-Caveat Lector- AMERICAN ECO-TERRORISM: ANOTHER THREAT? OR IS IT A PROMISE? By Tim W. Rhodes, M.Sc., EMT-P, Chairman, Ada County Terrorism Taskforce- Boise, Idaho "On behalf of the lynx, five buildings and four ski lifts at Vail were reduced to ashes on the night of Sunday, October 18th. Vail, Inc. is already the largest ski operation in North America and now wants to expand even further. The 12 miles of roads and 885 acres of clearcuts will ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state. Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas. For your safety and convenience, we strongly advise skiers to choose other destinations until Vail cancels its inexcusable plans for expansion." You might think these words are from a radical terrorist group such as the IRA or the Islamic Jihad. In a certain sense, you might be right. They are the words of a domestic terrorist organization, the ELF (Earth Liberation Front), after they took responsibility for the October 18th arson of the Vail ski resort. What began as an environmentalist originated legal battle to prevent expansion at the Vail Colorado ski resort, ended in $12 million of damage due to an "environmentalist" perpetrated act. The ELF destroyed five buildings and four chair lifts when a court decision allowed the Colorado Company, Vail Associates, to expand the world famous resort. The ELF's message makes it very clear why they oppose the Vail ski resort expansion. At the center of the dispute is the North American Lynx, which is considered threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The lynx is expected to be reintroduced into the Vail area. According to many environmentalists, the ski resort expansion, which includes clear-cutting and road expansion, may endanger that reintroduction by limiting the lynx's habitat and survival rate. According to analysts at North American Research based in California, the ELF is a splinter group of Earth First!, a radical environmental activist movement who participants endorse "front-line, direct action to get results." Like many domestic militia and anti-government groups, the ELF is an underground organization whose members adhere to the "leaderless resistance" principle made famous by Louis Beam and other right-wing paramilitary activists. According to Katie Fedor, a spokeswoman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the ELF works in "small groups of closely connected colleagues that they trust, literally, with their freedom." Fedor reports that the Animal Liberation Front and the ELF have worked together in past, citing examples of arson of a U.S. Department of Agriculture building in Washington and the release of 300 mink from a private biomedical research company. The ELF and ALF designate the week before Halloween "the seven nights of Earth night". The groups threaten to step up eco-sabotage for those seven nights. According to one Internet site that supports the eco-terrorism, the ELF also promotes April 1st-7th as "April Fools Day Bash". The "fools" are those who desire action against "Earth's abusers" and advocate revenge on those who "are destroying the Earth and its inhabitants." The author of the Internet message cites the "abusers" such as McDonalds, highway departments, anti- environmentalists, elected officials, medical researchers, and habitat destructors as targets for retaliation during the seven nights Eco-terrorists, such as the ELF, have exchanged their empiric action of civil disobedience, sit-ins and chaining themselves to trees to being prepared to use violence and massive destruction to convey their beliefs and principles. What explains this change in behavior and adherence to this new belief structure? At root, it's a not-so-new notion that pristine nature possesses "intrinsic value." As David Graber (a biologist with the U.S. National Park Service) stated it: "We are not interested in the utility of a particular species, or free-flowing river, or ecosystem to mankind. They have intrinsic value ..." This "intrinsic value" morality means that pristine nature should be preserved "for its own sake", regardless of any value or dis-value to humans. Cutting down trees or filling in a mosquito-infested swamp to erect houses and hospitals, or mining ore to build machines and medical instruments, or constructing dams to generate electricity, or drilling sour gas wells to fuel cars and heat homes-all industrial activities and those who propose it - are immoral because they harm the "intrinsic value" of the non-human environment. According to one ELF member in Idaho, "If pristine nature possesses "intrinsic value," then human values are inconsequential. Since man survives by conquering nature, man is an intrinsic dis-value-an inherently evil creature that warrants hatred." This belief that many environment extremists share forms the basis of a nature-worshiping, man-hating doctrine. According to David Graber, "I know scientists who remind me that people are part of nature, but it isn't true. Somewhere along the line ... we quit the contract and became a cancer. We have become a plague upon ourselves and upon the Earth ... Until such time as Homo sapiens should decide to rejoin nature, some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along." These "extremists" are consistent practitioners of the "intrinsic value" philosophy underlying environmentalism. While it may be true that the bombers/arsonists are extremists seeking a moral justification for their nihilistic hatred, the fact is that the perpetrators believe that environmentalism offers them that moral justification. The Vail ski resort is not the first incident of its kind. The following list of incidents that the ELF and ALF have taken credit for, which by no means is exhaustive, shows the trend for violence and motivation for destruction that eco-terrorists are increasingly adhering: July 3, 1998 - 310 Animals were released from a research center in Washington June 21, 1998. Two U.S. Department of Natural Resources facilities in Washington state were bombed causing $1.9 million in damage. Nov 30th 1997 - Congressman Frank Riggs of California got a first hand look at Eco-terrorism when a group of masked Earth First! terrorists laid siege to his office, threatened his staff, and caused several thousand dollars worth of damage to the facility. Tree stumps, sawdust, urinating on the furniture, and locking themselves down were all a part of this "Environmental" Action". November 29th, 1997 - Arson of a U.S. Bureau of Land Management center in Burns, Oregon destroyed a barn, office, and several equipment rooms and causes $450,000 in damage. March 19, 1997 - Montgomery Furs, a trapping supply store in Ogden, Utah, was torched while a night watchman was inside. The watchman interrupted the terrorists after dousing the outside of the building with several gallons of gasoline and attempting to rig a fuse to a gallon container. The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade issued a news release claiming credit for the incident on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front. The local sheriff called the incident an attempted murder. FBI, ATF, Utah Department of Investigations and local police are investigating the incident. March 11, 1997 - Animal Liberation Front terrorists bombed the Utah Fur Breeders Agricultural Cooperative in Sandy, Utah, in the early morning hours. The offices were fire bombed and pipe bombs blew up five feed trucks. The offices and the main computer system were destroyed. Damage was set at $1 million. The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT) contacted the Salt Lake Tribune and Desert News, stating that ALF had taken credit for the attack in retaliation for animal activists serving jail sentences in Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Syracuse. October 27, 1996 - Detroit, Oregon. The Earth Liberation Front set a government truck on fire and spray-painted "Earth Liberation Front," "Forest Rapers," and other anti-logging graffiti on U.S. Forest Service buildings and vehicles at the Detroit Ranger District Ranger Station. July 27, 1994 - Near Olympia, Washington. Log loader destroyed; valued at more than $200,000 belonging to Dave Littlejohn Logging Company, torched at about 4 p.m. July 31, 1994 - Near Olympia, Washington. Log skidder, two fire trucks and a bulldozer were torched about 2:45 p.m. Damage, over $80,000. On August 9, the Washington Contract Loggers Association's answering machine tape held a message spoken by a computer-generated robotic voice: "The recent destruction of logging equipment was retaliation by the Earth Firsters to protect the planet earth from logging." March 1994 - Two fires; Olympia, Washington. Allan Wirkkala Logging Company, $8,000 damage. ELF claims responsibility. March 1994 - Quinault, Washington. Tobin Logging, $10,000 damage. ELF claims responsibility. April 1994 - Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. Bill Burgess Logging, arson fire, $50,000 loss. ELF claims responsibility. April 2, 1993 - Near Flagstaff, AZ. Dump truck belonging to High Desert Investment Company of Flagstaff destroyed. Letter left behind said, "This letter is to inform you that your 1977 dump truck was not destroyed by young vandals, it was monkey-wrenched." It was signed, "Coconino Clyde and his merry band of eco-warriors." Mr. Rhodes and Emergencynet News will continue to monitor events concerning the so-called "Eco-Terrorism" and will provide additional details as they become available. (c) Copyright, EmergencyNet News Service, 1999. All rights reserved. Redistribution or republication without permission of EmergencyNet News is prohibited by law. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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