http://www.denverpost.com/cda/article/detail/0,1040,73%257E237093%257E36%257E%257E,00.html
Terrorism in any form is intolerable
By Scott McInnis
Sunday, November 25, 2001 - Several of the comments attributed to me by critics are, at best, taken out of context in a self-serving manner in order to make their case appear stronger.
As America begins the long haul back following the monumentally tragic events of Sept. 11, we all have come to more fully appreciate and understand the cancerous effect of terrorism on a free and civilized people.
Now more than ever, America knows in its collective heart-of-hearts that terrorism, no matter its form and no matter its motivation, is intolerable. Whether it's crashing a plane into the Pentagon, sending a mysterious white powder to an abortion clinic, blowing up a Greenpeace ship or burning the Vail lodge, terrorism has no place.
I am chairman of a House subcommittee charged with overseeing our national forests, and one form of terrorism is high on the committee's radar screen: eco-terrorism. While not as menacing or destructive as the cataclysmic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, environmentally motivated violence has nonetheless reached such a level that the FBI now recognizes it as one of America's primary domestic terrorism threats.
Shockingly, eco-terrorists continued their war against American communities, fire-bombing a biomedical research lab and a federal facility just days after America was rocked by Osama bin Laden and his network of terrorists.
Eco-terrorism is not an imagined problem. Environmental vigilantism is on the rise and it is for real.
Recently, the national dialogue about eco-terrorism took a heated turn when a handful of environmental groups objected to a letter written by me and several of my House colleagues, urging the organizations to openly disavow the actions of eco-saboteurs like Earth Liberation Front and its sister organization, Animal Liberation Front.
ELF and ALF have rained terror on communities in all corners of the United States over the course of the last decade, setting fire to homes, academic research labs, government buildings and many businesses. Colorado hasn't been immune from this kind of eco-radicalism either. In 1998, ELF's henchman burned a $12 million ski lodge in Vail. In all, these groups have prosecuted a campaign of terror with a price tag of well over $40 million and it is just a matter of time before human life is taken.
Alarmingly, ELF, ALF and other like-minded radicals have found refuge in certain circles of the popular press. Instead of being forcefully condemned, too often these groups have received a wink and nod and a rhetorical pat on the head from those who view environmentally motivated violence as a lesser evil in the furtherance of a greater societal good.
A National Public Radio guest commentator, when recently reporting on a series of arsons in Arizona then thought to be the handiwork of eco-terrorists, offered a shocking on-air endorsement of environmental vigilantism, saying she'd be happy to buy matches for eco-arsonists the next time they were prepared to strike.
A 1999 story in The Portland Oregonian chronicled the subtle and sometimes not so subtle support that certain members of "mainstream" society offer groups like ELF.
It is exactly this kind of thinking and rhetoric that fuels the destructive tendencies of environmental terrorists. If America is going to get the upper hand on eco-terrorists, we've got to strip away the Robin Hood mystique and perceived moral high ground that some gleefully give these radicals.
Which brings us back to my letter to the environmental groups. Its purpose is not to impugn or otherwise link organizations like the Sierra Club to ELF or ALF, and nothing in my letter could reasonably send that impression. The letter has just one purpose: to send a powerful message to the eco-criminals at ELF and ALF, and their sympathizers, that even those who share a similar environmental ideology deny and reject the use of terror as a tool to promote that ideology.
So, notwithstanding the self-serving criticism and outrage coming from the lips of certain excitable commentators, this letter is singularly targeted at building a cultural coalition against environmental terrorism and provides the opportunity for those who care about the environment to openly express distaste and disapproval of eco-terrorists. Those who commit these shameless acts of terror should find themselves with no support because all of us can unite against it.
U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis is a Republican representing Colorado's Third District. **********************************************************************************************