Free Leonard Peltier, Humanitarian, Artist, and Writer
I’m counting on you to seek out and expose the truth. Any official investigation of FBI misconduct MUST include the “Reign of Terror” on Pine Ridge and the Peltier case where the government has been shown to have: violated international law by using a false affidavit from an incompetent witness to obtain Leonard’s extradition from Canada; withheld critical evidence; fabricated other evidence; intimidated witnesses; hand-picked the trial judge; and prejudiced the jury against the American Indian Movement, in general, and Leonard Peltier, in particular. This was all to ensure that Leonard Peltier, an innocent man, would pay the collective price for the deaths of two FBI agents in 1975. It was and continues to be an act of vengeance only and a shameful perversion of our Constitution.
For decades claims of official misconduct have been levied against the FBI by U.S. citizens, but Congress has turned a blind eye to such charges for the most part.
For nearly 30 years, for example, Congress – steeped in denial and fully believing the myth that has grown up around the FBI, i.e., that of premier law enforcement agency, protector of American rights, and defender of the U.S. Constitution – has failed to fully investigate the “Reign of Terror” on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota during the 1970s. It also has failed to investigate the now documented FBI misconduct in the case of American Indian activist Leonard Peltier.
I know the Deegan case isn’t an isolated incident. The case only provides additional proof of what many people – Leonard Peltier among them – already know from bitter experience. The FBI is plagued with a top-down malady characterized by thinking itself above the law, having no concern for justice, and desiring to squash all dissent. The U.S. Constitution is meaningless to an agency that now, as before, thinks the end justifies the means.
The HCGR said the Committee's report should spur a wider investigation. Yes, a wider investigation is indicated. Not just the misuse of informants but ALL FBI misconduct must be uncovered and the responsible parties held accountable.
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