And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
[Note: this is the third time this is being sent to the newsletter..it should have
been in the previous two digests and for some reason never made it...Ish]
Subject: Open letter-Peltier response-Anna Mae investigation
From: "bobby" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Wed, 29 September 1999 11:52 AM EDT
Posted to alt.native
Open letter from Leonard Peltier in response to reports from the recent
press conference regarding Anna Mae Aquash:
I have just received and read a report written by Chris Nicholas about the recent
press conference held in Canada in regard to Anna Mae. I am very shocked and
saddened by what is being said and the misinformation and outright lies that are being
spread about what happened to her and what has happened to me. I have not said
anything up until now because I do not want to be involved in an investigation carried
out in part, by Robert Ecoffey and the RCMP. Ecoffey was responsible for much of the
terror and corruption that existed on Pine Ridge in the early 70's. The RCMP, working
with the FBI, submitted a fabricated statement against me over a year after I was
arrested by them in Canada. This statement has been used to justify my continued
incarceration. Who would trust such sources to carry out an investigation into one of
the many, many, people who were murdered in conjunction with the FBI on Pine Ridge
during that era? I did not want to be involved in this, but now !
!
it l
ooks like I must submit a public statement documenting my stance because I very much
fear that innocent people will be railroaded as I have, into prison, and the
governments of Canada and the U.S. will be happy to have given AIM the image of a
vicious and corrupt terrorist organization which we absolutely were not. Am I saying
that everyone who was in AIM was perfect? No. Am I saying that AIM is today what it
was back then? No. But, what I am seeing is a clear attempt to destroy a very valid
civil rights movement in order for those involved to both benefit and profit from Anna
Mae's death. Future movements for the rights of our people would always have to fight
this unjustified image and work extra hard to be given any validity at all.
First off, I would like to start by offering my condolences to the family of Anna Mae
and by expressing my strong desire to have her murder, along with all of the other
murders that took place during that era, solved. I have been pushing for this since
the beginning. And, though I am aware that her death was possibly carried out by an
informer, a pawn of the FBI, I am convinced that justice will not be done until a
complete investigation into the FBI's involvement on Pine Ridge at that time is
carried out.
Bob Branscombe, who is leading this investigation, cannot be trusted for several
reasons. He says he is Anna Mae's cousin and this is the reason why he has committed
himself to finding out who killed her. However, he only found out about his Indian
blood two years ago. Most importantly, he visited me in the fall of 1998 claiming to
have a way to get me out. He came in to see me and offered me a deal saying that if I
helped them to get a conviction against John Boy Patton, he could assure me the
government would look upon this favorably and I would be granted parole. I asked how
he knew they would do this. He said that he spoke with the DA in Colorado and she
said she was willing to help get me out of prison. I replied that I could not help
because I did not know anything. He said that it didn't matter as long as I was
willing to help. I then replied, "Are you telling me you want me to be a Myrtle Poor
Bear?" He said, "well, you would be released within ten days if yo!
!
u wo
uld sign an affidavit against John Boy Patton." I told him that I could not believe
he was sitting there asking me to be the same type of person who lied against me and
cost me my life. I am ready and willing to testify to this in court, under oath and
after taking a lie detector test. Furthermore, Chris Nicholas, who is also involved in
this, did not know Anna Mae, yet he is trying to portray himself as being her close
friend. He told me that he had only seen her once, briefly. I ask all Native people
and the Pictou family to beware of these two men. I am sure they are in this to
profit off of Anna Mae's tragedy. Bob Branscombe's new book about all of this is
clear evidence. What angers me the most is that these men are now trying to force me
into being involved in this; �they are dragging me into something that I am against
and something I know Anna Mae would have been against. They are even trying to use me
as some sort of bargaining device against my will, stating t!
!
hat
I will be released because of all of this. I would never accept being released in
return for imprisoning someone unfairly convicted. Please know, I have seen the
tactics they are using and I would refuse my release as a result.
Nicholas is saying that Anna Mae was murdered by AIM members because she was going to
announce who killed the agents on Pine Ridge. She was not there and did not know.
She signed an affidavit clearly stating this. Anna Mae was murdered because she was a
skilled organizer and leader for our people. Independent investigators testified,
right after her body was recovered, that there was absolutely no sign of rope burns on
Anna Mae's wrists and that she had gone willingly, either with the police or with
someone she knew. They also testified that there was no evidence of rape.
So I ask you to look critically upon this latest controversy and to keep in mind what
I have told you. Yes, we want justice for Anna Mae. We want justice for all of the
people who died at the hands of Dick Wilson, the BIA and the FBI. It is not justice
when people need to be coerced into pointing fingers as was attempted with me. It is
not justice if a full investigation into the FBI's role in all of the deaths is not
carried out.
In the Spirit Of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
USPL
#89637-132
Leonard Peltier
PO Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE
http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/
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