And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Path: rQdQ!rQ66!remarQ73!remarQ-easT!supernews.com!remarQ.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!cyclone.bc.net!news.uunet.ca!nnrp1.uunet.ca.POSTED!not From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (justanoldman) Newsgroups: alt.native Subject: About AnnaMae - My opinion Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: Chocoholics Anonymousse X-Newsreader: MT-NewsWatcher 2.4.4 Lines: 201 Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 00:13:55 -0500 NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.47.93.49 X-Trace: nnrp1.uunet.ca 938751084 209.47.93.49 (Fri, 01 Oct 1999 00:11:24 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 00:11:24 EDT Xref: rQdQ alt.native:118768 d�laan't�... I have given a lot of thought & much prayer to the post by Leonard about his read on the AnnaMae press conference posting I put up on this ng a while ago. My commitment to do the right thing is unwavering, as is my commitment to do whatever I can to help Leonard be free. I realize what he is saying has weight & out of my feelings of great respect for him, which is also unwavering, I want to say the following about this matter. First of all, my involvement in AnnaMae's story from 1975-1997 was limited to hoping & praying that AnnaMae's killers would be found out. In February of 98 I was told to look at the AnnaMae archive on Jordan Dill's site, & found Bob Pictou-Branscombe's shattering allegations. I contacted the Pictou family & offered to take care of those named. My offer was refused, the family asking instead that I help move the investigation forward here in Canada. This I solemnly promised to them & have done so to the best of my ability, using all of my political & other contacts - AT THE REQUEST OF THE PICTOU FAMILY. In my entire life I have never, ever talked to any cop or badge, other than giving my name & d.o.b. while wearing handcuffs and/or leg-irons or getting a traffic ticket, except for ONE time in Feb of 1998 when I brought the information from the Pictou family to the RCMP as was requested of me, & I made sure to bring a neutral witness from a christian church with her own tape recorder along. I know how the cops twist things so this was my protection. (Those tapes are in the custody of that church & are also available in written transcript, along with the coordinates of that neutral witness, to anyone who may need to hear them). My ONLY condition throughout this gut-wrenching work has always been that if this turned out to be ANY kind of campaign to "get AIM" or especially if ANY part of this process even hinted at any wrongdoing by Leonard Peltier in any way, then I would immediately not only withdraw my support & assistance but also do whatever I could to sink the whole campaign. I am 1000% certain that Leonard had absolutely nothing to do with what was done to AnnaMae. (I have copies of letters I exchanged with the family on that point that I can & will share with anyone if/when necessary). If anyone thinks that I or anyone else working to bring out the truth in AnnaMae's kidnapping, rape & murder is doing so for profit or glory or as part of some fantastic COINTELPRO plot, it would mean that the entire Pictou family & dozens of 'witnesses' who have given depositions & testimony to date are ALL in on such a conspiracy, a premise that is too wild to consider seriously. As for glory, what glory is there in having the dirty laundry of the Nations displayed in public, where we know every right-wingnut is going to use the all-too human tragedy to paint every Indian black with it for weeks? But what choice is left, since those of the Nations who know the truth won't step forward & tell the truth? Months ago I suggested to Leonard to take legal precautions when I heard that there was the possibility that Bob would be writing a book on the investigation of AnnaMae's murder. He told me that he'd already heard about it & taken such precautions. (My correspondence to that effect is also on file & I can share it all if/when necessary). I do not know if this was just talk or if there is really a book in the works, & quite honestly at this point I don't care as long as the truth comes out before it is written, so that any such writing can be based on proven facts & not just allegations or rumors. Leonard had also told me of Bob Pictou Branscombe's asking him to snitch & lie. I agreed with him that such behavior was & remains revolting. The Pictou family, as I & thousands of others want the real truth to come out, not more fabrications or lies. Bob responded by telling me that Leonard misunderstood what he was saying, so I dropped the matter. I have spoken with Bob about 20-25 times regarding the efforts I made & continue to make to get the political & popular support up here in Canada that seems necessary to break this case open. I repeat that this is what the Pictou family asks of me; that I coordinate any & all action with Bob Pictou-Branscombe. I do not know him well enough yet to say more than he is very committed & brave. I trust the Pictou family to be the best judge of Bob's trustworthiness, & they tell me they trust him & want me to work with him as well as others who are helping the family with this. If it was strictly a "Bob Pictou-Branscombe" effort I would have pulled away from all this long ago because there are things he says that don't make much sense to me, that make me 'uncomfortable'. I have been 100% up front with him about my discomfort & shared it with a few others I trust, even at LPDC. (My correspondence to that effect is also on file & I can share it all if/when necessary). Throughout the whole ordeal to date, there has been one and only one major target in my own sights, & that has been SA David Price, the spider who is at the center of the web of evil for Leonard's conviction as well as the death of AnnaMae & hundreds of other First Nation people, mostly Lakotas. FBI SA's Woods, Stoldt, Coward & at least 3 others are also in all of this death-dealing up to their necks. The actual rapist/killers of AnnaMae & their 'directors' inside the movement were & still are nothing but pawns being moved by Price to do his dirty work & then to cover it up. I believe this with my whole heart. Now on to the nitty-gritty... My post on the Ottawa press conference called by the Pictou family & the Assembly of First Nations was clearly stated to be a report. I reported on what was said, clearly indicating ".. as told to me and to the world.." & "I am told". Although I have never hidden my passion for the truth, that AnnaMae's name be finally cleared & that she finally have the dignity & honor due to her that was smeared by her killers, & how much anger I have for the way they betrayed her & hurt her, I have never stated my own opinions of who the guilty might be. So I will share my own personal opinion on this now. I emphasize that this is strictly my own opinion. Of those named in the report, I personally do not believe that either John Trudell or Leonard Crow Dog were involved in the killing of AnnaMae, although I am confident that they each could bring light to the darkness surrounding the case. Dennis Banks, as far as I know, heard about AnnaMae being "questioned" before she was killed, yet he either didn't realize what was about to happen or was scared away from acting to stop it by 'bigger people'. He too could shed much light on the darkness. I am baffled by his silence, unless he too is scared for his life, or scared of the truth. I do not know which. Of the others named that day of the Ottawa press conference, I believe that AnnaMae was tied up at Troy Lynn Yellow Wood's house in Denver. I believe that Theda Nelson Clark, Arlo Looking Cloud & JohnBoy Patten picked up AnnaMae from the house of Troy Lynn Yellow Wood in Denver, drove her to Rapid City, to the apartment of Thelma Rios where she was (still tied up) slapped around to get her to "confess" to being a snitch, & that both Arlo & later JohnBoy raped her while she was there. I believe that Clyde Bellecourt visited that apartment while AnnaMae was being held there (10-11 Dec 1975) & that Bruce Ellison, Ted Means & Herb Powless did too. I believe that during the still-dark morning hours of 12 Decemebr, 1975, Theda, Arlo & JohnBoy took AnnaMae to that ravine out by Wanblee & killed her in cold blood. And, to date, that is all I believe about the people named the day of the press conference in Ottawa. Now it is for these people to answer to the allegations made with statements telling the world otherwise. I also believe that AnnaMae was tied up & raped because the second autopsy (report by Dr. Garry Peterson) definitely found evidence that "sexual activity" with marks compatible with rape was present (& samples were taken & are currently being used to match DNA), & b) Dr. Peterson's report also clearly states that there were marks of rope having been tightly bound at the precise location on both wrists where they had been severed during the previous autopsy. Which is also the logical explanation as to why AnnaMae's entire hands were cut off (at FBI agent David Price's order) rather than just the normal practice of severing fingertips to get a fingerprint ID. I have also had shared with me (but do not have copies of) over 60 pages containing the statements made in secret Grand Jury testimony by Arlo Looking Cloud wherein he testifies that he participated in the kidnapping, rape & murder of AnnaMae Pictou-Aquash & that she was "ordered" killed because she was about to give testimony or make public statements ".. that would free Leonard Peltier" & would have "blown the cover" of two "highly-placed FBI informers in AIM leadership" at the time. Arlo's testimony also stated that he was at the Jumping Bull compound on 26 June 1975 & he names two individuals who he says actually killed the two FBI agents for which Leonard stands convicted. (And no matter who did the point-blank shooting, I also believe that the deaths of those two agents was 100% self-defense, no matter who did it.) I believe that this testimony by Arlo is the reason he says he has immunity from prosecution & also why that Grand Jury hearing into Annamae's death was stayed & the transcripts sealed into secrecy. Leonard was already convicted & in a cell when this Grand Jury was convened. And that is what I believe. This is all -I repeat - my entirely personal opinion based on what I have been told & shown by many over the past 25 years, especially during the past 2 years. I also repeat that I will never do anything that may bring harm to Leonard Peltier & that I will continue to do whatever I can, whenever I can to push for his freedom even if he doesn't want me to do so. Just as I have been doing for almost a quarter century. I take no orders from anyone on how I should act & what is right or wrong. As "an army of one" I am my own general. I have done nothing to feel the least bit of shame about in all of this, & if I am killed tomorrow then I die with head held high, with the knowledge that I have lived true to my pipe & to those that have guided me every day for decades. AIM will grow & thrive no matter how this mess unfolds, no matter who is found to be the guilty parties "beyond any shadow of doubt" in the kidnapping, rape & murder of AnnaMae Pictou-Aquash. AIM will not be destroyed because the thousands that are AIM had nothing to do with the acts of a few scumbags, whoever those scumbags are found to be other than the three who have confessed. And I am sure that the "producers/directors" of this entire tragic episode in the lands of the Lakota in 1972-1977 - the death-dealers in the FBI offices at Minneapolis & Rapid City - will be uncovered & will finally pay for their heineous crimes as a result. And I remain 100% convinced that the evidence brought out at the trials of the guilty WILL definitely show that Leonard Peltier is entirely innocent of the crime for which he was railroaded. In closing, I will tell you that I have prayed long & hard after reading Leonard's words. His words & opinions mean very much to me, & to have him attack me tore my heart out. So after praying I have decided that I am going to try & meet in council with as many of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota elders as possible in the next few weeks. I will put all I have been told & shown in front of them, as well as letting them judge my character for themselves. I will abide by what they tell me they feel is the best course of action, even if that means breaking my promise of help & support to the Pictou family. I wish that all of this could have been taken care 24 years ago by the traditions handed down to the Nations concerned by their grandfathers. There are no "winners" in any court of law, & it saddens me much that the laws & "legal systems" that served for thousands of years are being ignored. Maybe with the elders of the Nations concerned, the elders of the families that make up each Nation & the guidance & help of the grandfathers, the truth will finally come out. As it should have 24 years ago. That is all I have to say. masi:cho for listening... jaom/�n�thekw�
