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Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

The activist pleads guilty in two arsons and will serve at the Sheridan federal prisonTre Arrow, a radical environmentalist who was once one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of arson. Appearing before U.S. District Judge James Redden, Arrow agreed to serve to 78 months in federal prison, with credit for time served since March 2004 in jails in Canada and the United States. Arrow, who will be formally sentenced Aug. 12, will serve about two years and four months at the Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution. His sentence could be further reduced by 54 days...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Radical environmentalist Tre Arrow on Tuesday pleaded guilty to arson charges as part of a deal with prosecutors that will keep him behind bars for more than two years. Arrow, who legally changed his name from Michael Scarpitti, was charged with firebombing three cement trucks at Ross Island Sand & Gravel in Portland and setting fire to logging trucks and a tractor near Estacada. On his Web site, the 34-year-old said recently he did not want to risk receiving a life prison sentence and called the plea deal an offer he "couldn't refuse." On Tuesday, he entered...

PORTLAND, Ore. - An environmental activist and former fugitive who once won thousands of votes in a congressional election pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges under a deal that would send him to prison for two years. Tre Arrow, 34, pleaded guilty to the destruction of concrete-mixing trucks in Portland in April 2001 and to firebombing logging trucks at a contested logging sale near Mount Hood in June 2001. He had faced up to 40 years in prison if convicted of two counts of arson. In a separate case, a radical environmentalist who helped federal officials round up a militant...

Portland, Ore. (AP) -- An environmental activist who was serving time in a Canadian prison has been extradited to the United States to stand trial on ecoterrorism charges despite his arguments that he faced political persecution here. Tre Arrow, formerly Michael James Scarpitti, was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in April 2004 on charges of taking part in the destruction of concrete and logging trucks in Oregon. The indictment came after his arrest in British Columbia on local charges of shoplifting, assault and obstructing a police officer after a security guard caught him trying to steal a pair of...

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - One of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, a suspected eco-terrorist known as Tre Arrow, was ordered extradited back to the United States on Thursday to face charges of firebombings. Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of participating in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years. Arrow was seeking refugee status in Canada, according to his lawyer.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A radical environmentalist who is one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives told an extradition hearing Monday he was being unfairly targeted by the U.S. government and should be allowed to remain in Canada. Tre Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, is accused of taking part in the 2001 firebombings of logging and cement trucks in Oregon. The FBI also claims he is associated with the Earth Liberation Front, a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years. "I am being targeted by the U.S. government and the FBI,...

Michael Scarpittiaka Tre Arrow VICTORIA, British Columbia -- Radical environmentalist Tre Arrow, arrested here on charges of shoplifting, will fight deportation to the United States where he is wanted on charges of firebombing logging and cement trucks, Arrow's attorney said Monday. Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, appeared Monday in a Canadian court for a status hearing on charges of theft, assault and obstruction. He was arrested in Victoria on March 13 for allegedly attempting to steal some bolt cutters. He has also been charged with providing false information to immigration officers, after telling them his name was Joshua Murray. It...

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]...

TRE ARROW SPEAKS OUT & INFO ON DEFENSE FUND Reply to: frontline@rocketmail.com Frontline Information Service   - TRE ARROW SPEAKS OUT & INFO ON DEFENSE FUND -  03/22/04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tre Arrow Speaks Out TRE ARROW URGES EVERYONE TO FOCUS ON THE REAL ISSUES 19 March 2004 VICTORIA, BC -- Tre Arrow, well known forest and animal rights activist, ledge sitter, and congressional candidate, urges the media to...

Fugitive U.S. environmental radical arrested in Victoria for shopliftingWith reporting by Hudson Mack canada.com VICTORIA (CP-AP) - A fugitive U.S. radical environmentalist, charged with setting fire to logging and cement trucks in 2001, has been arrested in Victoria. Michael Scarpitti was arrested Saturday for allegedly trying to shoplift some bolt-cutters, said Robert Jordan, the FBI's special agent in charge in Portland, Ore. ... Scarpitti was struggling with security at a Canadian Tire store Saturday when police arrived. "Upon taking him back to police headquarters it would appear he had no identification on him and refused to co-operate with the police...

On Tuesday, the FBI said it would pay as much as $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of Michael James Scarpitti, the alleged Earth Liberation Front member also known as Tre Arrow who is wanted in connection with two arsons. The first fire on April 15, 2001, at Ross Island Sand and Gravel in Portland burned three trucks. Damage was estimated at more than $200,000. The front claimed responsibility for the fire. The U.S. Department of Justice considers the front to be a domestic terrorism group. The second arson was on June 1, 2001, at Ray Schoppert Logging Co....