Peltier foe to head FBI's criminal division

[Waya]

An opponent of imprisoned American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier has been promoted as head of the FBI's criminal investigative division.

James H. "Chip" Burrus has worked for the FBI for 23 years. He was an assistant special agent in charge of the Minneapolis FBI office, which handled the Peltier investigation and other Indian Country crimes in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Attorneys for Peltier, who convicted for murdering two FBI agents, said Burrus once called AIM a "group of burglars and thugs." And when Peltier was being considered for executive clemency, Burrus went public with his opposition.

"There are a lot of people who deserve breaks in the world. Mr. Peltier is not one of them," he was quoted as saying.

Around the same time, Burrus authored the so-called Pine Ridge "death report." The document attempted to explain the deaths of dozens of people killed on or near the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The report, distributed shortly after the 25th anniversary of Peltier's shootout at Pine Ridge, said most of the deaths were not murders as AIM activists and others had claimed. It discounted notions that the FBI was ignoring unsolved crimes involving Native Americans.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Burrus received a special FBI award for his work on the death list.

Burrus also criticized the U.S. Civil Rights Commission for its work investigating how Native Americans are treated by the justice system in South Dakota. "A lot of the research they did is just wafer-thin," the AP reported him as saying....


http://indianz.com/News/2006/015472.asp

[cleofus1]

1. so get the popcorn ready

either.....

A. Leonard killed those FBI agents
B. Leonard knows who killed those FBI agents
C. The FBI agents committed suicide and the agency framed Leonard...

I read all about it years ago...and I know Leonard was dealing with a very fucked up situation...and given the same set of circumstances i would probably be behind bars just like Leonard...but given A B or C...do you seriously think Leonard is ever going to see the light of day? the best we could do for him is send him a cheesecake once a week and maybe some comic books...go visit him...is he married? does he get conjugal visits...I consider him one f the last POW's of the Indian Wars...and for being in the hoosegow for so many years he still a very accomplished man...but he is in for the long run...even Carter and Clinton would not pardon him...

[cleofus1]

2. i expected a little more of a reaction to that post...

nt