As North Dakota Turns the Guns on the People, Obama Remains Silent

By Marc Ash, Reader Supported News

28 October 16

little over six weeks ago, in the wake of a video report by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman showing pipeline construction security dogs tearing into Native American protesters Bull Conner style near the banks of the Missouri River in Cannonball, North Dakota, the Obama administration appeared to do the right thing.

Within minutes of a North Dakota judge’s ruling that construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline could continue, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Army issued a rare joint statement saying in part, “Construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe will not go forward at this time.”

The statement was immediately hailed by Native American protesters and environmental groups as a sign of support from the administration and a shining example of socially responsible action by the Obama White House. It appears now to have been nothing more than another Obama photo op.

The carefully worded joint statement was very limited in its scope and really did little to slow the progress of construction on the pipeline even on a short-term basis, and nothing to to stop work on the pipeline long-term. The action only halted work “temporarily” on a very small section of the pipeline located on federal land.

Work has continued unabated along the remainder of the project spanning four states. Confrontations between Native American and environmental protesters trying to block the pipeline and heavily militarized North Dakota law enforcement personnel have escalated dramatically. All obscured by a virtual blackout by the U.S. corporate press.

These are heavily armed, fully militarized police units raming this pipeline down the throats of unarmed residents who do not want the pipeline in their backyard.

There have been scores of arrests, and those arrested are being subjected to far greater legal pressure than would normally be associated with a protest-related arrest.

The White House walked away from this smelling like a rose while North Dakota authorities have turned the prairie into an internment camp. Obviously it is the will of the Obama administration to trample or allow to be trampled the rights and sovereignty of Native Americans and their ancestral lands.

The government argues that a combination of private land rights and eminent domain actions form the basis for installing this behemoth oil pipeline across the American Heartland.

It is a disgrace. The Obama administration is a disgrace for allowing it to continue. This is the same administration that oversaw the greatest environmental disaster in human history in the Gulf of Mexico. The next time Barack Obama presents himself as a responsible steward of the environment, remind him who he really is: a self-serving industry shill.

The guns are drawn in North Dakota, drawn for oil. The bleeding has begun. When will it end?

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.