Washington Times on Peltier

Jerry Seper is the leading "investigative reporter," that is, purveyor of devious propaganda, for the Washington Times. Most recently he was seen covering up for the FBI in the Kenneth Trentadue sham suicide finding. (See FBI covers up again ). As I detail in Part 5 of "America's Dreyfus Affair, the Case of the Death of Vincent Foster," it was his reporting of the furtive removal of "Whitewater documents" from Foster's office after his death that was used as an excuse to appoint an independent counsel to orchestrate a cover-up of Foster's death. Seper claimed unnamed Park Police investigators as his source, but the fact is that at the time the term "Whitewater" was utterly meaningless to them. Furthermore, all the Park Police investigators on the Foster case denied to author Dan E. Moldea that they gave any such information to Seper and confirmed that they knew nothing about Whitewater. Seper, in short, was the conduit for an official leak with treacherous intent.

As an active participant in the cover-up of the Foster murder, Seper is in league with the FBI. Authors Hugh Turley, John Clarke, and Patrick Knowlton show conclusively at www,fbicover-up.com , that, from beginning to end, responsibility for the cover-up of Vincent Foster's murder lies with the FBI.

Now we have this from him with respect to this dubiously convicted political leader whose continued imprisonment is protested more, by more prestigious people and organizations, than any other American prisoner.

Clinton's 'look-see' at clemency request irks FBI  (Jerry Seper,  Washington Times, Nov. 15, 2000, p. A3) 

President Clinton's promise during a radio interview that he would consider a pardon for Leonard Peltier, the American Indian activist convicted of murdering two FBI agents, has angered law enforcement authorities who oppose any clemency.

Mr. Clinton previously had declined any comment on the pending clemency review, but told Pacifica Radio during a Nov. 8 interview he owed it to both sides of the Peltier issue to give the pardon request "an honest look-see" before he leaves office in January.

"I don't have a position I can announce yet. I believe there is a new application for him in there when I have time, after the election is over, I'm going to review all the remaining executive clemency applications and, you know, see what the merits dictate." Mr. Clinton told the liberal radio network.

"I will try to do what I think is the right thing...I know [the Peltier request] is very important to a lot of people, maybe on both sides of the issue, and I think I owe it to them to give an honest look-see," he said.

John Sennett, president of the FBI Agents Association, which represents more than three-quarters of the bureau's 11,000 agents, yesterday said Peltier had no legitimate claim for clemency and warned Mr. Clinton against granting leniency.

"The president wants to study the matter on the merits, but the merits have been decided over and over by the courts," Mr. Sennett said. "What basis is there for leniency and clemency at this point in time?"

"We hope the president appreciates what a blow it would be to the morale of law enforcment officers at every level of government to watch this unrepentant murderer of two of our own set free," he said.

The association has said Peltier's pardon would be an affront to FBI agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams, who were killed in a 1975 shootout with Peltier, and to their families. In a recent letter to Mr. Clinton, the group warned that Peltier "couldn't fool the federal courts, he is now trying to fool you and the public."

"Don't let him get away with it. Sympathy is appropriate only for the dead heroes and their surviving families. Don't let their sacrifices be forgotten," the letter said. 

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh has publicly opposed Peltier's pardon, saying the courts had "firmly established" his guilt. Noting that the two men were fatally shot as they lay wounded on the ground, he said the FBI "cannot forget this cold-blooded crime, nor should the American people."

Peltier, who is eligible for parole in 2009, was convicted in the June 1975 murders of Agent Coler, 28, and Agent Williams, 27, and sentenced in June 1977 to two consecutive life terms at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan.

He filed for clemency in November 1993, his third such request. President Reagan rejected a similar bid in 1982, and a 1989 request was denied by President Bush. The Supreme Court has twice denied without comment Peltier's appeals of his conviction.

The killings occurred at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian reservation, when Peltier's vehicle was stopped by agents looking for a kidnapping and assault suspect. Agents Coler and Williams were wounded immediately, shot with semiautomatic rifles. The agents fired only five shots before they were hit, compared with more than 125 bullet holes found in their car.

Prosecutors said Peltier and two others approached the wounded agents and fired at point-blank range, hitting Mr. Williams in the face as he knelt and an unconscious Mr. Coler twice in the head.

Mr. Clinton's radio announcement came in the wake of an unsuccessful bid by the House Judiciary Committee to find out the status of Peltier's clemency review. In September, Committee chairman Henry J. Hyde said the White House cited executive privilege to block efforts by the panel to find out any information about the pending request.

The Illinois Republican said he was "concerned" Mr. Clinton would approve the request, adding that "Leonard Peltier should serve his complete sentence and should not receive clemency."

The Justice Department is required to make a recommendation to Mr. Clinton on Peltier's pardon, although the department has declined to comment on any possible decision.

Department spokeswoman Chris Watney did not return calls for comment. (end FBI press release, uh, news article)

The reader may contrast this thoroughly one-sided account with what you may find at Leonard Peltier, Shackled Eagle. 

David Martin 
November 15, 2000

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