Onondaga Nation disgusted as US codenamed bin Laden Geronimo. Rumsfeld lite would have been more appropriate

Freedom Fighter Geronimo (right) with his warriors

Leaders of the Onondaga Nation have announced that it is “reprehensible” that the code name used for Osama bin Laden in the commando assault that killed him was “Geronimo.” the Syracuse Post Standard reports.

Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century who fought against the  Mexican and U.S. armies, he surrendered in 1886. Geronimo is a revered figure among the indigenous people in this country and a heroic figure to all of us who struggle against capitalism and imperialism.

The report adds: “Think of the outcry if they had used any other ethnic group’s hero,” the Onondaga Council of Chiefs said in a release Tuesday. “Geronimo bravely and heroically defended his homeland and his people, eventually surrendering and living out the rest of his days peacefully, if in captivity.”

“Geronimo is arguably the most recognized Native American name in the world,” the chiefs said, “and this comparison only serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes about our people.”

“It’s typical,” said Onondaga Tadodaho Sid Hill, the nation's spiritual leader. He said Geronimo was a hero to American Indians and it was incomprehensible that “they use him to identify a man like Osama Bin Laden.”

People should not be surprised at such insensitivity.  I went to school in England most of my life and the American revolutionists weren't exactly portrayed as heroes.; they were, after all terrorists from the British monarchy's viewpoint.  The same with Irish history, it was not taught from an Irish perspective. They were the people occupied, had their land taken from them, their language and customs forbidden. Much of the same happened to the English peasants as they were forced from the land in to factories.

A better codename for the operation would have been Rumsfeld lite.