Of course, was Peltier a member of the US military and the so-called (I prefer jack-booted thugs, in this case) "law enforcement officers" a cowering Arab in a mosque, this would be fine, right? I mean, that's our mantra around here...
Apples and oranges - Cole and Williams were sworn Federal agents, not non-governmental terorists with a known history of booby-trapping their dead and suicide bombing their injured. Pop quiz: how many wounded FBI agents have ever detonated?
Quote:
Special Agents.
Jack R. Coler
&
Ronald A. Williams
RIP Hero's
Ahem, "hardly".
Everybody is getting all riled up about the SCOTUS decision allowing Wal-Mart to grab personal property but ongoing -- and perpetual -- use of Manifest Desiny seems to slip by the masses.
No, it doesn't "slip by" the masses - the masses are smart enough to realize that however bad we treated the indiginous people here, (which is what ALWAYS happens - read your history....), there are still Indians and Eskimos today...their fate at the hands of a Third Reich or Imperial Japanese occupation, had there not been fully "Manifest Destinied" U.S. to oppose them, would have been extinction, as was planned for the Jews, gays, Gypsies, Armenians, Slavs.... Nor do the "masses" miss the conection with AIM actions and statements to other leftist wackiness off the times, such as the Weathermen, SDS, Symbionese Liberation Army, Black Panthers, etc. You criticise government squashing of the AIM movement - ask anyone in Peru how much fun it is with "Sendero Luminoso" running around, and if the government should have suppressed it early on.
Peltier erred in not saying, "I shot them, and here's why", at his trial: which was a travesty and sham to begin with. If those agents, in support of a government agency directly charged with undermining the safety, sovereignty, peace, and welfare of American Indians,
...the agents were attempting to serve an arrest warrent on a Native American named Jimmy Eagle. They were trying to do their jobs - like that list above, complaining "no investigation" - well, they were investigating - they had a vehicle and a suspect that seemed to match Eagle's description. The agents came in seperate government cars, with their rifles and shotguns secured in the trunks. Only their service revolvers were available for immediate use, despite KNOWING that a hostile AIM encampment was nearby. (BTW, even Indians were opposed to AIM and their tactics - the "GOON" squads refered to are the "Guardians Of the Ogola Nation", a Native American group OPPOSED to AIM). When they attemped to follow the suspect vehicle onto the Jumping Bull property, Agent Williams radioed that they were being shot at by the occupants of the suspect vehicle, and ffrom other positions as well.Subsequent crime scene investigation and autopsy results determined that the agents only returned limited fire and were injured as follows:
Agent Coler may have fired from his service revolver, but his bullet pouch (a small leather carrier worn on the belt) still contained its six original rounds, one shot from a 12-gauge shotgun and one shot from a .308 rifle. He received an initial wound nearly severing his right arm, a wound to the top of his head, and a second to his jaw, both delivered at contact range with a high-powered rifle.
Agent Williams while calling for help on his radio, may have fired briefly from his service revolver and was wounded initially in his left arm, left side, and foot. A fatal shot fired at contact range went through his right hand and into his face.
Their vehicles received a total of 125 bullet holes, not counting those that either missed or went through the shattered windows and were not recovered.
came armed to my area of allotted residence, with the ongoing intent shown, I'd shoot them myself.
I openly and respectfully appreciate other perspectives!
I respectfully submit that you have only been exposed to one side of the story, and that Williams and Cole died in the performance of their sworn duty, regardless of whatever tension existed between AIM and the FBI, or AIM and other Indians. Look at the so-called "list" of victims verses the actual dispositon of the cases - decide which side has credibility. This wasn't a Ruby Ridge or Waco - this was the cold-blooded execution of wounded men by psychopathic scum trying to use the legitimate issues of the Native Americans as justification for their own wanton blood-lust.
:banghead: