Enviro-Terror in Disguise

As the United States prepares itself for the post 9-11 world, it must fight the threat of domestic terrorism as well as terrorism abroad.

For most people, Osama bin Laden's network, Al Qaeda, tops the list of the most serious threats to our security, and for good reason. But there are also many homegrown terrorist groups at work within America.

One of these domestic terrorist networks is a fringe of the animal rights movement. These otherwise apparently docile organizations have advocated and engaged in violent acts of terror, and will continue to do so until recognized for what they are.

One FBI agent has testified before the U.S. Congress that, "actions by special interest extremists, including animal rights groups, is the most dangerous threat to the country." These animal rights groups, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Earth Liberation Front, participate in violent behavior that cannot be characterized as anything other than terrorism.

Bruce Friedrich, the campaign director of PETA, has remarked, "Of course we are going to be blowing stuff up and smashing windows. I think it is a great way to bring about animal liberation." At a PETA convention he proclaimed that "it would be a great thing if all of these fast-food outlets, these slaughterhouses, these laboratories, and the banks that fund them exploded tomorrow-hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it."

In discussing the foot and mouth disease scare of a few months ago, Friedrich said that an outbreak would be good for his cause, and then hinted darkly that he might try to import the disease. The seriousness of his comments has convinced Wisconsin congressman Mark Green that the USDA should "decontaminate him" when he returns to the United States from trips to other countries.

All these statements are a direct encouragement to activists to cause large-scale damage in the name of "liberating animals." Friedrich has made it clear that his group intends to break the law, putting lives at risk in order to achieve its goals. He and his cronies are a direct threat to the security of American institutions.

Likewise, the FBI has described the Earth Liberation Front as "the largest and most active U.S.-based terrorist group." The bureau has reported that this particular environmentalist terror organization has caused more than forty-three million dollars in damage since 1996. PETA in turn has contributed thousands of dollars to the ELF in order to "support their program activities."

Recent 'program activities' of the group have included such conduct as firebombing the Vail Ski Resort four years ago, and setting fire to a Michigan State University research facility. The total property damage in just these two "activities" alone was over twelve million dollars. Fortunately, there was no loss of human life.

In Austin, at the University of Texas, there is a registered student group called Students Against Cruelty to Animals. This group holds rallies a few times a year on the west mall and preaches the creed of protecting animal rights. When asked whether any members of the group are in any way affiliated with PETA or the ELF, they respond that some of their members have participated in events with these groups. But they claim that they do not, as a group, endorse these other organizations.

But one can assume from those statements that at least some of the members of SACA that attend UT have been involved in events organized by either PETA or the ELF. The next time you walk by a rally sponsored by this organization, remember what some of these people have been involved in. If you think that by donating money to one of these groups you are fighting for animal rights, think again. You just may be giving money to people that want to blow up banks or destroy important and valuable research facilities. Your contribution may mean that you, however unwillingly or unknowingly, are supporting domestic terrorist activities.

Intentional terroristic acts of vandalism, arson, intimidation and assault must not go unpunished.

No free and democratic nation can tolerate terrorism, no matter what the goals of the terror group may be, if it is to remain free. Groups seeking to achieve change in the system must go through the same democratic process as all other special interest groups. Those groups that engage in terrorism to achieve their ends must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Terror has many faces, all of them evil and ugly. They must all be dealt with in the same way.

The fate of our nation rests on its ability to secure for its citizens the freedom to pursue their dreams without the threat of violence and fear. Americans must protect their freedom by actively supporting those that promote the rule of law and order, and by opposing those that use violence and terror as a means to their end.

Source: http://www.austinreview.com/articles/2003_04/terror.htm

Federal raid near UW targets animal-rights activists
Animal Liberation Front part of nationwide inquiry

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A raid last week by the FBI domestic terrorism squad on a house on the University of Washington's fraternity row is part of a nationwide investigation into crimes committed in the name of animal rights.

Agents hauled away computer hard drives, fliers from the underground Animal Liberation Front, mail and phone lists from the sparsely furnished, student-style home, federal criminal justice officials said.

One of the residents of the home is Josh Harper, a 28-year-old vegan and self-avowed anarchist. He has been working for years to free animals from what he sees as the tyranny of exploitation and abuse by people who eat them or use them for research.

		P-I file
	Activist Josh Harper argues that use of animals for research is supremely evil and must be stopped.

Among the researchers he disdains the most is Huntingdon Life Sciences, a company with labs in New Jersey and Europe that tests pharmaceuticals on animals. The holy grail for an animal rights group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is to cause the collapse of the company.

Toward that end, animal rights activists have targeted anyone associated with the company, including a Kirkland resident who recently retired as a Huntingdon director. The man received threatening phone calls. And other companies with whom he was associated were the target of demonstrations and threatening communications, according to an FBI affidavit and anonymous news releases distributed on behalf of animal rights activists.

Activists went so far as to send threatening communications to the Alliance for Education, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to Seattle Public Schools, because the Kirkland man served on its board.

Since the man ended his association with Huntingdon, "he is not a target anymore," said a federal criminal justice source.

But Huntingdon remains in the cross hairs of the animal rights group that was formed to battle it. The same day that the FBI searched the house on fraternity row, agents raided the headquarters of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty in New Jersey and seized computers there.

In a statement on the organization's Web site, it declares that "rather than being derailed, we are driven by even more injustice against which to fight. Not only are the animals at HLS (Huntingdon) under attack, but our own activists. It's time to pull together even more than before, resist this criminalization of dissent, and finish the hellhole that is HLS off for good."

The tactics used against Huntingdon include:

• Breaking into a Huntingdon research facility and stealing 14 beagles.

• Attacking a Bank of America building in Seattle with stink bombs on July 17, 2001, after the animal rights group publicized the bank's supposed association with Huntingdon.

• Making cyberattacks by e-mail and on Web sites of companies doing business with Huntingdon.

• Beating a Huntingdon executive with bats.

• Firebombing 11 cars belonging to Huntingdon employees in the United Kingdom.

Harper could not be reached for comment yesterday. Federal criminal justices sources said he is on his way back from the United Kingdom where he was meeting with colleagues in the animal-rights movement.

Harper told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer two years ago that he sees "hope in every broken window, every torched police car and every mink running free as their hearts desire."

He has tossed a lighted flare and smoke canister at Native American whalers, charged through a police line outside a conference of biomedical researchers and participated in dozens of demonstrations against the fur industry, factory farms and slaughterhouses.

And Harper, who once suffered from testicular cancer, said he would rather die than take a drug tested on animals. From his perspective, Huntingdon's use of animals for research is supremely evil and must be stopped.

The actions of activists have hurt Huntingdon. The company found itself without an auditor in March when Deloitte & Touche cut its ties to Huntingdon because of being the target of activists.

Michael Caulfield, general manager of Huntingdon's American operations, said yesterday that Deloitte & Touche pulled out "based on the pressure they were subjected to. There have been a number of financial backers who, for the very same reason, have elected to end their relationship with Huntingdon for fear of the safety of their staff.

"Their intention is clearly to extort people out of any relationship with our business."

But Caulfield says Huntingdon remains one of the largest independent drug-testing companies in the world with annual revenue of more than $100 million.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty says that revenue is earned from the torture of research animals. It's a charge that Caulfield categorically rejects.

"We are a USDA (Department of Agriculture) registered research facility that is inspected regularly by the federal government." And he says that Huntingdon goes "over and above federal standards for animal care and welfare" by seeking independent accreditation.

Calls to the group formed to stop Huntingdon were not returned.

So far, no arrest warrant has been issued as a result of the raids. But a Seattle area man is in the state prison in Shelton in a related case.

In October, Nathan Brasfield was found kneeling on the ground outside a closed building in Tukwila. He was wearing a black jumpsuit and black cap and was holding a laptop computer from which wires ran to a telephone junction box on the building. When authorities searched the laptop, they found files referring to Huntingdon and the Kirkland man that contained phrases like "puppy killer," and "animal torturing," according to an FBI affidavit.

An associate found with Brasfield told police that she and the 24-year-old Brasfield were sending a "black fax" to a company associated with the Kirkland man that contained a message urging it to drop the man. When police contacted the company, the business turned over 15 faxes that said the Kirkland man must go and urged "dump the puppy killer."

Brasfield has been behind bars since his arrest and is serving a one-year sentence for theft of telecommunications property and possession of stolen property.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com

Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/120226_alf02.html

Courtesy: Marc R.