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Tre Arrow: Most wanted terrorist? The arrest of environmental activist Tre Arrow is a story that should be getting more attention in the blogosphere, although the trains in Spain and the ongoing Bush-Kerry rasslin' match have understandably been demanding a lot of pixels. The media has, as usual, been remarkably uncritical of the official line regarding the arrest of Tre Arrow (born Michael Scarpitti). A couple of nuggets from the AP story: A fugitive radical environmentalist has been arrested on charges of setting fire to logging and cement trucks in 2001, the FBI announced Monday. Michael Scarpitti was arrested Saturday while trying to shoplift some bolt cutters in Victoria, British Columbia, said Robert Jordan, the FBI's special agent in charge in Portland. Canadian police realized he was a fugitive when his fingerprints were run through a database, Jordan said. Scarpitti has been on the FBI's most-wanted list since disappearing two years ago and has been connected to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a shadowy group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of crimes over the past several years. The FBI lists the ELF as its No. 1 domestic terrorism priority. Really? No. 1 domestic terrorism priority? Higher than whoever injured 3 with a mail bomb in February? Higher than whoever planted ricin in the U.S. Senate building? Higher than the still at-large anthrax terrorist(s)? Larger than the well-organized hate groups who have spawned anti-abortion murderers John Salvi and James C. Kopp? Higher than the group who actually had plans, materials and ability to make and detonate a cyanide bomb in Texas? One doesn't have to Google very hard to find any number of actual or potential real domestic terrorists and hate groups. Tre Arrow is a guy who, under the amorphous umbrella of the Earth Liberation Front, destroyed a couple of trucks. There were no people anywhere near the vehicles and nobody, except maybe Tre himself and his compatriots, were ever in danger. (Spare me the hypotheticals; of course anytime you are dealing with combustible materials and monkeywrenchingof any kind, there the potential exists to screw up and kill or injure someone; it's possible I will accidentally run over your toddler with my pickup on the way home from work tonight. That doesn't make me a terrorist.) The Tre Arrow case and its predecessors should send chills down the spine of anyone currently or potentially involved with any activist group that does not meet with the government's approval, because it is the latest in the trend of applying the "terrorism" label to groups or individuals opposed to the dominant government/corporate ideology. Don't believe me? Look what happened to Jeff Luers. On June 16, 2000 I ignited a fire that would forever change my life. I torched 3 SUV�s. I took extra care and used specific fuels to ensure no one would be injured. Approximately 30 minutes after the fire was lit and extinguished, I was taken into custody by 3 undercover agents who had been following me, one of whom I would later learn to be a member of an anti-domestic terrorist unit. I was arrested on Criminal Mischief One, a charge that carries about one year. In the course of one week that charge would multiply into 10 felony counts, including 3 counts of Arson One. Getting to trial took the course of a year. By trial I had accumulated 13 felony counts, now including conspiracy with persons unknown. I was looking at a little over 100 years. I refused to take a deal. Jeff Luers is doing 22 years in prison. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his tactics or his beliefs, you have to acknowledge that putting a guy with no history of violent crime in prison for over two decades with no possibility of parole is far beyond what is commonly meted out for far more serious offenses. Luers is a political prisoner, and Tre Arrow will be too. There's a pretty comprehensive list of actions attributed to ELF and related groups here. Scroll through it and the one thing that will stand out is that the actions did not endanger people, nor were they aimed at creating any kind of community-wide terror threat. They are generally specifically targeted activities involving vandalism, civil disobedience, or the release of imprisoned animals. Equating these people with real domestic terrorists is diversionary and irresponsible. On a philosophical level, I find this trend even more troubling, as it seems to equate property damage with violence against people, which should be a morally abhorrent position to anyone on either side of the debate. I'm sure some of you will disagree. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
