>definition: Terrorism: political violence; violence or the threat of violence, especially bombing, kidnapping, and assassination, carried out for political purposes.<
With all due respect:
FBI director tags ALF arson as terrorism
Americans for Medical Progress reports in its latest newsletter that FBI director Louis Freeh used arson by animal rights as an example of “special interest terrorism” in his remarks to a Congressional committee on March 12.
“Special interest terrorist groups engage in criminal activity to bring about specific, narrow-focused social or political changes,” Freeh told members of a House of Representatives appropriations committee. “They differ from more traditional domestic terrorist groups which seek more wide-ranging political changes. It is the willingness to commit criminal acts that separates special interest terrorist groups from other law-abiding groups that often support the same popular issues. By committing criminal acts, these terrorists believe that they can force various segments of society to change attitudes about issues considered important to them.
“The existence of these types of groups often does not come to law enforcement attention until after an act is committed and the individual or group leaves a claim of responsibility. Membership in a group may be limited to a very smeall number of co-conspirators or associates. Consequently, acts committed by special interest terrorists present unique challenges to the FBI and other law enforcement. Unfortunately these types of terrorist acts are growing more prevalent.
“An example of special interest terrorist activity is the February 2, 1992, arson of the mink research facility at Michigan State University. Rodney Coronado, a member of the Animal Liberation front, pled guilty to arson charges on July 3, 1995. The Animal Liberation Front is a militant animal rights group founded in England in 1976.”
Coronado was sentenced to 57 months in prison; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals donated more than $45,000 to his defense.
Hundreds of other cases of vandalism and arson claimed by ALF and other militant animal rights groups have gone unsolved.
Mink released from fur farms
Activists have also stepped up their protests against the fur industry by releasing mink from farms, raiding food co-ops, vandalizing fur stores, and splashing paint on fur wearers.
“In the months since the last issue of No Compromise, the ALF has smashed up more fur shops and sprayed countless fur wearers with red fabric paint,” according to the “no compromise” animal rights website, “In a dramatic attack, the ALF set incendiary devices in a truck belonging to the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Haertel Company. Haertel makes a cleaning solution for fur farmers to use on pelts. The entire truck was destroyed, costing Haertel $18,000. The message was clear; even the smallest involvement with the fur trade would mean repercussions.”
The Animal Liberation Frontline Information diary for the first four months of 1997 records dozens of attacks against fur retailers, including
* locks glued and acid poured through mail slot at Bifano Furs North Dallas location in Texas (January, ALF);
* more than 100 fur coats sliced with razor blades at a fur sale in Dallas (January, ALF)
* the backs of more than 75 fur wearers covered with red paint in New York City during a weekend (January, Paint Panthers);
* windows smashed and locks glued in two fur stores in Des Moines, Iowa (January, Paint Panthers);
* butyric acid poured in the pockets of fur coats at a sale in Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan, and in stores in Dearborn, Michigan (February, ALF);
* firebombs set in four trucks and the main offices of the Agricultural Fur Breeders' Co-op in Sandy, Utah; damages exceeded $1 million (March, ALF);
* locks glued at two fur stores and a leather store in Huntington, New York (March, ALF);
* minks released at a fur farm in Ontario, Canada, twice in a single month (March, ALF);
* rock and incendiary device thrown through the window of Flemington Fur Company in Flemington, New Jersey, causing a fire and sprinkler damage (March);
* chinchillas stolen from a fur farm in Texas (April, ALF); and
* two cars belonging to a fur business owner in Indianapolis, Indiana, were covered with paint stripper and his house splashed with red paint (April, ALF).
In June, about 9000 mink were released from cages at a fur farm in Mount Angel, Oregon. Many of the mink were babies that were unlikely to survive in the wild. Vandals also destroyed records at the farm. Eye witnesses said that many of the mink were dead of exposure or from fighting with each other, but a spokesman for the Coalition Against the Fur Trade said that few animals died.
Also in June, the animal rights conference that spawned an attack on the McDonald's in Crystal City, Virginia, also generated an assault on a fur retailer in Washington DC. Demonstrators smashed windows and blocked the doorway so that customers could not enter or leave.
the ALF set incendiary devices in a truck belonging to the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Haertel Company
firebombs set in four trucks and the main offices of the Agricultural Fur Breeders' Co-op in Sandy, Utah
rock and incendiary device thrown through the window of Flemington Fur Company in Flemington, New Jersey
Hundreds of other cases of vandalism and arson claimed by ALF and other militant animal rights groups have gone unsolved.
These are already considered criminal actions, vandalism and arson.
FBI director Louis Freeh
Isn't Louis Freeh the same joker who wrote and approved the Rules of Engagement for the operation conducted against Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, unleashing the FBI and sniper Lon Horiuchi to kill Weavers' son and wife?
My inquiry stands: Why does everything need to be considered terrorism these days? ALF IS a criminal organisation and they deserve what they get. But, IMO, to label every crime or group as terrorist will only incite undue fear.