US Navy will apologize for the 1882 obliteration of a Tlingit village in Alaska

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US Navy will apologize for the 1882 obliteration of a Tlingit village in Alaska

2024-10-26 12:02 Last Updated At：12:11

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Shells fell on the Alaska Native village as winter approached, and then sailors landed and burned what was left of homes, food caches and canoes. Conditions grew so dire in the following months that elders sacrificed their own lives to spare food for surviving children.

It was Oct. 26, 1882, in Angoon, a Tlingit village of about 420 people in the southeastern Alaska panhandle. Now, 142 years later, the perpetrator of the bombardment — the U.S. Navy — is set to say it is sorry.

Rear Adm. Mark Sucato, the commander of the Navy's northwest region, will issue the apology during a ceremony on Saturday, the anniversary of the atrocity. While the rebuilt Angoon received $90,000 in a settlement with the Department of Interior in 1973, village leaders have for decades sought an apology as well, beginning each yearly remembrance by asking three times, “Is there anyone here from the Navy to apologize?"

“You can imagine the generations of people that have died since 1882 that have wondered what had happened, why it happened, and wanted an apology of some sort, because in our minds, we didn’t do anything wrong,” said Daniel Johnson Jr., a tribal head in Angoon.

The attack was one of a series of conflicts between the American military and Alaska Natives in the years after the U.S. bought the territory from Russia in 1867. The U.S. Navy issued an apology last month for destroying the nearby village of Kake in 1869, and the Army has indicated that it plans to apologize for shelling Wrangell, also in southeast Alaska, that year, though no date has been set.

The Navy acknowledges the actions it undertook or ordered in Angoon and Kake caused deaths, a loss of resources and multigenerational trauma, Navy civilian spokesperson Julianne Leinenveber said in an email.

“An apology is not only warranted, but long overdue,” she said.

Today, Angoon remains a quaint village of about 420 people, with colorful old homes and totem poles clustered on the west side of Admiralty Island, accessible by ferry or float plane, in the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest. The residents are vastly outnumbered by brown bears, and the village in recent years has strived to foster its ecotourism industry. Bald eagles and humpback whales abound, and the salmon and halibut fishing is excellent.

Accounts vary as to what prompted its destruction, but they generally begin with the accidental death of a Tlingit shaman, Tith Klane. Klane was killed when a harpoon gun exploded on a whaling ship owned by his employer, the North West Trading Co.

The Navy's version says tribal members forced the vessel to shore, possibly took hostages and, in accordance with their customs, demanded 200 blankets in compensation.

The company declined to provide the blankets and ordered the Tlingits to return to work. Instead, in sorrow, they painted their faces with coal tar and tallow — something the company’s employees took as a precursor to an insurrection. The company’s superintendent then sought help from Naval Cmdr. E.C. Merriman, the top U.S. official in Alaska, saying a Tlingit uprising threatened the lives and property of white residents.

The Tlingit version contends the boat's crew, which included Tlingit members, likely remained with the vessel out of respect, planning to attend the funeral, and that no hostages were taken. Johnson said the tribe never would have demanded compensation so soon after the death.

Merriman arrived on Oct. 25 and insisted the tribe provide 400 blankets by noon the next day as punishment for disobedience. When the Tlingits turned over just 81, Merriman attacked, destroying 12 clan houses, smaller homes, canoes and the village’s food stores.

Six children died in the attack, and "there’s untold numbers of elderly and infants who died that winter of both cold, exposure and hunger,” Johnson said.

Billy Jones, Tith Klane’s nephew, was 13 when Angoon was destroyed. Around 1950, he recorded two interviews, and his account was later included in a booklet prepared for the 100th anniversary of the bombing in 1982.

“They left us homeless on the beach,” Jones said.

Rosita Worl, the president of Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, described how some elders that winter “walked into the forest” — meaning they died, sacrificing themselves so the younger people would have more food.

Even though the Navy’s written history conflicts with the Tlingit oral tradition, the Navy defers to the tribe’s account “out of respect for the long-lasting impacts these tragic incidents had on the affected clans,” said Leinenveber, the Navy spokesperson.

Tlingit leaders were so stunned when Navy officials told them, during a Zoom call in May, that the apology would finally be forthcoming that no one spoke for five minutes, Johnson said.

Eunice James, of Juneau, a descendant of Tith Klane, said she hopes the apology helps her family and the entire community heal. She expects his presence at the ceremony.

“Not only his spirit will be there, but the spirit of many of our ancestors, because we’ve lost so many," she said.

Israel strikes Iran as payback for missile attack, risking escalation of Mideast wars

2024-10-26 12:05 Last Updated At：12:10

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier this month. Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though the Islamic Republic insisted they caused only “limited damage.”

The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon — are already at war with Israel. It also marked the first time Israel's military has openly attacked Iran, which hasn't faced a sustained barrage of fire from a foreign enemy since its 1980s war with Iraq.

Israel's hourslong attack ended just before sunrise in Tehran, with the Israeli military saying it targeted “missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year.” It also said it hit surface-to-air missile sties and “additional Iranian aerial capabilities.”

Israel offered no initial damage assessment.

Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration believed it had won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets, which would be a more severe escalation.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7 … including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a prerecorded video statement early Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”

The United States warned against further retaliation, indicating that the overnight strikes should end the direct exchange of fire between the Israel and Iran.

Iran’s military said the strikes targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces and caused “limited damage,” without elaborating.

Iran’s state-run media acknowledged blasts that could be heard in Tehran and said some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city.

But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television for hours offered no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an apparent attempt to downplay the assault.

A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard in the first wave of attacks, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

As explosions sounded, people in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire light up the sky. Other footage showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles being launched.

Iran closed the country’s airspace early Saturday, and flight-tracking data analyzed by AP showed commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran, and across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed and would continue to receive updates.

In Syria, the state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, reported missile fire targeting military sites in the country’s central and southern region. It said that Syria’s air defenses had shot some of the missiles down. There was no immediate information on casualties.

But Iran's move to quickly downplay the attack may offer an avenue for it not to respond, which could risk a further escalation.

“The Israel Defense Forces has fulfilled its mission,” Hagari said in a later video. “If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond.”

Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike it didn't openly claim.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on the evening of Oct. 1, sending Israelis scrambling into bomb shelters but causing only minimal damage and a few injuries. Iran said the barrage was retaliation for attacks in recent months that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately said Iran had “made a big mistake.”

Before Iran’s October attack, Israel had landed a series of devastating blows against Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel near-daily for over a year — ever since the deadly Hamas attack against Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Dozens were killed and thousands wounded in September when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in two days of attacks attributed to Israel. A massive Israel airstrike the following week outside Beirut killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israel then ratcheted up the pressure on Hezbollah by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. More than a million Lebanese people have been displaced, and the death toll has risen sharply as airstrikes continue to hit in and around Beirut.

Israel has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for Israeli citizens displaced from their homes near the Lebanon border to return. Hezbollah has vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

The White House indicated that Israel’s strikes on Iran should end direct exchange of fire between the two enemy countries, while warning Tehran of “consequences” should it respond.

A senior White House official said the administration believed the Israeli operation should “close out” the direct military exchange between Israel and Iran, and said other allies were in agreement.

United States President Joe Biden was updated throughout the day on Friday as the operation was developing and by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, as the operation was carried out by the Israelis, the official said.

The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said the Israeli operation “was extensive, it was targeted, it was precise.” The official underscored that the U.S. had no involvement in the strike.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about Israel’s strikes on military targets in Iran, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said late Friday. Austin reiterated that the U.S. was committed to its ally’s security and that Israel has a right to defend itself, the Pentagon press secretary said in a statement. Austin also noted that the U.S. was determined to prevent expanding conflict in the region, Ryder said.

When Hamas and other militants attacked Israel last Oct. 7, they killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostages into Gaza. In response, Israel launched a devastating air and ground offensive against Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to keep it up until all of the hostages are freed. Some 100 remain and roughly a third are believed to be dead.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who don’t delineate between civilians and combatants but say more than half of the dead are women and children.

Israel's strikes on Iran Saturday happened just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was arriving back in the U.S. after a tour of the Middle East where he and other U.S. officials had warned Israel to respond in a way that would not further escalate the conflict in the region.

Two U.S. officials said the U.S. was notified by Israel in advance of the strikes. They said there was no U.S. involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.

Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program.

Israel and Iran have been locked in a yearslong shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the shadow war has increasingly moved into the light.

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Abby Sewell in Beirut; and Lolita C. Baldor, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington; and Aamer Madhani in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report.