|
|
The
EcoTerrorist Anthrax Connection
|
By Tom DeWeese
While the remains of the twin towers of the World
Trade Center in New York and Washington, DC's
Pentagon are "ground zero" for the horrible
destruction wrought by foreign terrorists, the
nation's forests, research labs, resorts and housing
developments have long been "ground zero" for
domestic environmentally-driven "ecoterrorists."
There may be diabolical links between the two
forces.
There is a strong possibility that Animal Liberation
Front (ALF) terrorists have come into possession of
Anthrax as the result of having invaded laboratories
that have been researching the disease. This
certainly merits investigation as a source for the
Anthrax attacks. The fact that the Anthrax used in
the recent U.S. attacks is domestic and not of
"weapons grade" indicates the possibility of
involvement by a U.S. terrorist group. Using the
September 11th attacks as cover, ALF could be
using them to shield its own activities. The British
government is investigating ALF for possible ties to
that country's outbreak of mad cow disease last
year.
There is ample reason to suspect that eco-terrorists
could have direct ties and are working in concert
with foreign terrorists. First, both forces are made
up of radical activists who have expressed immense
hatred for American industry and its capitalist
society. Both operate underground. Both are
structured along the same lines, using secret cells,
and communication networks. Both are determined
to destroy America's way of life.
More importantly, there is precedent for such
cooperation. It is well documented that international
terrorists from the Islamic Jihad to the Irish
Republican Army, to a variety of violent cells in
Europe and Japan have been in communication with
each other, even offering cooperation.
It is not unreasonable that enemies of America
would see an opportunity in working with dedicated
revolutionaries in the environmental terrorist
movement that are able to travel freely inside our
borders as American citizens.
In 1999, during preparations for possible Y2K
terrorist attacks, the U.S. military staged urban
assault training in San Francisco. One of the military
officers in charge of the training exercise explained
to The DeWeese Report that the San Francisco
mission was specifically designed to train troops to
react to a biological terrorist attack.
Moreover, he said that this particular scenario dealt
with the fact that American terrorist groups, such
as Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF),
were known to have been in contact with outside
terrorist organizations. These U.S based groups, he
said, were helping to make plans to aid such
murderous, biological attacks from within the U.S.
Is the FBI investigating the possibility? Probably not.
Under former Attorney General Janet Reno, the FBI
was under direct orders to leave such groups alone.
As a result, to date, the FBI has few records on
Earth First!, ALF or ELF.
In response to the growing violence of
eco-terrorism, Congressman George Nethercutt has
introduced H.R. 2795, "The Agroterrorism Prevention
Act." The bill was introduced before the September
11th attacks. However, Congress made no moves to
pass the legislation. In October, Congressman
Nethercutt made the connection between the
foreign terrorist threat and the domestic
environmental terrorists and attempted to add the
bill to anti-terrorism legislation called for by
President Bush. Congress refused to take that
action, failing to understand the connection with
environmental terrorists.
Now, Congressman Nethercutt must begin again to
get his legislation enacted. Among others things,
says Nethercutt, "H.R.2795 would empower the FBI
to track down extremist cells of ALF and ELF and
would give federal prosecutors the tools they need
to properly punish and deter crimes by these
organizations."
The FBI has defined terrorism as: "The unlawful use
of force or violence against persons or property to
intimidate or coerce a Government, the civilian
population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance
of political or social objectives." That definition fits
eco-terrorists perfectly. If we are engaged in a war
on terrorism, then its time to take out all of the
violent thugs who prey on innocent people and their
property. Ecoterrorists have been around a long
time and they too have largely been ignored. They
advocate the violent overthrow of the old order.
They communicate through dispatches in radical
publications. They hide in safe houses and live and
work in "cells" with no organized structure, no
recognized leadership, manned by dedicated
extremist foot soldiers focused on destroying
America's way of life. Many use aliases to hide their
identities. They bomb, burn, and sabotage private
property. They issue declarations of war against
America. They too are preparing for massive
destruction. They are American-born, and they
operate right here on American soil.
Not only should Americans be more aware of the
ecoterrorists' threat, we should take a hard look at
the comparable objectives they share with external
terrorists such as bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Incredibly, so far, the U.S. Government has refused
to do so.
In February 2001, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh
identified ecoterrorist organizations such as the
Earth Liberation Front (ELF) as one of America's
foremost domestic terrorism threats. The FBI's
announcement came on the heels of a January 1st
ELF communiqué proclaiming, "This year, 2001, we
hope to see an escalation in tactics against
capitalism and industry."
Most ecoterrorist activity seems to revolve around
one group, Earth First! It was founded in 1979 by
Dave Foreman who now serves on the Board of
Directors of the Sierra Club. He is also a co-creator
of the radical environmental blue print called "The
Wildlands Project." From the beginning, the
structure of Earth First! was "informal" in order to
avoid prosecution. It called itself a "movement"
rather than an organization. There was no
bureaucracy, no lobbyist, no paid staff, and only a
cadre of volunteers. There were no membership
lists, no lists of names of any kind, and no way to
trace anyone to any activity.
For his model of the new group, Foreman adopted
Edward Abbey's industry-killing novel, "The Monkey
Wrench Gang." The book described acts of
sabotage. Forman would call Earth First!'s attacks
"eco-tage."
"Monkeywrenching" was a term used by Earth First!
activists who poured sugar into the gas tanks of
bulldozers to destroy the equipment of the hated
timber companies. A favorite "Monkeywrenching"
trick was to pound spikes into trees. At the mills,
saws hitting the spikes would explode like shrapnel.
One worker lost most of his face when his blade hit
an undetected spike. Over the years,
"Monkeywrenchers" have become fond of sending
mail bombs and letters in envelopes lined with razor
blades. It pre-stages today's Anthrax-filled
envelopes.
Today, Foreman's vision of radical environmental
action has spawned a violent network of
eco-terrorists and it's on the rise. They include the
Earth Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Army,
and the Environmental Rangers, to name a few.
Joining forces with the ecoterrorists are the equally
violent animal rights terrorists. The most prominent
of these is the Animal Liberation Front. Just as Earth
First! is a violent offshoot of the mainstream Sierra
Club, animal rights terrorists have links to the
well-known People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA).
There have, to date, been more than 3,000 acts of
violence perpetrated by ecoterrorists. For years
Americans were warned of potential attacks by
foreign terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Saddam
Hussein, and the Islamic Jihad. We ignored those
warnings to our peril. We continue to ignore our
domestic eco-terrorists at our peril. Inspired by the
World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, it will
not be long before ecoterrorists and animal rights
terrorists seek to demonstrate their capacity to
wreak horror and death among American institutions
and people.
Tom DeWeese is the president of the American
Policy Forum, an activist grassroots think tank
headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia. |
|
|
|
