Congress to discuss use of Geronimo's name in Bin Laden mission

A congressional oversight hearing originally scheduled to discuss, among other things, how indigenous-themed sports mascots have negatively influenced the perception of Native Americans, will now also address the linking of the name Geronimo to Osama bin Laden.

"Geronimo" was the code name for the mission where 24 Navy SEALs raided Bin Laden's three-story million-dollar compound in Abbotabad, Pakistan; "Geronimo" was also the code the SEALs used to alert their commanders that they identified their target; and finally "Geronimo-E KIA" was the coded message to confirm that they had killed Bin Laden.

The Senate Indian Affairs committee, chaired by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), will host the hearing titled "Stolen Identities: The Impact of Racist Stereotypes on Indigenous People," which will be webcast live at 2:15 p.m. ET.

"The hearing was scheduled well before the Osama bin Laden operation became news, but the concerns over the linking of the name of Geronimo, one of the greatest Native American heroes, with the most hated enemies of the United States is an example of the kinds of issues we intended to address at Thursday's hearing," Loretta Tuell, the committee's chief counsel, said in a statement.

"These inappropriate uses of Native American icons and cultures are prevalent throughout our society, and the impacts to Native and non-Native children are devastating,” Tuell said. "We intend to open the forum to talk about them."

"To associate a native warrior with Bin Laden is not an accurate reflection of history, and it undermines the military service of native people," Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said Wednesday in a statement.

Other Native Americans were also upset at the use of Geronimo's name. The chairman of the tribe of descendants of Geronimo told President Obama that not long after the House of Representatives honored the warrior, his name is again being dragged through the mud.

"We are grateful that the United States was successful in its mission against Bin Laden, but associating Geronimo's name with an international terrorist only perpetuates old stereotypes about Apaches," Jeff Houser, chairman of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, the successor to Geronimo’s Chiricahua Apache Tribe, wrote in a statement faxed Tuesday to the White House.

"Now a little over two years [after the House honored Geronimo] your administration has further immortalized his existence by linking him to the most hated person in recent American history," Houser complained while asking the president for an apology.

RELATED:

Rush Limbaugh on Osama bin Laden's death: 'Thank God for Obama'

Apache Tribe asks Obama to apologize for linking Geronimo's name to Bin Laden

Geronimo: A century after his death, tied to Bin Laden, the CIA and Skull and Bones

-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

Photo: This photo ca. 1898 courtesy of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC shows Geronimo (Guiyatle) by F.A. Reinhart, Omaha.  Credit: AFP PHOTO/F.A. REINHART-LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Comments

[Marshall]

Seems a clear indication that at least some of the people in charge of US military policy today would have do the same thing to Native Americans that their counterparts in history did. Is this surprising? Indigenous people and other resource-squanderers get pushed aside by world powers using expediency, dehumanization and a politically convenient narrative today just like they always have.

[squally]

Seriously?!?!?!
Do we have congressional commitees for every idiotic idea a special interest group comes up with? Next we will have greek-Americans worried about the use of the Greek Alphabet in military lingo.
Sometimes a word is just a word.
Get over it.

Any congressional time splitting hairs on this topic is a waste of tax payer dollars!!!!

[John Poole]

I find it not surprising.. Americans look at others as "injun" tribes to be vanquished. "Iraqi" fits nicely within other exterminated American Indian tribes (Iraqi, Apache, Iroquois, Mohawk, etc). Afghan is a harder fit but Pakistani definitely blends nicely with Blackfoot.

[Ffrank Lee]

You have got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous. Just utterly stupid.

[kurnia]

How would the Black Americans react if we had used "Martin Luther King's" name instead of Geronimo? I bet you we would never hear the end of it. To use Geronimo's name as a code for Kill Bin Laden's mission is a disgrace! It is a bout time America honors Indian tribal heroes like they do to those Black American heroes.

[GJ Tryon]

If it were any other CIC than Obama! He should have caught it and now he's going to catch it.

[AFC]

What a complete waste of time and money.

[Ted Henderson]

Give me a break! Congress is going to discuss the use Geronimo's name in the mission to get Osama Bin Laden. The military planners and Navy Seals that carried out this mission did their mission as successful and exact more than anyone could have imagined. Now Congress who can't get any of the serious issues facing our nation taken care of, want to second guess the naming of parts of the mission. How about instead, Congress goes and earns the ridiculous pay that they receive. Perhaps they could start with stopping their automatic pay increases and stopping payment on some of the financial aid sent to Pakistan. Try solving real problems for once instead of gossiping about mission names like old ladies. Oh sorry - I probably offended some ladies by saying that. I'm sure most older ladies get more done in a day than our Congress can seriously accomplish in a year! VOTE FOR NEW LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS AND THE SENATE. IT's TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE.

[David]

his real name was Goyaałé from the Chiricahua language meaning "one who yawns"

Geronimo was a nick-name you fool.

Thank you Wikipedia.

[TexasMoto]

How pathetic. Jimminy Cricket, give me a break. PC correctnes gone crazy.

[John Ledin]

The economy is in shambles. We are tied up in two wars and appear headed for more. Our country is being invaded from north and south. The cost of medical care continues to increase, along with the cost of medical insurance. What is Congress doing about these major problems plaguing our nation? Playing up to the professional whiners with new word games.

[Jose Jose]

The Curator of the White Mountain Apache Museum told me that Geronimo was hated, because he brought death and destruction to the Apaches! Further, he said Geronimo was a CHILD KILLER and had personally killed at least 27 white children (along with their parents). Geronimo? Who cares!

[CantBelieveWhatImReading]

oh for god's sake, can we stop pretending that using Geronimo as a code name "connects" Geronimo to Bin Laden??

Most of us aren't even aware of what stereotype they are ever referring to... any educated person isnt going to suddenly link bin laden to indians in some pavlovian fashion. Most of us think on a higher level than that. Most people probably have the same picture i do. A bunch of high level military men saying, "hey what should the code name be?"...."geronimo sounds cool"...."sweet, lets go get the bastard [bin laden]... lets not waste time messing about with whether or not code names matter in anyone's eyes!!"

its just a code name. Someone needs to talk to the committee and tell them to stop taking themselves so seriously. Sometimes, we need to let old ghosts die

[Jes]

There's not going to be much in the way of sympathy on this subject coming from a racist nation like America.

[rrt1]

Another example of why Congress is a waste of time. We pay these people to sit around and investigate why the word Geronimo was used as a code word??? What a bunch of morons! Lets use the word "stupid" next time so that no one can be offended.

[Montanan]

Seems a waste of time, for "congress" resolve a mistake. Some person came up with the idea, and it was agreed upon. Come forth person(s), admit to a mistake,make amends, who is perfect,the greater good outweighs the bad, we are WE Are Americans!!

[Tim]

Stop wasting time on political correctness and start rebuild the economy, jobs and the dollar.

[boomer]

If some of these people have there way we will only have rwo inch foam blocks for kids to play with, and they will fight over waht colors would be allowed. We shouted Geronimo when we jumped out of planes, and no one complained then.Maybe we should make heros out of the dealers at eh Native American casinos! We have the best Congress money can buy!

[scott]

Why is anyone automatically assuming this was meant as a slur or insult and not a recognition of and the adoption of Geronimo's warrior spirit by the team carrying out the mission? It seems like if that were the case, this is a badge of honor, a recognition and invocation of that spirit, sort of like all the aircraft we have named after natives, use of arrow head motifs, etc.

[Rowlett]

Congress: please do your real job and address the critical issues such as budget and security, and don't be sidetracked by carnival barkers and sideshows.

[Wes Daniel]

Just another waist of money and time that could be spent taking care of real issues. Maybe we should take money from congress every time they waste our time.

[Rowlett]

whatever code name is used will offend somebody -- the Johnnies, the Michaels, the Bin Ladens, etc. leave the heroic SEALs alone.

[Mike]

Get over yourselves... Seriously.. Just get over yourselves and stop looking for things to be offended by.. Honestly if I were Geranamo or any of your ancestors I would be ashamed of how pathetic my progeny is. What's next? Animal rights activists pissed that the Navy Seals are stealing and misrepresenting the emotions of non-violent seals. If you want to stop stereotypes, stop being so ridiculous...

[Legal Bagel]

Maybe they were using it ironically?

[andrew]

Our government is the laughing stock of the known universe. If we don't get the kind of politicians it takes to actually fix this economy instead of pandering to every crying American's tiny complaint then we had better be prepared for the total collapse of our country.

[Caramia]

Oh puleez! Is this what we're wasting our time on now?! These people need to get a real life! Next time just call the mission "Sinatra" - and I can assure you, even though we idolize him - you won't hear a peep out of the Italian-American community!

[Tom Whittaker]

Allow me to interpret the use of the code name "Geronimo" a little differently from those, who equate the use of the brave warrior's name with Osama bin Laden. It is my understanding, that in spite of the inherent racism of American society in Geronimo's time, and long thereafter, Geronimo was viewed with admiration - as grudging as it may have been - by those in the U.S. Army who fought against him, because they recognized his superlative skills as a tactician and warrior, especially since he was facing a foe superior in both numbers and arms.

This view was subsequently echoed in some Hollywood movies, where Geronimo, in spite of generally racist portrayals of native Americans at the time, was often portrayed as a heroic leader. Indeed, it was because the character, portrayed by Native American actor Victor Daniels in the 1939 movie "GERONIMO", so impspired Private Aubrey Eberhardt that he, one of the first 50 paratroopers in the U.S. Army, adopted "Geronimo" as a cry to demonstrate his lack of fear to his comrades during their first parachute jump in August, 1940.

"Geronimo" was subsequently adopted as part of the official insignia of the 501st PIR in 1942, when it adopted a pocket patch with an Apache chief holding a bolt of lightning over the word, "Geronimo". The unit's commander, Maj. Miley, even had the sergeant major locate relatives of the real chief Geronimo to ask their permission for use of the chief's name in the unit insignia. He located them with the help of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and they granted permission with pride. Such are not acts of racists.

"Geronimo" subsequently also became a part of the the 509th PIR insignia, and it is a well-known fact, that the 101st Airborne Division cut their hair mohawk-style and painted their faces when they jumped over Normandy during Operation Overlord in June, 1944, presumably in keeping with the "Geronimo" tradition of the first paratroopers. The 11th Airborne Division adopted the tradition, and one of the classic WW II paratrooper songs was written by Lieutenant Colonel Byron Paige of the 11th Airborne Division, the first verse of which reads: " Down from Heaven comes ELEVEN; and there's HELL to pay below; shout "GERONIMO" "GERONIMO"." To quote the source where the history of the battle-cry is described in detail, http://www.b-westerns.com/geronimo.htm, "The Geronimo cry had entered the public mainstream, and to the public, Geronimo was a novel expression of bravery, carried by the equally new type of warrior - the paratrooper."

Knowing this part of American military lore, I would therefore not react so negatively, by assuming the use of the code-word "Geronimo" as being a moniker for Osama bin Laden. Rather, I see its use as a code-word used for an operation requiring great daring and courage, as well as great tactical and operational skill. The same heroic qualities that pervaded Geronimo's warriors, as well as the American paratroopers during WW II. Thus to me, it is more a tribute to a great Native American warrior, Geronimo, than any kind of comparison of Geronimo to Osama bin Laden. I see it as honoring Geronimo to name a daring raid into enemy territory against superior numbers. Once again, it associates his name with the most elite units of the U.S. military, and a military action completed successfully behind enemy lines with great valor. Just like the U.S. airborne divisions' campaigns during WW II and their model of bravery, Geronimo and his warriors, before them.

[sandleto]

A short time after Osama, aka "Geronimo", was eliminated, he received a new Indian name : "Sleeps With Fishes"

[GERONIMO BIN LADIN]

GERONIMO, like all INDIANS that resisted the U.S. Government and its occupation of their lands were considered TERRORISTS, -by the U.S. Government.

And so BIN LADIN is a terrorist for resisting U.S. Military occupation of arab land as it props up non-democratic dictatorships that provide the U.S. cheap oil.

In short, the definition of a TERRORIST is anyone that resists the United State's theft of their land and natural resources.

The U.S. has very little to crow about in capturing BIN LADIN. After all, it took 10 years, $2 Trillion, thousands of lives and amputations, & most importantly - American's no longer enjoy the liberties we once enjoyed.

BIN LADIN nor the AMERICAN INDIAN attacked Americans because "they hate our freedoms."

They attacked us because they cherished their own.

[Cookgirl]

I find it amazing that these code names are still considered politically correct. Geronimo clan and all those around him lost there lives to save their country. This can be take as a form of slander from the perspective of the tribal members today. The Apache people were great worriers , military strategist but only because they were protecting their families and there land.

[Coffeenottea]

Is it possible the name Geronimo was meant to describe a mission worthy of the daring of the great warrior and not the code name for bin Laden?

[Derek]

For people who think that this criticism is uncalled for, try to imagine if the code name had been "George Washington" or "Abraham Lincoln" instead.

[Clovis Man]

Considering how he conducted himself and how things ended up, a better code name for Osama would have been Custer, don't you think?

[notjumpingtoconclusions]

I support the need to remove racial bias and negative representation of any group. That said, I am genuinely surprised by this reaction!

Admittedly, I am not of Native American decent, but it was my first reaction that the mission and various code names including the word 'Geronimo' reflected the heroic acts of OUR HEROS who accomplished this mission. I genuinely believed we were honoring the legacy of Geronimo by achieving such an important National goal in such an effective way.

I never even considered that the name Geronimo would be in any way related to the person or target of Bin Laden. How was that conclusion drawn? The code name wasn't 'Get Geronimo'. Perhaps some have jumped to conclusions about this?

I can't begin to guess what the military or political administrators were thinking of when they chose this name, but maybe we could all step back from the brink a bit and allow for the possibility that it was a good reference.

Would it be considered offensive if the name 'Geronimo' was used to honor other heroes? Is it offensive to use the name at all, in any context other than historic recall of the man? I don't know...where do we draw the line on the 'ownership' of any particular word?

Regardless of the outcome of the Congressional discussion, I will associate the word/name Geronimo with the act of heroism. I think we all have that choice and can make of it what we will.

[Susie]

Yelling "Geeerronnniimoow" when performing a brave act, usually jumping onto a sled to woosh down an ice-covered hill with a snow bank at the bottom, was a common childhood occurrence. We didn't connect use of the yell to U.S. assaults on Apaches any more than we connected reciting "Ring Around the Rosie" to the Bubonic Plague. Perhaps the person who proposed the name for the mission was from New England.

[One who yawns]

Okay, I have not followed the story of this particular instance of American resentment assiduously, frankly because I find it rather trivial, but I wonder why everyone thinks the name Geronimo was chosen to reflect the object of the attack, Osama bin Laden, rather than the brave warriors who went after him and took him out? They certainly deserve association with everything that's positive about that great warrior's name. Or perhaps it refers to the World War II paratroopers' cry of "Geronimo!" taken before jumping into the danger of a free fall? If so, that appropriation of Geronimo's name, even though it was made in tribute to the Apache warrior's bravery, might be found equally insulting by some Native Americans, I suppose, but it also seems quite appropriate in context, in that it associates one generation of brave soldiers both with a previous one and with the brave warrior Geronimo himself. It's sad how many people have looked at the events of the last couple days and managed to find only their own resentments. In the last 24 hours--after a mass murderer of three thousand Americans, who might as well have been in their pajamas when the attack came, unarmed and unprepared as they were--has finally, heroically, been brought to ultimate justice by young American's whose boots his damned soul is not worthy to lick, the list of uniquely American absurdities continues to multiply: first, though his leadership, and certainly not George Bush's, led to the unqualified success of bringing this mass killer to final justice, Republican media operatives have gratuitously insulted our President (and theirs, too!) for his alleged temerity in going to the site of Ground Zero to lift up the families of the innocents who were slaughtered there; the Democrats in the White House, still apparently in "Here's the birth certificate, Donald" mode, has all but made the brave men who carried out the mission into murderers and conflated them with the abusers of Abu Ghraib by weakly, fearfully re-casting the story into the shooting of an unarmed man in his pajamas; the impotent disgraces comprising both parties in the U.S. Congress, because they cannot do anything useful in response to the country's real and difficult problems, have decided it would be best to use the greatest morale booster our men and women overseas have had in ten years as an easy occasion to indulge an embarrassingly narcissistic minority resentment; and a Native American tribe has itself shamelessly exploited and diminished the nobility of the iconic ancestor it would allegedly defend by offering him up as a facile argument to complain about an imagined slight. I can't wait to see what new degradation comes next. The Navy Seals who killed bin Laden are heroes--like Geronimo!--and the survivors of 9/11 are the only victims we should be remembering right now, not the trivial claims to victimhood so easily available to all of us as modern Americans--who happen to be still alive and able to become something more! As for me, I also take my inspiration from Geronimo, whose name, in English, means "one who yawns."

[Dan]

Wow, the hateful comments here are shocking. The issue is sensitive is due the horrific treatment of Native Americans by the European Settlers. It is not a waste of time to discuss the complete stupidity of using a Native American hero's name in the Bin Laden mission (why did they have to use code name anyway...it's freaking Bin Laden!) Whoever insensitive enough to choose that code name should apologize.
@squally, NOBODY is offended by the use of Greek Alphabet in military lingo, which are used simply to represent alphabet system, so your argument makes no sense. It just show how completely insensitive people are in regards to the nation's ugly history. Learn some American history, then you'll know why they're still upset. It's like people saying slavery don't matter anymore. If We Forget the Past, History Will Repeat Itself! Don't let that happen, be more considerate for others.

[David]

Get real everyone, screw you if it offends you. Spend more time trying to feed your papoose and keeping a teepee over your heads and mocassins on your feet and stop whining about a stupid word. Like there aren't more important things to spend TIME and EFFORT on.

[Enlightenment]

Thanks again to all you fraking morons for wasting time on something that doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!! It doesn't matter!!!

The purpose of picking a code name is to ensure that NO ONE knows what you are talking about in-case they hear the code name.

[sjw98684]

It is important to look at the perspectives of the people expressing their opinions in this forum. But we shouldn't post opinions in faux Native American dialog taken from old western movies. That would be offensive and ridiculous. It would look like this:

Here is story. Happened 3 moons ago. Big Chief Bin Laden not want to smoke piece pipe with Big Chief Obama. Medicine Man Prophet Mohammed say smoking bad. Mohammed no like fire water either. So hatchet not buried. Big Chief Obama send his braves to take Big Chief Bin Laden scalp. Braves kill Big Chief Bin Laden and he go to big bomb factory in sky with 72 squaws. Battle named Geronimo. Battle cost heap big wampum. Red man say paleface speak with forked tongue and insult us for using Geronimo name.

[blablabla]

Apaches do not remember how many other american indian tribes they raided...Perhaps inconsciously the choice was right...

[David Spencer]

OMG!! This is really taking P.C. 'way too far. In World War Two Paratroopers yelled "Geronimo! when they exited their aircraft in parachute jumps. Navy Seals must go through Army Jump School as a part of their training--hence "Geronimo."

[joeinformed]

Am i being punked? This can't be a real news story, can it?

[J R F]

Geronimo means bravery, family man, protector and keeper of the land. Geronimo, we got him. You find this offensive because ??

[LongHighway]

The moment I heard they'd code named OBL as Geronimo, I thought, "Wow, just another example of stupid white men in power." And I'm white. What were the Seals thinking? Is there no one high enough in the military who is NA, or at least bright enough to have realized this would amount to a racial slur? It would be like giving an American war hero the code name Hitler.

[Mike in Victorville]

This is the second stupidest thing I've heard the "American News Media" (such as it is) blathering about in the last week. The absolute dumbest would be asking the President if a Muslim cleric (Imam) was present at the ubl burial-at-sea.

Come on, you supposed "reporters", stop trying to make news, and get back to reporting what's important.

No one cares - AT ALL - what "codename" the U.S. Military used for an operation, and what that possible codename "means" to anyone. If it *ACTUALLY* MEANT SOMETHING it could give away the military operation it was trying to hide behind the codename.

Did you really think the military would consider calling this the "Death to the Evil, Evil Bastard" operation??? Or would that offend other evil bastards, and therefore be "too insensitive" to them, too?

Give me a break.. The "American News Media" is turning into a bunch of top-fold whores.... doing or saying (asking) *ABSOLUTELY* *ANYTHING* to make words show up on our computer screens in the name of "news".

[On of only a Handful of "Legal" US Citizens in Southern California]

OMG, "Rowlett", you had it right -

"Congress: please do your real job and address the critical issues such as budget and security, and don't be sidetracked by carnival barkers and sideshows."

This quote is priceless!

[Cory Hewitt]

all you that don't take in pride of yourself or culture wouldn't respect the past persons that was influential such as geronimo.the prejudice against natives might not concern you white people or black persons until your being into discrimination.where your kids are effected.you want to talk waste of tax dollars?do something about it instead of whinning.maybe?we all bleed blood.but natives bleed rich in spirit!

[Mo]

I think it should be addressed in the fact that Geronimo was honored by the US a couple of years ago and to allow that name to be used as code for America's current enemy shows the US as two-faced.
Apaches were considered to be enemies back then and Goyalthay was considered enemy number one. Linking his name to America's enemy today brings unsettling feelings for me, as an Apache.
At least it being brought up in a meeting can conclude the usage of his name, in this case, was a misunderstanding. After all, WE ALL ARE HUMAN.

[millard bunson]

I think it's only fair that the Special Forces en masse attend a cultural sensitivity training to understand how much they offended Native Americans by using the "G" word in reference to Bin Ladin. The Armed Forces should then have to have representatives of different ethnic groups spot check to make sure there is no 'shadow discrimination' occuring and to make sure that diversity is occuring in the special special branches. After this, special forces should have to apologize to both our Native American brethren and to the Pakistani people for using the "G" word and appearing to enjoy it.
Plus, I think they should be made to stand down, until we're sure that they appreciate the importance and how truly hurt other peoples feelings were when they said those things.
Finally, I think a special prosecutor should be appointed, because using discriminatory language is the same as waterboarding someones feelings!