Re: oops: Operation code names causes backlash.

Oh, good grief. It was a code name. Let it go.

Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |*
*


On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 5:05 PM, Karl Swenson <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/05/use-of-geron
> imo-codename-in-bin-laden-operation-stirs-american-indian-backlash/1
>
>
>
> 'Geronimo' code name in bin Laden mission stirs American Indian backlash
>
>
>
> The U.S. military's use of the code name "Geronimo" in the assault on Osama
> bin Laden's compound has generated a backlash among some Native American
> tribes and organizations.
>
> How exactly the term was used remains unclear. After bin Laden was killed,
> the military sent a message back to the White House: "Geronimo EKIA" -
> enemy
> killed in action. U.S. officials have since said that "Geronimo" was the
> name of the operation itself and that "Jackpot" was the code word for bin
> Laden.
>
> A White House spokesman referred questions about the code name to the
> Pentagon, the Associated Press reports, noting that a Defense Department
> spokeswoman declined to comment.
>
> Geronimo was an Apache leader who spent many years fighting Mexican and
> U.S.
> armies until he surrendered in 1886. Indian Country Today has published a
> biography and gallery
> <
> http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/photogallery/the-life-of-geronimo
> -in-pictures/>  of photos of Geronimo.
>
> Here's a sampling of some of the reaction:
>
> .         Fort Still Apache Tribal Chairman Jeff Houser wrote to President
> Obama asking for an apology
> <
> http://fortsillapache-nsn.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=
>
> 60%3Aapache-chairman-seeks-apology-for-geronimo-slur&catid=7%3Atribal-news&I
> temid=13<http://fortsillapache-nsn.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=%0A60%3Aapache-chairman-seeks-apology-for-geronimo-slur&catid=7%3Atribal-news&I%0Atemid=13>>
>  for the "slur." Houser says equating Geronimo or any other Native
> American figure with a "mass murderer and cowardly terrorist" is painful
> and
> offensive.
>
> .         Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs, on Behalf of the
> Haudenosaunee,
> says
> <
> http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/onondaga_nation_leaders_blas
> t.html>  it is a "sad commentary" on the attitudes of leaders of the U.S.
> military forces that they "continue to personify the original people of
> North America as enemies and savages," The Syracuse Post-Standard reports.
> "Think of the outcry if they had used any other ethnic group's hero.
> Geronimo bravely and heroically defended his homeland and his people,
> eventually surrendering and living out the rest of his days peacefully, if
> in captivity, passing away at Fort Sill, Okla., in 1909. To compare him to
> Osama Bin Laden is illogical and insulting. ... The U.S. military
> leadership
> should have known better."
>
> .         Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American
> Indians
> <
> http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/05/national-congress-of-amer
> ican-indians-reacts-to-use-of-geronimo/> , took a more measured approach,
> saying it is his understanding that the operation, not bin Laden, was
> code-named "Geronimo." "To associate a Native warrior with bin Laden is not
> an accurate reflection of history, and it undermines the military service
> of
> Native people," says Keel, a decorated Vietnam vet and former instructor
> with the elite U.S. Army Rangers. "It's critical that military leaders and
> operational standards honor the service of those who protect our freedom."
>
> .         Native Sun News <http://www.nsweekly.com> , in a roundup of
> reaction
> <
> http://nativetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5340:co
> de-name-geronimo&catid=49&Itemid=25> , says American Indian veterans were
> "outraged" over the code name controversy. They say Geronimo defended his
> people and land from invaders and was not a terrorist.
>
> .         Loretta Tuell, staff director and chief counsel for the Senate
> Indian Affairs Committee, says it is inappropriate to link Geronimo, whom
> she called "one of the greatest Native American heroes," with one of the
> most hated enemies of the United States, the AP reports.
> <
> http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/may/03/2/senate-official-wrong-
> to-link-bin-laden-geronimo-ar-204626/>  The committee plans to discuss the
> Geronimo issue Thursday at a previously planned committee hearing on Native
> American stereotypes. "These inappropriate uses of Native American icons
> and
> cultures are prevalent throughout our society, and the impacts to Native
> and
> non-Native children are devastating," says Tuell, a member of the Nez Perce
> tribe who grew up on the tribe's reservation in Idaho.
>
> .         Steven Newcomb, a columnist for the weekly newspaper Indian
> Country Today, criticizes
> <
> http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/ict_sbc/geronimo-again-the-indian
> -wars-continue-ad-nausea> what he calls a disrespectful use of a name
> revered by many Native Americans. "Apparently, having an African-American
> president in the White House is not enough to overturn the
> more-than-200-year American tradition of treating and thinking of Indians
> as
> enemies of the United States," writes Newcomb, who is co-founder and
> co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute.
>
>
> <
> http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/photogallery/the-life-of-geronimo
> -in-pictures/>
>
>
>
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