6 U.S. Indians Taking Peace Pipe to Iraq

RICHFIELD, Ohio — Six American Teton Indian elders left Wednesday for Baghdad where they intend to smoke a peace pipe and pray for a nonviolent end to the Persian Gulf conflict.

“There’s an uneasiness among traditional (Indian) people about what could happen if there is war,” said LaVon King, 50, one of the six South Dakota Indians who departed from New York City. “Some of our medicine men have had visions and dreams about it.”

The Richfield-based Lakota Elders Survival Fund is sponsoring the $10,000 trip.

Fund director Jim Fry said the elders have seen visions of a war with thousands killed. The tribe is the same one portrayed in the new Kevin Costner movie “Dances With Wolves.”