Investigation says it wasn't a "massacre".

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

"There is nothing to conceal or apologize for in the Wounded Knee Battle - beyond the killing of a wounded buck by a hysterical recruit. The firing was begun by the Indians and continued until they stopped - with the one exception noted above."

"That women and children were casualties was unfortunate but unavoidable, and most must have been from Indian bullets...The Indians at Wounded Knee brought their own destruction as surely as any people ever did. Their attack on the troops was as treacherous as any in the history of Indian warfare, and that they were under a strange religious hallucination is only an explanation not an excuse."

...excerpts from an official investigation of Wounded Knee
initiated at the behest of Congress, written by General E. D. Scott.

Sound familiar?

[Redstone]

1. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Thank you.

Redstone

[Webster Green]

2. Indeed!

Maybe I really do hate Amurka.

[jschurchin]

3. Really fucking scary, ain't it!!!!

[acmavm]

4. The excuse has worked so well for so many millenia. The bloodthirsty

Romans, who for some inexplicable reason so many admire, used the excuse that they were 'civilizing the barbarians' (i.e. doing them a favor) when they came to conquer and kill them.

It didn't start with the United States. But it did start with men who were greedy, had a need to conquer and control, and felt that due to their 'superiority' they were ENTITLED to another man's land.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Shameless kick for (hopefully) more comments.

[ComerPerro]

6. Gotta love it when the US Government invesitgates itself

[PublicWrath]

7. Yes, sounds depressingly familiar and I feel like throwing up.

Relevant, timely, and recommended.

[Ms. Clio]

8. It is called a "Battle" in the official documents & photos

American Horse, who survived the massacre, later testified:

The men were separated, as has already been said, from the women, and they were surrounded by the soldiers. Then came next the village of the Indians and that was entirely surrounded by the soldiers also. When the firing began, of course the people who were standing immediately around the young man who fired the first shot were killed right together, and then they turned their guns, Hotchkiss guns, etc., upon the women who were in the lodges standing there under a flag of truce, and of course as soon as they were fired upon they fled, the men fleeing in one direction and the women running in two different directions. So that there were three general directions in which they took flight.

There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce, and the women and children of course were strewn all along the circular village until they were dispatched. Right near the flag of truce a mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing, and that especially was a very sad sight. The women as they were fleeing with their babes were killed together, shot right through, and the women who were very heavy with child were also killed. All the Indians fled in these three directions, and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed or wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys who were not wounded came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there.



To see photos of the "battlefield," search on "Wounded Knee" here: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

[Zen]

13. Disgusting

I'm sure republicans still think this massacre was justified.

[Ms. Clio]

15. there was considerable support for outright extermination of the Indians

Freepers who think the U.S. should just "glass" the Middle East hark back to this famous figure:

The Wounded Knee Editorial

The peculiar policy of the government in employing so weak and vacillating a person as General Miles to look after the uneasy Indians, has resulted in a terrible loss of blood to our soldiers, and a battle which, at its best, is a disgrace to the war department. There has been plenty of time for prompt and decisive measures, the employment of which would have prevented this disaster.
The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extirmination (sic) of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth. In this lies future safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past.


L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz

[babylonsister]

9. Thanks for drawing this correlation. 'Excuses' won't work for me now. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Just one example from very many.

[bigtree]

10. nice

[lpbk2713]

11. This sounds a lot like Katherine Harris investigating voting

irregularities in the Y2K Florida selection.




"Honest. The results are accurate and conclusive. Would I lie to you?"

[cantstandbush]

12. I buried my heart at Wounded Knee. n/t

[Triana]

16. Why do we let murders and criminals investigate and try themselves...

...in this country? What result would you expect?

I heard this on NPR yesterday and my head nearly exploded. WASN'T a massacre? By WHOSE definition? Excuse me but who are the terrorists, again?

I'm getting confused...

[Adriana]

17. Bam. (video)

The marines kill the innocent Iraqi, lying half dead on the ground.

Then Cheer.