articles july 26

California judge rules court has jurisdiction in tribal dispute
Sunday, July 25, 2004

By CHRIS T. NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES -- A Superior Court judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit by ousted members of an American Indian tribe Friday, saying courts have authority over legal matters that arise from tribal disputes.

Eleven former members of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians had sued members of the tribe's enrollment committee, claiming their rights were violated after being thrown out of the tribe in March.

In his ruling, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles D. Field cited a federal law stating that California courts "have jurisdiction over civil causes of action between Indians or to which Indians are parties which arise in Indian country." full article

Proposed gold mine threatens river refuge?strong>
Critics say industrial-scale project will permanently scar land

(excerpt from further down in the article)
"I know some of the residents on Canyon Creek are unhappy about earlier restorations, and we'll be looking at that," he said. "I do think it can be done right."

But the Hupa Indians, who live and fish along the Trinity, don't share Mitchell's sanguine view.

In an e-mail to the forest service, Robert Franklin, a fisheries biologist employed by the tribe, argued that the proposed project would lead to irreparable impacts, including water-quality impairment, decreases in stream flows during periods critical to fish and degraded riparian zones. full article

Top court agrees to hear dispute over native rights in famed national park

OTTAWA (CP) - The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to sort out the question of whether the federal government violated aboriginal treaty rights in authorizing a road through the country's largest national park.

At issue is a long-running dispute in which the Mikisew Cree First Nation claims its hunting and trapping rights were infringed by plans to build a winter road through Wood Buffalo National Park, which straddles the Alberta-Northwest Territories border.

The case raises broader legal issues of whether treaty rights or federal environmental law and regulatory power take precedence in the sprawling, 45,000-square kilometre park, created in 1922 to protect the last herd of wood bison. full article

Indian artifacts near Ohio River could be sign of ancient village
By Alex Davis

Remains of an ancient American Indian settlement have been uncovered along the Ohio River shoreline in Clarksville, Ind.

Archaeologists say the discovery of about two dozen artifacts, from pottery shards to stone tools, is significant because the density of the site suggests a prolonged settlement instead of a temporary camp or hunting ground.

The artifacts, found near a two-lane road that collapsed in January, are believed to be 700 to 900 years old, placing the settlement in what is known as the Mississippian period. full article

Reservation force faces big losses
By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer

The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has tightened its belt.

But it may not be enough.

When a federal Community Oriented Policing grant expires Sept. 30, 2005, the tribal police force will lose funding for 75 percent of its officers, according to Duane Yellow Hawk, self-determination specialist for the department.

"After September of 2005, we'll lose funding for 57 police officers unless the Department of Justice moves that money into our funding base," Yellow Hawk said. full article

How to Lose the War on Terror

A CIA bin Laden expert’s lament

One of the striking things about the Iraq War is the extent to which American foreign-affairs professionals—intelligence analysts, diplomats, and high-ranking military officers—recognize it is a tragically misguided venture. Among the most recent to speak out is the CIA officer formerly charged with analyzing Osama bin Laden. Known only as “Anonymous,” he is the author of the new book Imperial Hubris —a scathing look at the way the United States has conducted the War on Terror thus far. TAC editors Philip Giraldi (a CIA veteran with extensive Mideast experience), Kara Hopkins, and Scott McConnell recently visited with the author. Here are excerpts of the conversation.

TAC: You’ve said that Iraq was the best Christmas present that Osama bin Laden could have possibly received …

ANON: Have you seen the movie “Christmas Story,” where the boy wants a Red Rider air gun and his mom says no? Then at the end of Christmas day, when he has opened all his presents, he gets the gun and he thinks, “My God, I really got it. I never thought I’d get it.” Iraq was Osama’s Red Rider BB gun. It was something he always wanted, but something he never expected.

Iraq is the second holiest place in Islam. He’s now got the Americans in the two holiest places in Islam, the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq, and he has the Israelis in Jerusalem. All three sanctities are now occupied by infidels, a great reality for him. He also saw the Islamic clerical community, from liberal to the most Wahhabist, issue fatwas that were more vitriolic and more demanding than the fatwas that were issued against the Soviets when they came into Afghanistan. They basically validated all of the theological arguments bin Laden has been making since 1996, that it is incumbent on all Muslims to fight the Americans because they were invading Islamic territory. Until we did that in Iraq, he really had a difficult time making that argument stick, but now there is no question.

It’s also perceived widely in the Muslim world that we attacked Iraq to move along what, at least in Muslims’ minds, is the Israelis’ goal of a greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates. While we’re beating the hell out of the Iraqis, Sharon and the Israelis are beating the hell out of the Palestinians every day. So we have an overwhelming media flow into the Muslim world of infidels killing Muslims. It’s a one-sided view, but it’s their perception. And unless you deal with what they think, you’re never going to understand what we’re up against. full article

Rock Musicians Organize Against Injustice
An Interview with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian
By RICHARD MORENO

On a sweltering hot summer's day in Southern California, the Axis of Justice non-profit political organization initiated its very first activist meeting Sunday afternoon on the 25th of July at North Hollywood Park. Despite the blistering heat, a group of roughly 50 people from all ages and backgrounds clustered together under the trees' shade while Co-Director of the Axis of Justice Jake Sexton announced the afternoon's purpose. Within minutes, Tom Morello, former Rage Against the Machine guitarist turned Audio Slave guitar extraordinaire, and Serj Tankian, System of the Down's fiery lead vocalist, arrived with cases of Axis of Justice gear and materials. Soon after, the birth of the first Axis of Justice chapter was proclaimed. full article