Posted on 03/23/2004 2:32:11 PM PST by mhking
The FBI's capture of a prominent figure in what it calls the nation's worst domestic terrorist threat may do little to slow the radical environmental movement known as the Earth Liberation Front, federal authorities acknowledge. The suspect, Tre Arrow, also known as Michael Scarpitti and numerous other pseudonyms, is a charismatic figure who has run for political office before running from the law after being accused as the ringleader in a pair of environmentally motivated arson attacks.
"It's a very big capture for us," said Beth Anne Steele, spokeswoman for the Portland, Ore., office of the FBI. "[The suspect has] been indicted in two firebombing cases here. He's certainly very important to us. It remains to be seen what broader effect the arrest will have."
Arrow was arrested March 13 by police in Victoria, British Columbia, after he allegedly tried to shoplift a pair of boltcutters, even though he had $185 in his pockets, authorities said.
"When you're on the run wanted by the FBI, maybe you should just buy the boltcutters," joked Officer Rick Anthony, spokesman for the Victoria police department.
Arrow was being held in a Victoria jail, while the FBI, Victoria police and Canadian immigration officials sorted out how extradition would proceed. Anthony and Steele both said there was no timetable for his return to the United States.
"We want to get him back to those guys [the FBI] as quickly as possible," Anthony said.
No Leadership, Just a Shared Ethos
It was the second such arrest this month. On March 9, the FBI nabbed Billy Cottrell, 23, of Pasadena, Calif., on charges of arson, using a destructive device and conspiracy in a series of firebombings last August at an SUV dealership and of several vehicles at private homes that caused damages worth an estimated $2.3 million.
Cottrell, a California Institute of Technology student, was tracked down after allegedly sending anonymous e-mails to the Los Angeles Times claiming responsibility for the fires that destroyed or damaged 125 SUVs.
But will the busts matter? Law enforcement and others who monitor the radical environmental movement have long recognized the non-hierarchical structure of the ELF, which has claimed responsibility for causing more than $100 million worth of damage since 1997.
ELF has no leadership structure; individuals or small cells carry out actions on their own. The only link is a shared belief that radical action is needed to stop development, logging, pollution, genetic engineering research and anything else seen as threatening to the environment.
In the hundreds of incidents the group has claimed responsibility for, no one has been killed and only a handful of people have been injured, and postings on the group's Web site have generally expressed the belief that all life is sacred and actions should be carried out in such a way as to minimize the risk of injury.
Does Arrest Show Vulnerability?
If the arrests have any effect on the movement's adherents, some observers say, it will likely only be psychological.
"For the last several years, inciters and eco-terror supporters have focused on the fact that so few have been arrested — only a handful of those responsible have been brought to justice," said Kelly Stoner, the director of Stop Eco-Violence, a group that monitors the ELF and other radical environmentalists.
"This might change that impression of invulnerability," she said.
But she and law enforcement acknowledged the arrest was the result of Arrow's carelessness, rather than his being tracked down.
Scholars who study the movement say they expect no decrease in the activity of radical environmentalists.
"The arrests will have zero effect," University of Texas philosophy professor Steve Best said. "It's too decentralized of a network."
Bron Taylor, a professor of religion at the University of Florida, said he has the impression, based on interviews he has done over the years with people claiming to be ELF activists, the arrests will have no impact whatever.
He noted, however, several high-profile arrests and convictions in the late 1980s seemed to slow down the "monkey-wrenching" movement, which was a kind of precursor to the ELF.
"It seems some activists concluded they couldn't do the Earth any good behind bars and they developed different tactics," he speculated.
Yet one ELF activist, now serving a 22-year prison sentence for an arson attack that destroyed three SUVs at a Eugene, Ore., car dealership, has not allowed prison to stop his activism. Jeffery "Free" Luers has written extensively for alternative media and has a Web site.
‘Leader and Instigator’
Arrow is accused of playing leading roles in the April 2001 firebombing at a sand and gravel company in Portland that destroyed three concrete trucks and did more than $200,000 worth of damage, as well as in the June 2001 arson at a logging company in Eagle Creek, Ore., that damaged two logging trucks and a front loader.
Three others have pleaded guilty to involvement in the logging company arson, and according to court documents, one of them, Jacob Sherman, cooperated with investigators and told them Arrow, was "the leader and instigator" and had "groomed" him as an environmental activist.
The role of exemplar was one Arrow seemed to play for many in the Northwest, an area considered to be sympathetic to the philosophy of "deep ecology" espoused by ELF.
"In the Portland area he was fairly famous for his dedication and his activities for several years," former ELF spokesman Craig Rosebraugh said. "I would think he inspired a lot of people because he showed a strong presence. Everything from his tree sits to his happiness and the way he lived life." He drew attention to himself and to his cause in July of 2000 with a highly visible form of tree-sitting.
Instead of perching in an old growth giant threatened by logging deep in the woods, he climbed the facade of the building where the U.S. Forest Service has its offices in Portland and made himself at home on a 9-inch-wide ledge for 11 days.
After Run for Congress, Canada Became Refuge
The popularity he gained from that protest turned him from being just another of the city's counter-culture eccentrics, perhaps recognizable for his habit of going barefoot, into an energizing public figure.
He used that public attention in a run for Congress on the Pacific Green Party ticket in the fall of 2000, receiving more than 15,000 votes — a little more than 6 percent — despite having virtually no funding.
"Because he gained notoriety for the window-ledge sit, he was able to gain quite a bit of public relations just from that for his campaign," Rosebraugh said. "The goal was just to try to get more education out about the situation of the environment and I think he did that."
Police believe Arrow, who was calling himself Joshua Murray when he was arrested, was able to convince numerous people across Canada to let him stay with them, and it appears he was in the country for nearly the entire 18 months he was on the run, Anthony said.
He was found with about two dozen names and phone numbers, and some of those people told police that he had stayed with them, though it is not yet clear whether any of them knew his true identity, Anthony said.
"He tries to come across as this vegan, 'I'm just an Earth-loving person,' but we don't buy that," Anthony said. "After all, bolt cutters are one of the primary tools in an eco-terrorist's tool box."
First, an idiot in prison has no right to a website, and a terrorist organization doesn't either. Who registered the domain? Who hosts it? Whose credit card pays for it? Come on, don't tell me that we're just letting these things continue this kind of activity...
Wishful thinking, perhaps.
Unfortunately, we don't take care of our terrorists like the IDF does.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me".
All fires are potentially dangerous for the firemen who put them out. Consider 125 car fires (SUVs). Each vehicle has a gas tank. Not to mention the pollutants that such acts do to the environment.
I won't condone vandalizing an abortion clinic but I have not heard of fires or rigging devices so that they become death traps.
There are a handful (possibly less than 2 dozen and certainly less than 100) incidents of people responding violently (shooting/bombing) abortionists. How many incidents have there been of SUV dealerships being set on fire, trees spiked, et al?
They are ALL terrorists and outlaws (operating outside the law).
Those who kill abortionists have been used to paint Christians as a whole as "potentially as dangerous as militant Islamists". Except there seem to been so proportionally more Islamofascists in their ranks.
Leftists give themselves such stupid names.
Arson is criminal intimidation.
If it can be used against the KKK and profile groups I don't see any reason why it can't be used here.
I think that the abortion groups were even cited because of protests on the sidewalk impacting business, not even for fires/bombings/murders/or death threats. Merely standing on a sidewalk and "intimidating" potential customers.
How will we know which way the wind is blowing.
A bit harsh since Ferret Mike is best known as a fellow who goes out of his way to be fair, considerate, sincere and peaceful.
On the old Time/Warner boards he was one of a handful of passionate supporters of fair debate. Even here, under some tremendous abuse, he never sought the gutter.
That said, please remember that he served his country with honor and dignity and just happens to believe mother nature is worth watching after...but never to the extreme that the ELF people support...and has had the courage to confront them in person...so the bottom line for me is he is one of the 'good guys' and used to make this place a kinder gentler playground.
And if you see him again you can be sure to confirm his sincerity.
And, anyway, since he is Irish, it is nearly spiteful this close to St. Patrick's Day, to wish anything but kindness and good health...to Mike...not sure about Tre Arrow; never met him.
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