showed that:

* more than one weapon of the type attributed to Peltier had been present at

* the FBI had intentionally concealed a ballistics report that showed the

shell casing could not have come from the alleged murder weapon.

* the agents undoubtedly followed a red pickup truck onto the land, not the

* compelling evidence against several other suspects existed & was

Unaware of these facts, the jury convicted Peltier. He was sentenced to

two consecutive life terms. Peltier is currently imprisoned at the U.S.

After many of the above abuses surfaced in the 1980s, the Peltier defense

team demanded a new trial. During subsequent oral arguments, the U.S.

Prosecutor admitted, ... we can't prove who shot those agents.

The appellate court found that Peltier may have been acquitted had

evidence not been improperly withheld by the FBI. However, a new trial was

In 1993, Peltier requested Executive Clemency from then President

An intensive campaign was launched - supported by Native & human rights

organizations, members of Congress, community & church groups, labor

organizations, luminaries, & celebrities. Even Judge Heaney, who authored

the above court decision, expressed firm support for Peltier's release. The

On November 7, 2000, during a live radio interview, Clinton stated that

he would seriously consider Peltier's request for clemency & make a decision

before leaving office on January 20, 2001. In response, the FBI launched a

major disinformation campaign in both the media & among key government

officials. On December 15, over 500 FBI agents marched in front of the

On January 20, the list of clemencies granted by Clinton was released to

the media. Without explanation, Peltier's name had been excluded.

Mr. Peltier has served a significantly longer period of time than

normally would be served before a grant of parole in similar cases. Various

FBI agents, together with the U.S. Prosecutor, are present at parole

hearings to personally oppose Mr. Peltier's release. The U.S. Parole

Commission has made it clear that parole will not even be considered until

the year 2008 - when Peltier will have served twice the normal time

according to the Commission's own congressionally mandated

guidelines. No adequate reason has been given for such arbitrary &

discriminatory treatment. Instead, the Parole Commission has stated the

denial of parole is based on Mr. Peltier's participation in the premeditated

& cold blooded execution or the ambush of the two agents. Yet, there is no

evidence that Mr. Peltier ever fired the fatal shots. This has been admitted

to by the government attorneys themselves. At one parole hearing it was

made clear that Mr. Peltier will not receive parole until he recognizes his

crime or, in short, confesses to a crime he didn't commit.

Leonard Peltier has made remarkable contributions to humanitarian &

charitable causes during his many years behind bars. He sponsors an annual

Christmas drive for clothes & toys for the children of Pine Ridge, helps to

establish Native American Scholarship funds, assists programs for battered

women & substance abuse recovery, collaborates to improve medical care on

the reservations, & assists other prisoners in developing prison art

programs. Peltier also has adopted children in Guatemala & El Salvador. As

a result, he has received recognition & acclaim from many human rights

groups, including the Human Rights Commission of Spain & the Ontario

Mr. Peltier suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure & a heart

condition. According to an affiliate of Physicians for Human Rights, he

risks blindness, kidney failure & stroke in the future, given his inadequate

Our concepts of justice & good government require that such tragic errors

We ask that you act now to secure Mr. Leonard Peltier's freedom.

C 2004 Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS

1-888-316-8437 (Toll Free) & 1-785-842-5774; 1-785-842-5796 (Fax)

Answer to Ed Wood of No Parole for Peltier Association

Once again, the P.R. machine that is Ed Woods and his FBI agent

brotherhood, under the guise of the "No Parole Peltier Association"

have shifted their propaganda steamroller into high gear. Its hard to

fault them, though, for seizing on an opportune moment. At a time when

the so-called Patriot Act , a twin brother to the Bureau's beloved and

illegal COINTELPRO activities, actively quashes dissent in this

At a time when the American Indian Movement and apparently all American

Indians with political sensitivities are going on trial for alleged

offenses, some occurring a generation or more ago: At a time when

Leonard Peltier is once again registering on the radar screens of human

rights organizations around the world: You know its time for the highest

law enforcement agency in the land to rev up their engines and burn

rubber. It is their legacy after all, and old habits are hard to

Apparently, the latest round of double-speak has been issued in response

to Mr. Peltier's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. This has

illicited a Pavlov's dog response, that in this writer's mind, appears

slightly rabid in nature. The nonsensical diatribe asks:

"one question remains, was Peltier ever actually "nominated" for the NPP

Aside from Mr. Agent Woods seemingly carrying on a conversation with

himself, one has to wonder why he would do so with such mundane subject

matter. Later, after forcing the mildly interested reader to slog

through another one thousand, three hundred, and eleven words

So, I'm a little confused here, I just wasted a good five minutes of my

time to see you answer your own irrelevant question. What gives? I mean,

its obvious this is yet another anti-Peltier rant, but did you really

need to go into such convoluted circular prose to do it? Could there be

another purpose aside from your usual Peltier venom spewing? Then I went

back and read more carefully. Yes & yes I think I've found it. Smearing

Peltier isn't enough. I mean, God forbid he might actually be in the

running to win the most prestigious and famous peace award the world has

ever known. If that is so, what you seem compelled to do, in fact what

you MUST do to successfully nurse your smut campaign, is engage in a

little pre-emptive spin control. Or is it damage control? I guess there

are those, who if you convince them that the Nobel Prize s nomination

process really is a fundamentally illegitimate endeavor, then you can

cast doubt on the award s significance, and therefore all associated

"but the nominating process is embarrassingly flawed. As it turns out,

This almost made me cough up my Ovaltine. What would you prefer, a

process you or your F.B.I. buddies can control? Would you extend your

long arm into this arena as well? Are state controlled peace awards

preferable to an open and free nomination process? Are you seriously

suggesting the prize has no credibility? Would you impugn the world wide

peaceful impact of such Nobel laureates as Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela,

Dr. Martin Luther King, jr., and (the woman who s name you misspelled)

But attack-dog Wood doesn't stop there. Apparently, former United States

Attorney General Ramsey Clark is on the hit list as well:

Notoriously infamous? Such drivel is usually reserved for

mass-murderers, child molesters, or multiple rapists. But Ramsey Clark?

"the No Parole Peltier Association wrote a number of letters to likely

individuals who would have been in a position to nominate Peltier."

Despite the fact that he later identifies the nominators, the

implication here appears to be that Peltier was not, in fact nominated.

Umm, Agent Woods, I've got a news flash for you: If you had written me,

I likely wouldn't have responded either. I don't respond well to

witch-hunts. Nor for that matter, suppression of my God-given right to

nominate who I choose, for what I choose, anonymously-if I choose.

Nor do I surrender my right to read what I want, to think what I want, or to

say what I want. Write me an inquiring letter about all of those and you

can interpret my non-response as you choose, but don't kid yourself-I

might also choose not to make myself a target of state sponsored

"their motives are twisted; not to remind everyone of an important

issue, but to embarrass; not to educate, but humiliate; not to inform,

but politicize; in a word, to propagandize. Their effort then takes on a

clearer purpose, a translucent agenda to further attack the U.S. from

abroad. The IPF's efforts further the en vogue attitude of

So, to highlight Peltier s continued incarceration as a political

prisoner, and to draw a correlation to all issues Indian in nature is

America-bashing ? Are you that incapable of hearing the truth about

"If these people are so interested in American history then we should

tritely remind them of the obvious the thousands of American

servicemen who died to liberate Europe which now avails them of the

I thought the theory that America had invented freedom was long ago

debunked. Ditto that the world is beholden to America, to the point of

turning a blind eye to injustice. The arrogance needed to put forth such

But, at least there is some truth to Agent Wood's latest soap box

"This discussion of Peltier and the Nobel prize may appear mean-

The fact that his (Wood's) great-grandfather was a full-blood only adds

to the concerns for those innocents who suffered, and continue to suffer

Oh Lord, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this one. But your

overwhelming concern for Indians is duly noted. I guess that's why we've

heard your voice so loud and clear on the disproportionately high

incarceration rate of Indians, the ongoing Indian health care crisis,

the Cobell lawsuit regarding 15 billion dollars of stolen Indian trust

fund monies, United States interference in Indian governance, violated

treaties, land disputes, ongoing forced removals, housing shortages, and

sub-standard education on reservations, so on and so forth, ad

infinitum? I've never seen the F.B.I. picket the capitol in support of

any Indian causes. But I did, however see you and your buddies in the

rain trying to intimidate the Executive branch into letting Peltier rot

in prison. Where were you during the cascade of events that led to

Peltier's incarceration in the first place? Where was or is your concern

when Indians were or are starving, poisoned, removed, murdered, and

terrorized? Excuse me if I'm not overly moved by your love of Indian

"Peltier is not the right symbol to either seek long-term reconciliation

I would think that we Indians would have at least some say in what is

and is not needed for reconciliation and healing. That is, after all,

the true spirit of reconciliation isn't it-both parties being heard?

Your and yours continue to talk, but not to hear. We in turn have heard

In fact, there is not a more clearly defined symbol of Indian oppression

than Leonard Peltier. As such, there would be no better catalyst for

better relations between our nations than to see him freed. In fact,

this writer would suggest that there can be no such dialogue about

better relations until Mr. Peltier finally breathes the sweet oxygen of

freedom. Maybe winning the Nobel Peace Prize will be the necessary first

step towards making this happen. In any event, your insecurity is

showing. You cannot put chains around an idea, a dream, or a cause.

Many of the entries below came from the 'Leonard Peltier Forum'.

[LP Forum News] Some Dare Call It Treason-Wake Up America!

"I can understand how the FBI hallows its own. To them, Coler and

Willams are fallen comrades, heroes, tragic victims, martyrs. Yes, that

I also understand. But we, too, hallow our own. We, too, have our fallen

comrades, our heroes, our tragic victims, our martyrs... and we have

them in countless numbers. I live with the wail of their voices in my

inner ear. I hear them always. I can't forget them. I refuse to forget them.

They are victims of the energy wars, as were agents Coler and Williams,

as am I. And so are you, my friend, and your children and your

children's children. The FBI itself is a victim of the energy wars,

having strayed far beyonds the bounds of legality and human decency in

its misguided eagerness to serve the interests of the multinational

invaders in their continuing assault upon the Mother Earth. All these

things are acts of war against the Lakota people, against all Indian

people, against all indigenous people everywhere, against all humanity.

We must continue to oppose these forces of destruction with every fiber

--Leonard Peltier, from PRISON WRITINGS: MY LIFE IS MY SUN DANCE

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And PLEASE pre-order TODAY your copy of the soon-to-be-published

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I am a member of Veterans For Peace, an organization of thousands of

combat veterans. All of us have put our life on the line for this

country. Most of us opposed the recent invasion of Iraq. We also opposed

the first Gulf War, and the sanctions that followed. We opposed the

slaughter of fleeing Iraqis on the Road to Basra. We opposed the use of

Depleted Uranium munitions. And we opposed the lies upon which the first

Gulf War was based. But there was one good thing about that first Gulf

War. It ended. And without a wholesale invasion of Iraq. Why?

Here's what the first President Bush wrote about that in his memoirs:

"Trying to eliminate Saddam would have incurred incalculable human and

political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We would have

been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. There was no

viable exit strategy we could see, violating another of our principles.

Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for

handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying

Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations mandate, would have

destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we

hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States

could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."

My brothers and sisters, it is just too darn bad his son can't read!

I've been severely criticized for speaking out in opposition to this

war. So have you, probably. We're told that we're aiding and abetting

the enemy. We're told that we should support the president no matter

what. We're told that patriotism demands that we support the war. They

say that we're abusing the freedoms that our troops are in the Middle

East defending. They say we should be ashamed to be protesting while the

troops are in the desert protecting our right to do so.

I feel an affinity for the troops over there in Iraq. They are my

comrades in arms. I admire their sense of honor and sacrifice. I

understand why some of them believe they should be there. They have

neither the experience nor the wisdom to see past the lies they have

been told. The truth is, they are not over there protecting our

freedoms. Our freedoms are not under attack from Saddam Hussein or the

remnants of his Baathist party. Our freedoms are under attack by John

Ashcroft. They are threatened by John Poindexter. They are trampled by

Donald Rumsfeld. They are disdained by Dick Cheney. And they are not

even understood by George W. Bush. The battle to preserve our freedoms

is not taking place in Baghdad and Tikrit. It is taking place in Central

Park in New York City, in Lafayette Park in Washington DC, in

Ghirardelli Park in San Francisco, and in River Front Park in Melbourne,

Florida. The front lines go right down US 1 and up New Haven Avenue.

It is we, here at home, who are the foot soldiers battling to preserve

our cherished freedoms by exercising them, in spite of opposition and

ridicule. It is we who protect our civil rights through speaking out. We

are the Minutemen sounding the alarm against tyranny. We are upholding

the spirit of the American Revolution. We are preserving the freedoms

that the troops in the desert have a right to come back to. The troops

getting shot at in Iraq are not protecting us. We are protecting them,

and their honor and their freedoms. We have just completed a forced

march through hostile territory to defend their freedoms and ours, and

the ideals America was founded on. We are protecting this nation by

speaking truth to power. Let us do it loudly and fearlessly and

courageously and joyfully, for we are the true patriots!

Here is the truth that we proclaim. This war has nothing to do with

national security or freedom or democracy or human rights or protecting

our allies or weapons of mass destruction or defeating terrorism or

disarming Iraq. It has to do with money. It has to do with oil. And it

has to do with raw imperial power. It is based on a pack of lies. And it

is wrong. Those who forced this war on an unwilling world are guilty of

flagrantly violating the U.S. Constitution, the UN Charter, and

international law. What they have done is illegal, immoral,

It's been said that somewhere in Texas there is a village looking for

their idiot. Now that may be funny, but it misses the point. George W.

Before this war started, we knew it would fracture NATO, split the

United Nations, separate us from our allies, and destroy the great

nation we inherited from our fathers who died in World War II. And it

has. We knew it would make our beloved country feared and hated, an

outcast from the world community, a pariah among the peoples, and the

number one rogue nation on earth. And it has. It has done so based on a

pack of lies. My sisters and brothers, that is not stupidity.

We knew this sadistic corporate war would incense the Arab world,

provide thousands of new Osama bin Ladens, and enormously increase the

terrorist threat. And it has. We knew it would further endanger the

American people and destroy our national security. And it has. That is

The cabal of neoconservatives at PNAC who planned this war (Cheney,

Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, Perle, Jeb Bush) even before W became

president, knew the American people would not stand for it unless there

was a new Pearl Harbor. 9/11 supplied that. Our government was warned.

They were warned by the Clinton Administration. They were warned by 11

other countries. And they were specifically warned by an FBI agent that

one of them was planning on flying a hijacked airliner into the World

They not only ignored the warnings, they made sure no fighter jets were

scrambled to stop it. If they had just done nothing, and allowed normal

procedures to be followed, the Twin Towers would still be standing and

As a combat veteran, I will not stand idly by and watch our security

destroyed by a president who went AWOL rather than fight in Vietnam.

Honor requires that I call this by its right name. It is TREASON.

As one who has devoted his life to the security of this country, I will

not stand by and watch an appointed president send our sons and

daughters around the world to kill Arabs for the oil companies without

I joined the Air Force to protect our borders and our people, not the

financial interests of Folgers, Chiquita Banana, and Exxon. We've had

enough corporate wars. No more Iraqs. No more El Salvadors. No more

Kosovos. No more Colombias. These are not isolated incidents of

stupidity. They are part of a long, bloody history of foreign policy

being conducted for the financial benefit of the wealthy few. It is a

new colonialism. It violates our Constitution. It endangers our people.

As a pilot who flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam, I can tell you that

the best thing our government can do for its combat veterans is to quit

making more of them. Peace is patriotic; a preemptive war is immoral,

illegal, unconstitutional, a war crime, and TREASON. I swore to uphold

the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and

domestic. That includes a renegade president. Wake up, America! It is

time for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the whole oil

mafia to be removed from office and indicted for TREASON.

We are the people. We are sovereign. We are the patriots. The whole

world is with us. Never allow anyone to intimidate you into silence.

Wake up, America! It's time to speak truth to power. God bless America,

Dr. Robert Bowman was a Col. in the USAF and Chief of Technology

Assessment under President Jimmy Carter and is a Catholic Bishop of The

He has been President of the Institute for Space and Security Studies

since 1982. Before that he was Vice-President of Space Communications

Company; Manager, Advanced Space Programs for General Dynamics; and

Director, Advanced Space Programs Development for DoD, directing the

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[LP Forum News] Peltier Declares Political Prisoner Week

"The fact that I was convicted without any credible evidence of guilt, &

that no amount of genuine evidence to the contrary, however

overwhelming, seems to be enough to win my release or even a retrial

much less parole after over a quarter of a century, is precisely why I

am often called - no doubt to the great embarrassment of the United

States government - a political prisoner. I wasn't the first. I

certainly am not the last. There will always be those in power who seek

to squash dissent. Now, as before, exercise of our human rights can be

a dangerous act. But remaining silent & doing nothing - these are the

Indigenous rights activist Leonard Peltier this week proclaimed April

16-24, 2004, U.S. Political Prisoners Week & encouraged people across

"I send greetings to the prisoners of conscience throughout this land &

urge all Americans to seek the truth - in their own communities & across

the country. Open your minds & hearts. Listen & learn. Act. Stand

Political prisoners events will be held in venues around the country

At the Lipke Auditorium, University of Massachusetts in Boston, Set the

Captives Free: A Conference on Political Prisoners in the United States

will begin with a cultural edu-tainment event on Friday evening from

7:00 to 11:00 featuring musical performances by Dead Prez, The

Foundation, VCR, Blackout Boston, Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo, FTP, Reflect &

Conference workshops begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 17.