Former FBI Agent Joseph H. Trimbach Asks Red Nation to Recind Its Humanitarian Award

"It is time for all people who have been fooled by the Peltier propaganda machine to educate themselves on the facts and join Native American groups who rightly condemn Peltier and his misguided defenders. I urge Red Nation to rescind the award given this unrepentant killer..."---Joseph H. Trimbach [See also John M. Trimbach's 12-23-09 press release.]

Monday, December 21, 2009

Letter to Red Nation

Former FBI Agent in Charge Joseph H. Trimbach awaits a response from the group, Red Nation, following its decision to award Leonard Peltier their first ever humanitarian award. The Trimbachs would like Red Nation and its founder, Joanelle Romero, to explain how Peltier has, in the words of the group, "...helped focus world attention on government repression of Native resistance throughout the Americas." Here is the letter from Trimbach:

December 3, 2009

Joanelle Romero, Founder - Red Nation
9420 Reseda Blvd PMB 352
Northridge CA, 91324-2974

Dear Ms. Romero,

I was the FBI Agent in charge of South Dakota when, on June 26, 1975, Leonard Peltier gunned down two young Agents under my supervision. I have recently learned that your organization, Red Nation, has awarded Peltier your first annual humanitarian award. I can only surmise that your group is unaware of the facts of this double murder and Peltier’s continued efforts to deflect attention from his crimes by masquerading as an American Indian victim of persecution. My book, American Indian Mafia, sets the record straight regarding Peltier’s made-up persona as a political prisoner and exposes the true legacy of Peltier’s crime bosses, leaders of the American Indian Movement (AIM).

I was there that day, responding to the frantic radio calls from 27-year-old Ron Williams after he and his partner, 28-year-old Jack Coler, came under fire from shooters well outside the range of their service revolvers. Exposed in an open field, the men were caught virtually defenseless. Peltier, at the time a wanted fugitive, later admitted that he mistakenly believed the Agents were there to arrest him. The evidence shows that Peltier fired from a distance of over 200 yards from the cover of a large elm tree. At least a hundred shell casings matching Peltier’s assault rifle were found at the scene. Other shooters joined in, all aiming at Ron and Jack as they sought cover behind their vehicles. Over 125 bullet holes were found in their Bureau cars.

After both men were wounded, Peltier and two of his accomplices went down to the injured Agents and shot them both at point-blank range. We know this because of the evidence presented at Peltier's trial and because Peltier later bragged about shooting Ron Williams in the face as he sat pleading for his life. The autopsy report confirms that Ron died with his right hand raised in front of his face to ward off the blast from Peltier’s weapon. We learned about Peltier’s boast from testimony given at the 2004 trial of AIM member Arlo Looking Cloud, who was found guilty of murdering AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash. I attended that trial, where the former common-law wife of AIM founder Dennis Banks, Ka-Mook Nichols, recalled under oath how Peltier reenacted his crime with gestures and boasted, “The motherf—ker was begging for his life but I shot him anyway.”

Six months after the Agents’ murders, Peltier’s leaders ordered the execution-style murder of Aquash, the mother of two young girls, because they thought she was an FBI informant. She was never an informant. Once again, AIM thugs had acted on faulty assumptions. Looking Cloud and his accomplice dragged Anna Mae from a car, shot her in the head, and pushed her off a cliff. Peltier had earlier interrogated Anna Mae by putting a loaded gun in her mouth. He called this administering “truth serum.” Peltier may have sealed Anna Mae’s fate because she was also present when he boasted about shooting Agent Williams. Peltier had given his leaders another reason to eliminate her.

In July of this year, I sat a few feet away from inmate Peltier at his parole hearing, where I urged him to accept responsibility for his crimes and ask for forgiveness from his victims’ families. As I read my statement, he could only stare at the floor. The parole board found him to be undeserving, defiant, and completely without remorse. Like every judge who has reviewed the Peltier murder case, the board saw through his phony cloak of victimhood. Every one of Peltier’s alibis has been exposed as a cynical ruse directed against his supporters, whom he must surely regard as mindless tools.

For over 30 years, Peltier has relied on the ignorance of political organizations and well-intentioned human rights activists to sustain the myth of his innocence and the success of his illicit defense fund, now operating under a fraudulent non-profit corporation. Your group is just the latest to fall victim to the same old conspiracy theories and shameless lies of Peltier and his chief falsifiers, Peter Matthiessen, the author of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, and Robert Redford, the producer of the documentary, Incident at Oglala. As my book documents, both of these media productions are full of distortions, falsehoods, and Peltier’s well-rehearsed fables.

It is time for all people who have been fooled by the Peltier propaganda machine to educate themselves on the facts and join Native American groups who rightly condemn Peltier and his misguided defenders. I urge Red Nation to rescind the award given this unrepentant killer and take a stand for Native American truth and virtue. It is not too late to restore dignity and honor to your humanitarian award. There are plenty of American Indians deserving of your accolades, but the pathetic manipulator who now serves two consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary is certainly not one of them.

Sincerely,

Joe Trimbach
http://www.americanindianmafia.com/