Wikileaks reveals that the truth, censored by Indian Country Today, was already known as a fact around the world in Turkey
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz. -- A newly released Wikileaks cable reveals that when Indian Country Today attempted to censor the fact that the war in Iraq was a continuation of the atrocities inflicted on American Indians, the truth was already known around the world in Turkey.
The US Embassy in Turkey quoted Omer Ozturkmen in 2004, in the Wikileaks cable: "The Iraqi people were expecting to watch Saddam's trial on TV while the president of the US focused on his re-election bid. Now, the torture photos from Iraq have recalled for the American people the long forgotten atrocities faced by American Indians."
It is an important fact that Turkey knew this truth at the beginning of the Iraq war, because in the United States, this fact was being censored.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain, Ariz., longtime Navajo resister of relocation, was among the most vocal from the beginning opposing the war in Iraq. When Benally compared the war in Iraq to the forced exile and imprisonment of Navajos on the Long Walk by the US Calvary, the newspaper Indian Country Today, where I served as a staff writer, censored Benally's comments in 2005.
Pressed to publish a correction, the newspaper refused.
Here are the censored comments:
Navajos at Big Mountain resisting forced relocation view the 19th Century prison camp of Bosque Redondo and the war in Iraq as a continuum of U.S. government sponsored terror.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain remembered her great-grandfather and other Navajos driven from their beloved homeland by the U.S. Army on foot for hundreds of miles while witnessing the murder, rape and starvation of their family and friends.
“I think these poor children had gone through so much, but, yet they had the will to go on and live their lives. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be here today.
“It makes me feel very sad and I apply this to the situation in Iraq. I wonder how the Native Americans in the combat zone feel about killing innocent lives.”
Looking at the faces of the Navajo and Apache children in the Bosque Redondo photo, Benally said,
“I think the children in the picture look concerned and maybe confused. It makes me think of what the children in Iraq must be going through right now.
“The U.S. military first murders your people and destroys your way of life while stealing your culture, then forces you to learn their evil ways of lying and cheating,” Benally said.
We know now that not only were Benally's comments censored at the time, but Native Americans and other peace activists were being stalked and spied on by law enforcement throughout the United States. The spy files of the Denver Police Department, made public, revealed that activists at Big Mountain were among those on the police watch list.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, the truth was known that when American Indians viewed torture photos in Iraq, they recalled the atrocities inflicted on Native Americans.
A US diplomatic cable in Turkey, dated May 21, 2004, states:
"The US is in Trouble in Iraq"
Omer Ozturkmen observed in the conservative Turkiye (5/21): "The fact is, US diplomacy was mistaken in planning for the post-war scenario in Iraq. The US could never imagine the kinds of problems they were going to face there. The Iraqi people were expecting to watch Saddam's trial on TV while the president of the US focused on his re-election bid. Now, the torture photos from Iraq have recalled for the American people the long forgotten atrocities faced by American Indians. Let us see how the president will explain the loss of American lives in Iraq during his campaign. When put next to the torture the Iraqi people have suffered at the hands of the coalition, Saddam's Halapja massacre looks mild by comparison. Those obscene photos are already being circulated among international terrorist groups to recruit fighters against the United States. The Bush Administration, which at one time put sacks over the heads of allied troops, now buries its own head to hide its shame. The US is paying the price for excluding Turkey in its policies in Eurasia. It looks that that price will continue to be paid."
Reference id: 04ANKARA2881 Origin: Embassy Ankara Time: Fri, 21 May 2004 16:38 UTC
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Finally, here are more of Benally's comments from 2005:
 |
| Navajo and Apache children imprisoned at Fort Sumner, Bosque Redondo, N.M. |
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz. -- A newly released Wikileaks cable reveals that when Indian Country Today attempted to censor the fact that the war in Iraq was a continuation of the atrocities inflicted on American Indians, the truth was already known around the world in Turkey.
The US Embassy in Turkey quoted Omer Ozturkmen in 2004, in the Wikileaks cable: "The Iraqi people were expecting to watch Saddam's trial on TV while the president of the US focused on his re-election bid. Now, the torture photos from Iraq have recalled for the American people the long forgotten atrocities faced by American Indians."
It is an important fact that Turkey knew this truth at the beginning of the Iraq war, because in the United States, this fact was being censored.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain, Ariz., longtime Navajo resister of relocation, was among the most vocal from the beginning opposing the war in Iraq. When Benally compared the war in Iraq to the forced exile and imprisonment of Navajos on the Long Walk by the US Calvary, the newspaper Indian Country Today, where I served as a staff writer, censored Benally's comments in 2005.
Pressed to publish a correction, the newspaper refused.
Here are the censored comments:
Navajos at Big Mountain resisting forced relocation view the 19th Century prison camp of Bosque Redondo and the war in Iraq as a continuum of U.S. government sponsored terror.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain remembered her great-grandfather and other Navajos driven from their beloved homeland by the U.S. Army on foot for hundreds of miles while witnessing the murder, rape and starvation of their family and friends.
“I think these poor children had gone through so much, but, yet they had the will to go on and live their lives. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be here today.
“It makes me feel very sad and I apply this to the situation in Iraq. I wonder how the Native Americans in the combat zone feel about killing innocent lives.”
Looking at the faces of the Navajo and Apache children in the Bosque Redondo photo, Benally said,
“I think the children in the picture look concerned and maybe confused. It makes me think of what the children in Iraq must be going through right now.
“The U.S. military first murders your people and destroys your way of life while stealing your culture, then forces you to learn their evil ways of lying and cheating,” Benally said.
We know now that not only were Benally's comments censored at the time, but Native Americans and other peace activists were being stalked and spied on by law enforcement throughout the United States. The spy files of the Denver Police Department, made public, revealed that activists at Big Mountain were among those on the police watch list.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, the truth was known that when American Indians viewed torture photos in Iraq, they recalled the atrocities inflicted on Native Americans.
A US diplomatic cable in Turkey, dated May 21, 2004, states:
"The US is in Trouble in Iraq"
Omer Ozturkmen observed in the conservative Turkiye (5/21): "The fact is, US diplomacy was mistaken in planning for the post-war scenario in Iraq. The US could never imagine the kinds of problems they were going to face there. The Iraqi people were expecting to watch Saddam's trial on TV while the president of the US focused on his re-election bid. Now, the torture photos from Iraq have recalled for the American people the long forgotten atrocities faced by American Indians. Let us see how the president will explain the loss of American lives in Iraq during his campaign. When put next to the torture the Iraqi people have suffered at the hands of the coalition, Saddam's Halapja massacre looks mild by comparison. Those obscene photos are already being circulated among international terrorist groups to recruit fighters against the United States. The Bush Administration, which at one time put sacks over the heads of allied troops, now buries its own head to hide its shame. The US is paying the price for excluding Turkey in its policies in Eurasia. It looks that that price will continue to be paid."
Reference id: 04ANKARA2881 Origin: Embassy Ankara Time: Fri, 21 May 2004 16:38 UTC
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Finally, here are more of Benally's comments from 2005:
| Suffering and strength at Bosque Redondo |
| By Brenda Norrell |
| 2005 |
BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz. - Viewing a photo of Navajo children at Bosque Redondo for the first time, Louise Benally wondered which ones were her great-grandparents who endured the Long Walk to Fort Sumner, N.M. and suffered in the prison camp for four years. ''On my mother's side they went: and my great-grandfather was just 5 years old. He had seen a lot of hard times, where parents and other relatives were killed,'' Benally said. ''My grandma passed on three years ago - she was 116 years old. When she left, she would tell us that they did some healing ceremonies which were called 'Without Songs.' She would sometimes have me perform this one: 'The Blacken Way.''' She remembered her great-grandfather and other Navajos who were driven from their beloved homeland by the U.S. Army on foot for hundreds of miles while witnessing murders, rapes and starvation. One-third of the 9,000 Navajo and Mescalero Apache who suffered at the prison camp from 1863 - '68 succumbed to pneumonia, dysentery, starvation and exposure. She also said that some Navajos who eluded capture secretly helped others. ''On my father's side of the family, they didn't go on this march. But, as supporters from the outside, they brought food in the night and other health supplies.'' Benally is among the Navajos who are resisting forced relocation from her home on Big Mountain. The Navajo descendants of Long Walk survivors at Big Mountain gained strength and fortitude from their ancestors for their 30-year struggle to remain on the land as protectors, she noted. Benally pointed out that the so-called ''Navajo and Hopi land dispute'' resulted from legal maneuvers, documented by Colorado professor Charles Wilkinson, to remove Navajos from the land to make way for the expansion of coal mining on Black Mesa. |
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