NATIONAL ARCHIVES IMAGE ARC ID # 530880  Geronimo (Goyathlay), a Chiricahua Apache; full-length, kneeling with rifle. Photographed by Ben Wittick, 1887.Use of ‘Geronimo’ as the code name for Osama bin Laden sparks outrage in Indian Country.



APACHE, Okla. – Not long after the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, details emerged about the operation codename used for the mission: Geronimo.

Numerous media outlets reported that a message sent from a Navy SEAL to President Barack Obama and Washington officials said, “Geronimo EKIA.” Translation: Geronimo, Enemy Killed in Action.

Those five words added punch to an already longstanding fight to end the use of stereotypical names and images that denigrate American Indians. Now, a presidential apology is requested.

“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, Fort Sill Apache Tribe chairman, said. “In the 1800s Geronimo and the Chiricahua Apache people were portrayed as savages. This portrayal was used as justification for the forced removal from their homelands and their subsequent imprisonment. Linking Geronimo’s name to an infamous terrorist only reinforces this false and defamatory stereotype.”

Houser, the successor to Geronimo’s Chiricahua Apache Tribe, faxed a letter to Obama on May 3, asking for an apology to Geronimo family members, the Fort Sill Apache Tribe and all Native Americans. The letter in part states, “We are quite certain that the use of the name Geronimo as a code for Osama bin Laden was based on misunderstood and misconceived historical perspectives of Geronimo and his armed struggle against the United States and Mexican governments. However to equate Geronimo or any other Native American figure with Osama bin Laden, a mass murderer and cowardly terrorist, is painful and offensive to our Tribe and to all Native Americans. Geronimo was a renowned Chiricahua Apache leader who personally fought to defend his people, territory and way of life … What this action has done is forever link the name and memory of Geronimo to one of the most despicable enemies this Country has ever had.”

Obama addressed the nation on May 1 about the operation that ended bin Laden’s life, saying that shortly after taking office he advised CIA Director Leon Panetta to make the capture or killing of bin Laden a top priority in the war against al Qaeda.

“The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda,” Obama said during his speech, also recognizing the team that invaded the Pakistan compound bin Laden was in. “We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country.”

The same day Houser sent his letter, The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) released a statement both recognizing the success of the operation, calling bin Laden a “shared enemy,” and pointing out  what the use of Geronimo’s name in association with bin Laden insinuates to many American Indians.

“Our understanding is that bin Laden’s actual codename was ‘Jackpot’ and the operation name was ‘Geronimo’,” Jefferson Keel, NCAI president, said. “To associate a Native warrior with bin Laden is not an accurate reflection of history and it undermines the military service of Native people. It’s critical that military leaders and operational standards honor the service of those who protect our freedom.”

Noted in the NCAI release was that 77 American Indians and Alaskan Natives died and more than 400 were wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. In addition, the Pentagon estimated in November 2010 “that nearly 24,000 American Indian and Alaska Native active duty personnel serve across the Armed Forces. Hundreds of thousands of tribal members have served in the U.S. military in the last century making vital contributions, such as the Native American code talkers.”

Nathan Doyebi, a Kiowa Marine veteran, said, “What did Geronimo have to do with that war? Nothing!”

Doyebi and Francine Worthington, a Kiowa veteran’s advocate, want U.S. leaders to know that “Geronimo was not a terrorist to our country, America. Geronimo fought to protect this land and his people from harm, Native American land, free from tyranny, and the terror which was being brought against our Native American Indian people.”

Worthington, the past president of the El Reno VFW Auxiliary 382, and a founding member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes American Legion Auxiliary Unit 401, in Concho, Okla., feels the name Geronimo should have been used in a positive way.

“The USA, its leaders, military, need to take care of ‘their own’ and Native Americans. They need to honor Native American veterans. Geronimo was one of the first great American veterans known. If those choosing the names of their raids and the leaders of our military care enough about Native American veterans, by using the name of a great Native American veteran leader, Geronimo, then use it in a good way,” Worthington said. “Geronimo was not a threat to his people or a terrorist against his own country, he was an honored leader, and brave warrior/soldier for his people and cared for this country, our land, and the generations to come.”

The letter Houser faxed to the White House accents the February 2009 U.S. House of Representatives resolution honoring Geronimo, and reiterates his status as a Native American icon. As of press time, Obama has not issued an apology to “right this wrong” as Houser requested. Instead, Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson directed Native Times to the Department of Defense (DoD) for comment.

“We have no additional operational details at this time,” Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins, a D.O.D. Press Officer, said. “The Department of Defense did not release any of the operational names.”

The codename was also up for discussion at a recent hearing for the U. S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The hearing, titled “Stolen Identities: The Impact of Racist Stereotypes on Indigenous People,” was scheduled before bin Laden was killed, but the codename garnered comments from people such as Twilight film star Chaske Spencer, the committee’s chief counsel Loretta Tuell, and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.).

Comments have been heard throughout Indian Country as well. The Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs, on Behalf of the Haudenosaunee, issued a statement calling the use of Geronimo as a codename “reprehensible.”

“To compare him to Osama bin Laden is illogical and insulting. The name Geronimo is arguably the most recognized Native American name in the world, and this comparison only serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes about our peoples. The U.S. military leadership should have known better,” the release states. “It all brings to mind the Aug. 13, 2010 statement by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg advising then Governor Paterson to ‘get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun’ to deal with Indian affairs. This kind of thinking indicates little progress in a mature social development of United States leadership.”

Ben Shelly, Navajo Nation president, also issued a statement saying he is “appalled and disappointed that United States military leaders would dishonor the legacy of a war leader—Geronimo and the Apache tribes.”

“To assign the operation codename ‘Geronimo’ to America’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is dehumanizing, unethical and perpetrates international ignorance toward every Native American living in the United States today. The Navajo Nation respects the Apache tribes as having some of the fiercest warriors and the finest light calvary the world has ever known,” Shelly said. “Today, I ask President Obama and the Pentagon to change the operation code name ‘Geronimo’ from this day forward so that U.S. history books will not continue to portray negative stereotypes of Native Americans and that America’s youth will remember Geronimo as one of our greatest war heroes.”

Houser echoes concern for the youth in his letter as well, stating, “Right now Native American children all over this Country are facing the reality of having one of their most revered figures being connected to a terrorist and murderer of thousands of innocent Americans. Think about how they feel at this point.”

A Defense official said operational matters such as codenames are not intended for public release and the names are picked at random. Examples of previous names used have been state names, place names and sport team names.

Geronimo lived for nearly 23 years in captivity and is buried at the Fort Sill Apache Prisoner of War Cemetery on Fort Sill Army Post in Lawton, Okla.