The Americans chose the code name of a Native American warrior chief in the operation to kill Osama bin Laden. But, as Samira Ahmed writes, Geronimo did more than evade capture - he became a hero.
It's what you shout when take a dangerous leap; a slogan of US paratroopers during the second world war.
But the 19th century Chiricahua Apache hero, whose name it is, was a perhaps questionable choice of code name for Osama Bin Laden; given the numbers of people who do regard him as a hero. His story is laden with symbolic parallels for those who choose to regard Bin Laden as a great warrior.
Born Goyahkla (He Who Yawns) in modern New Mexico in 1829, he was given the name Geronimo by Mexican soldiers, who prayed to St Jerome, after seeing him defy bullets to attack with a knife.
His desire for revenge against the Mexicans was fuelled by their massacre of his mother, wife and three children. He was a symbol of resistance – the man who defied the White Man's broken treaties, who refused to remain quietly on a reservation when other tribes had given in and been forced off their tribal lands.
Geronimo famously said he was not a chief, a political leader. Instead, like Bin Laden, he saw himself as a military leader.
Bin Laden's fundamental hatred against the west was supposedly the US presence on holy (and oil-rich) Saudi Arab soil. In the 1860s, the discovery of Gold in the West saw the US and the Mexican governments speed up their push against American Indians to seize their land.
Geronimo became a great war leader, a symbol of resistance to the white occupation. His small band of warriors raided settlements in Arizona, and attacked US troops.
As the US looks to withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the possibility of negotiating with theTaliban, it's worth noting that he was rarely defeated and US generals found themselves struggling to form a successful strategy.
The last of the Indian wars ended after years, only when Geronimo signed a piece treaty with General Nelson Miles – who had failed to defeat him by military means.
The end of Geronimo was a humiliation of broken promises, not assassination.
As a result of the revisionist histories written since the 1960s, many younger Americans, such as President Obama, would, surely be aware of the less than honorable actions of US forces against American Indians, such as Geronimo.
He and his people were moved around Florida, and Alabama, ending up in Oklahoma. He was not killed in a compound; but died in US military base – Fort Sill in 1909, after completing his autobiography.
Even in the early 1960s, when we assume Indians were the "bad guys", Hollywood’s first biopic starring the white sportsman turned actor Chuck Connors as the Native Indian hero, saw him portrayed as a great hero and family man, abused by Federal forces.
The 1993 film Geronimo: An American Legend, starting Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall and the Native American Wes Studi as Geronimo, focused on the abuse of the Apache themselves and the success of a small band of dedicated warriors against the might of the US military.
According to some analyses today, the US military chose the code name because Bin Laden, like Geronimo, had evaded capture for years. If they were trying to avoid mythmaking, it seems they chose the wrong code name.
Thus reports Channel 4 News. The British, via the BBC News, have another take on the name game of "Geronimo."
The code name for the operation to capture Osama Bin Laden was Geronimo. Why was it named after one of the best-known Native Americans?
Geronimo. The Apache warrior's name conjures up an image of the American Wild West, the world over.
In the best-known photograph of him - taken in 1887 - he glares defiantly into the camera, gripping a rifle. It was this fearless warrior that led the last band of Apache resistance to the white Americans.
The fact that Bin Laden had been killed by US special forces was reported to President Barack Obama on Sunday with the words "Geronimo EKIA" - Enemy Killed In Action.
But US officials have not commented on why the name Geronimo was chosen - and may never do so.Old West reincarnated
It was back in 2001 that the narrative for America's hunt for the al-Qaeda leader became strewn with Wild West imagery.
George W Bush's call for Bin Laden to be caught "dead or alive" mimicked the posters of the old Hollywood westerns, while borderland Pakistan became the Old West reincarnated in the minds of many commentators.
Bin Laden was referred to by one as a "21st-Century Geronimo, trying to elude the US military somewhere in a dry mountain range that could easily pass for the American West".
Afghanistan's cave-laced mountains, were easy to imagine using the template of the Sierra Madre mountain range thousands of miles away, where the original Geronimo managed to elude US troops for so long in the late 19th Century.
Referring to US military possibilities in the tribal areas of Afghanistan's mountainous regions, Allan R Millet, a retired Marine Corps colonel and Ohio State University professor, said in 2001: "It's like shooting missiles at Geronimo... you might get a couple of Apaches, but what difference does that make?"
Geronimo was actually given the name Goyahkla at birth. One theory is that he acquired the name Geronimo from the Mexicans he fought to avenge the death of members of his family.
According to one story the Mexicans would shout: "Cuidado! (Watch out!) Geronimo!". It could be because they mispronounced his name or, as some historians have suggested, they were calling for the protection of St Jerome.
The real Geronimo was born in 1829 in what is modern day New Mexico. As one of the Apache leaders, he inherited a tradition of resisting colonisation by both Spaniards and North Americans.
According to Ron Jackson writing in the Oklahoman in 2009, Geronimo's "legend is rooted in real deeds of bravery and bloodshed."
He gained early notoriety for his fearless raids against Mexican soldiers. Mexican troops had killed members of his family after storming his village, and his revenge was to kill as many of them as possible.
"By 1872, US government officials were keenly aware of Geronimo's fighting exploits when they corralled him and hundreds of his fellow Chiricahua Apache people onto an Arizona Territory reservation," writes Mr Jackson.
"Four years later, Geronimo led a large band of Apache dissidents off the reservation and into the Sierra Madre mountains of Old Mexico, where they staged raids on anyone unlucky enough to cross their paths.
"Military officials soon branded Geronimo a renegade. During the next decade, Geronimo repeatedly returned to reservation life in peace only to bolt with others for the refuge of the Sierra Madres. They often left a trail of blood. Hidden in the myriad mountain passes and caves, Geronimo and his followers embarrassed military officers by eluding them time and again, at one point with as many as 5,000 US soldiers on their heels."
It was Apache scouts that helped track Geronimo down in 1886.
The hunt for Bin Laden was often portrayed with Wild West imagery.
His struggle to resist the white Americans has led to him being depicted in a sympathetic light by many cultural historians.
Ironically, it is thanks to the Native American's legendary bravery that one of US army's elite units has the regimental nickname "Geronimo".
The link to the parachute division's moniker and the tradition of shouting "Geronimo" while diving out of a plane can be traced to Fort Benning in the state of Georgia.
G-E-R-O-N-I-M-O
According to reports, in 1940 soldiers from the parachute division were preparing to test a daring new maneuver, in which men jumped from the plane in rapid succession.
The night before the jump, a small group of soldiers left the base to watch film at the local cinema - a western featuring the fearless Geronimo. As the men later revealed their apprehension about the next day's jump, Pt Aubrey Eberhardt announced that he was going to shout "Geronimo" as he leapt from the plane to demonstrate his courage.
The story goes that as he jumped, "G-E-R-O-N-I-M-O" was clearly heard from the ground. It was copied by other servicemen and quickly became standard parachute regiment practice - and the favoured cry for little boys performing a daring leap.
The word "Geronimo" was eventually discontinued by the army in favor of a parachute opening count - "one-thousand, two-thousand, three-thousand" - but by this stage it was already the name of the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment.
The "Geronimos" have been operational in Iraq and Afghanistan. By adopting the tactics and techniques of al-Qaeda and the Taleban, they help to train other units to defend themselves.
The original Geronimo is buried at Fort Still in Oklahoma - but one branch of his descendants argue that he should be laid to rest in his tribal homeland of the Gila Mountains of New Mexico. Until the correct sacred rite is carried out, his spirit is still wandering.
According to reports, in 1940 soldiers from the parachute division were preparing to test a daring new maneuver, in which men jumped from the plane in rapid succession.
The night before the jump, a small group of soldiers left the base to watch film at the local cinema - a western featuring the fearless Geronimo. As the men later revealed their apprehension about the next day's jump, Pt Aubrey Eberhardt announced that he was going to shout "Geronimo" as he leapt from the plane to demonstrate his courage.
The story goes that as he jumped, "G-E-R-O-N-I-M-O" was clearly heard from the ground. It was copied by other servicemen and quickly became standard parachute regiment practice - and the favoured cry for little boys performing a daring leap.
The word "Geronimo" was eventually discontinued by the army in favor of a parachute opening count - "one-thousand, two-thousand, three-thousand" - but by this stage it was already the name of the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment.
The "Geronimos" have been operational in Iraq and Afghanistan. By adopting the tactics and techniques of al-Qaeda and the Taleban, they help to train other units to defend themselves.
The original Geronimo is buried at Fort Still in Oklahoma - but one branch of his descendants argue that he should be laid to rest in his tribal homeland of the Gila Mountains of New Mexico. Until the correct sacred rite is carried out, his spirit is still wandering.
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So what's the end of the story of Skull & Bones stealing Geronimo's skull?
In 1986, former San Carlos Apache Chairman Ned Anderson received an anonymous letter with a photograph and a copy of a log book claiming that Skull & Bones held the skull. He met with Skull & Bones officials about the rumor; the group's attorney, Endicott P. Davidson, denied that the group held the skull, and said that the 1918 ledger saying otherwise was a hoax. The group offered Anderson a glass case containing what appeared to be the skull of a child, but Anderson refused it. In 2006, Marc Wortman discovered a 1918 letter from Skull & Bones member Winter Mead to F. Trubee Davison that claimed the theft:
In 1986, former San Carlos Apache Chairman Ned Anderson received an anonymous letter with a photograph and a copy of a log book claiming that Skull & Bones held the skull. He met with Skull & Bones officials about the rumor; the group's attorney, Endicott P. Davidson, denied that the group held the skull, and said that the 1918 ledger saying otherwise was a hoax. The group offered Anderson a glass case containing what appeared to be the skull of a child, but Anderson refused it. In 2006, Marc Wortman discovered a 1918 letter from Skull & Bones member Winter Mead to F. Trubee Davison that claimed the theft:
- The skull of the worthy Geronimo the Terrible, exhumed from its tomb at Fort Sill by your club... is now safe inside the tomb and bone together with his well worn femurs, bit and saddle horn.
The second "tomb" references the building of Yale University's Skull & Bones society.
But Mead was not at Fort Sill, and Cameron University history professor David H. Miller notes that Geronimo's grave was unmarked at the time. The revelation led Harlyn Geronimo of Mescalero, New Mexico, to write to President Bush requesting his help in returning the remains:
- According to our traditions the remains of this sort, especially in this state when the grave was desecrated ... need to be reburied with the proper rituals ... to return the dignity and let his spirits rest in peace.
The Fort Sill grave site of Geronimo.
In 2009, Ramsey Clark filed a lawsuit on behalf of people claiming to be Geronimo's descendants, against, among others, Barack Obama, Robert Gates, and Skull & Bones, asking for the return of Geronimo's bones. An article in The New York Times states that Clark "acknowledged he had no hard proof that the story was true."
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Please see comments below for more on the "third" head: Pancho Villa's.
Source, Source, Source.+++
Please see comments below for more on the "third" head: Pancho Villa's.
10 comments:
And yet there's another famous enemy of the United States, that also evaded capture despite a great effort to find him, whose skull is also said to be in the possession of the Skulls & Bones society.
I'm talking about Doroteo Arango, a very influential man who became a living legend during the first decades of the XXth century.
You might recognize him by his other name: Pancho Villa.
So now the morbid triangle is complete: the skull of public enemy #1 from the XIXth century; the skull from the enemy of the XXth century; and now, finally, the skull of the enemy of the XXIst century.
You might recognize him by
More here: Pancho Villa / Skull & Bones
Interesting information. It has been said, and is now a matter of record, that the whole Pancho Villa episode was a masonic psychodrama. Can't help but think that the current OBL/UBL game is similar. The grave of Geronimo is quite revealing alongside the interest of S&B.
OBL/UBL hideout mansion was at the "end of a dirt road" in a town named after a high ranking British knight deeply involved in the Great Game. Near the 33rd parallel, but in the Lahore region which is centered on the 33rd. The same region in which the CIA agent was recently discovered and traded for.
Conflicting accounts of what happened now coming to light. Death of OBL/UBL announced shortly after the release of Obama's birth certificate. May 1 of course is a loaded date. Announced at night in order to dominate the morning news cycle, followed by grotesque, macabre celebrations.
@ Anon:
Sure, the tale might be bogus, but it's interesting to consider the subtle coincidences between these three characters.
Both Villa and Bin Laden* were first praised as freedom fighters in the US, and their stories were even brought to the big screen —in the case of Villa, a silent movie was made where he played his own role; and with Bin Laden, well... there's Rambo 3 ;)
And also both Villa and Bin Laden felt betrayed by the United States, in one way or another. In the case of Villa, he never forgave the 'gringos' for refusing to sell him weapons, when the White House decided that the best course of action was to support the government of Venustiano Carranza; instantly transforming Villa from a revolutionary commander into a common outlaw.
And later, when he and his troops attacked Columbus, into a terrorist.
(*)This post's intention is not to justify or glorify the murdering of innocent civilians, in any point of our past.
The name of the operation resonates with old legends, but the burial of Bin Laden at sea resonates with new legends and young people. The "Transformers" movies are about elite soldiers and agents from the US military and government fighting the evil "Decepticon" bad guys. When Megatron is killed, his body is dumped into the Laurentian Abyss. These are some of the most popular movies of recent years and _everyone knows_ the burial at sea does not end well for the US and good guys in general!
RPJ, You mention the PV attack on Columbus which in turn became the starting point of the subsequent psychodrama, and marked him officially as a "terrorist".
Columbus is a variation of Columbia.
OBL/UBL supposedly attacked the Pentagon, an occult symbol, located in the District of Columbia, which began this whole psychodrama of the War On Terror.
Columbia is the masonic name for America.
Was there a Columbia connection to Geronimo?
You can bet that when S&B steals and holds items in its tomb, that sorcery was involved.
Anon 5:31
Well, now they're saying that he wasn't armed, that he didn't actually used a human shield, and even h's daughter assures he was captured alive and THEN killed in front of his family.
I bet this is the first time in history when a beard was considered a lethal weapon ;)
OBL's death was announced 66 years to the day that Hitler's was. Additionally, it was announced at 11:30 pm, EST. Hitler's death was annound at 5:30 pm. So, we have OBL's death announced 66 years and 6 hours to the date and time of Hitler's.
More "facts" coming out, revealing this was a hit job. Unarmed children of OBL/UBL were shot in cold blood, as was apparently OBL/UBL who was unarmed. We may never know if it was actually he who was shot.
Could this have been a planned rendevous with this "former" CIA agent where the doublecross was pulled and the assassination completed?
Meanwhile, the American Nile river is flooding Memphis, Cairo and some other "Little Eygpt" towns in the midwest. I vaguely recall some occult mythology as it relates to the African Nile flooding.
Another interesting aspect might be that Geronimo was taken by the S&B crowd as a trophy, presumably in an attempt to either "own" his past power or demonstrate their dominion over him even after his death -- they owned the remnant, and to a degree therefore, ownership of remaining story. More of the same with OBL where the powers that controlled the operation and subsequent actions have incorporated the remnants of OBM to use both a trophy (figuratively) and direct the impact of actions even after his death which they use to serve their own purposes -- future release of info allegedly gain from the treasure trove of documents from the Pakistan lair -- to further their future ideas of more so-called terror control.
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