Instead of Pardoning a Turkey This Year, Obama Should Free This Man

[marmar]

Instead of Pardoning a Turkey This Year, Obama Should Free This Man

Posted on Oct 29, 2015
By John Kiriakou / OtherWords





As Thanksgiving approaches, I’ve got a suggestion for President Barack Obama.

Instead of following the White House tradition and “pardoning“ a turkey destined for a holiday dinner table, Obama should extend that courtesy to some of the thousands of human beings caged up in America’s federal prisons.

Leonard Peltier should be one of them.

Peltier was a Native American activist on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the 1970s. On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents went to Pine Ridge to look for a young man named Jimmy Eagle, who was wanted for robbery. Soon after they spotted his car, a shootout ensued.

Both agents and one of the occupants of the car were killed. A later shootout at the gunman’s home ended in two more deaths.

An FBI investigation turned up a gun with Peltier’s fingerprints on it, although there was no evidence he’d been involved in the murder of the agents. Peltier was placed on the FBI’s most wanted list and eventually captured in Canada.

His trial was controversial. ................(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/instead_of_pardoning_a_turkey_obama_should_free_this_man_20151029

[BlueMTexpat]

1. Long overdue, IMO. eom

[Mnemosyne]

2. Hear, hear! nt