Battleangel

Another way the US funds its international murder sprees, by embezzling native land and money. The US government continues to deny a settlement in the case of Cobell et al. v. Norton et al. Reading the appendix in Norman Finkelstein’s second edition of the Holocaust Industry a while back it’s hard not to see the complete and utter hypocrisy in the handling of this matter compared to other matters where the US had no formal jurisdiction. After destroying crucial documents and in every way possible hampering the legal process, the US government is still, almost 10 years after the filing of the lawsuit, resisting. And the interest on the lease and royalty payments keeps piling up.

Indian Country Today - The plaintiffs, led by Eloise Cobell, Blackfeet and lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit, offered a $27.5 billion settlement figure as a compromise to what Cobell said could be a $170 billion potential loss in revenues for some 500,000 American Indians named in the class action lawsuit.

According to Cason’s testimony, the accounting did not take place for any time period prior to 1994. The federal court opinion required the accounting to be conducted from 1887 forward. The government defines IIM account holders as individuals who had an account open on the date after the 1994 Trust Reform Act.

The plaintiffs want any funds to be distributed and managed by the courts, where it is considered neutral territory.
From comments made by senators and congressmen, it could be assumed that the courts will not be administering any of the funds, should there be any.

Cobell told the committee that the government and the plaintiffs agreed with the $13 billion figure that went into the trust and with the compounded interest the $176 billion figure was arrived at by the plaintiffs.

And the federal system maintains that accounting for the money is just too expensive in itself.

See also: Elouise Cobell: Obdurate government hurts Indians (November 28, 2005)

The background for the case can be found here. (IndianTrust)