<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/peter-worthington/leonard-peltier_b_1665689.html?utm_hp_ref=tw">http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/peter-worthington/leonard-peltier_b_1665689.html?utm_hp_ref=tw</a></span>
<h2>Peter Worthington</h2>
<p class="teaserpermalink">Co-founder of the Toronto
Sun</p>
<h1><span class="arial11color696969"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Posted:
</span></span><span class="arial11color696969"><span
style="font-size: 12pt;">07/12/2012</span></span><span
class="arial11color696969"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span
class="arial11color696969"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2:29 pm</span></span><span
style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></h1>
<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Leonard Peltier’s Sole Crime Was His
Heritage </span></h1>
<p>Over the years, individuals and groups have emerged and faded in
efforts to
persuade the U.S.
justice system to parole or grant amnesty to Leonard Peltier, convicted
of the
deaths of two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ron Williams, in South Dakota
in 1975.</p>
<p>Peltier, now 68, has been in prison for 35 years. Since 1977,
petitions and
pleas on his behalf have been ignored; appeals by the Archbishop of
Canterbury,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, 55 U.S.
Congressmen, and Canadian Parliamentarians, and members of the European
Parliament Union.</p>
<p>For six consecutive years, Peltier has been nominated for a Nobel
Peace
Prize, and is the recipient of over a dozen international human rights
awards
-- all because of the apparent injustice done to him.</p>
<p>The FBI and retired FBI agents have adamantly opposed anything
resembling
clemency for Peltier, even though his trial and conviction stunk like
rotting
fish, based as it was on fabricated evidence and perjury -- since
admitted by
many involved in his conviction. He’s due for release around 2040, when
he will
be 106 years old.</p>
<p>The closest Peltier came to getting executive clemency was from Bill
Clinton, but FBI opposition dissuaded Clinton, who had his own troubles
at the
time, especially with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton
reneged on a previous commitment to Peltier’s defense team.</p>
<p>Today, Peltier is in failing health; time is running out for
possible
freedom.</p>
<p>This year a new champion has emerged to urge executive clemency -- a
group
that is harder to ignore politically, but which the FBI association
will
oppose.</p>
<p>The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) represents all
tribes
across the U.S.
and Alaska -- including the
American Indian Movement (AIM) to which
Peltier once belonged, and which was once a more radical rival to the
NCAI.</p>
<p>Under the signature of its president, Jefferson Keel, the NCAI
resolution
notes that “appellate courts have repeatedly acknowledged evidence of
U.S.
government misconduct -- including knowingly presenting false
statements to a
Canadian court to extradite Mr. Peltier...forcing witnesses to lie at
trial,
and hiding ballistic evidence reflecting Mr. Peltier’s innocence...”</p>
<p>Further: “The United States
prosecutor [Lynn Crooks]” twice admitted that “no one knows who fired
the fatal
shots.” And an appeal court judge, Gerald Heaney, wrote the president
urging
amnesty as a gesture to restore decent relations with Indians.</p>
<p>The NCAI has <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.congress.org/congressorg/aol04/bio/userletter/?id=1465&letter_id=7957047416&content_dir=congressorg"
target="_hplink">requested</a> a meeting with President Barack Obama
to “secure
a grant of Executive Clemency to Leonard Peltier on constitutional, and
overriding human rights and compassionate grounds.”</p>
<p>America’s
Indians have psychological power in the U.S.,
if not political influence. When the two FBI agents were killed in 1975
on the
Pine Ridge Reservation, it was a time of political turmoil with the
Indians.
The FBI erroneously branded AIM as a
Soviet-backed communist subversive group when, in fact, it was an
Indian-rights
group.</p>
<p>During the Pine Ridge troubles, 60 Indians were murdered -- with no
arrests
or convictions made by the FBI. Paramilitary groups ran amok. The same
day
Coler and Williams were shot, another Indian, Joe Stuntz, was shot and
killed
-- again, no FBI investigation.</p>
<p>At Peltier’s extradition from Canada,
Myrtle Poor Bear testified she witnessed Peltier shooting the argents
when, in
fact, she was nowhere near Pine Ridge and had never met Peltier. The
FBI wrote
her script -- and at Peltier’s trial, the defense was denied the chance
to
cross examine her, by which time she had recanted, and was deemed
mentally
incapable.</p>
<p>Not generally realized is that despite declining crime rates, the
U.S.
prison population is said to have grown six-fold. The number of older
prisoners
is growing at a faster rate than the total federal prison population.
Between
2000 and 2009 the number of prisoners over age 51 grew from 14,275 to
25,160 --
a 76 per cent increase.</p>
<p>With age comes increased medical problems -- with no increase in the
budget
to address these problems. So by necessity, aging prisoners get
sub-standard
care.</p>
<p>As for Peltier, he’s in failing health, has been for years. He’s
endured a
stroke which left him nearly blind in one eye. He’s had a serious
debilitating
jaw condition for years, that leaves him unable to chew. An offer of
free
corrective surgery by the Mayo clinic was <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/AI.htm" target="_hplink">rejected</a>
by prison authorities.</p>
<p>In addition, Peltier has diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart
condition. He is susceptible to kidney failure. Yet repeatedly, he’s
been
denied adequate medical care. This has earned the U.S.
a rebuke from the UN for inhuman conditions.</p>
<p>It is undeniable that the FBI wants Peltier to die in prison -- not
necessarily because they believe he is guilty of murdering two agents,
but
because they want someone, anyone, identified as responsible for the
deaths of
two agents.</p>
<p>Often forgotten is that two Indians initially charged and put on
trial for
the murder of the two FBI agents -- Bob Robideau (since deceased) and
Dino
Butler -- were found not guilty, but acting in self-defense. The FBI
made sure
Peltier was denied any defense.</p>
<p>I visited him three times when he was in Leavenworth.
I had initially written editorials in the <em>Sun</em> supporting the
FBI,
until deeper examination of the case revealed their deceit. </p>
<p>When I first met Peltier, I confessed that I had supported the FBI,
not
wanting him to be under any misconception. I was startled when he
laughed: “My
own mother believed the FBI would never lie, so how can I blame you for
believing them?”</p>
<p>We got on fine after that. Being a model prisoner was no help. He
was
constantly harassed. I recall at one meeting in prison he was agitated
because
he’d been sharing a cell with a recently admitted inmate, whom he found
to be
pleasant fellow -- and then discovered he was a serial killer. Peltier
was
genuinely shocked that he’d have to share a cell with someone who was a
dangerous criminal.</p>
<p>It reinforced the view that whatever Leonard Peltier was, or might
have
been, he was not a criminal, not a murderer, but an activist for Indian
welfare
and rights who got caught up in the politics of the times and has been
a
scapegoat ever since.</p>
<p>Peltier does not belong in prison -- never did, because all evidence
against
him was tainted, corrupted, falsified, invented, fabricated on
non-existent
claims.</p>
<p>That’s the way it is with scapegoats. The Leonard Peltier Defense
Offense
Committee has since moved from Kansas
and Missouri when he was in Leavenworth,
to Fargo, North Dakota.
Those interested can check the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/peter-worthington/www.whoisleonardpeltier.info"
target="_hplink">website</a>.<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/jerichocointelpro"
target="_blank"><span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"></span></a><span
style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"></span><span
style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"></span><br
style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">
</p>
<font size="4"></font><br>
</body>
</html>