Eco Extremists strike again ****

[Puttingood]

PITTSBURGH (Jan. 4) - In the latest in a string of vandalism carried out in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, members of the radical environmental group are claiming responsibility for a fire at a Pennsylvania auto dealership.

A posting on the group's Web site said the ``attack'' targeted SUVs in a fight ``to remove the profit motive from the killing of the natural environment.''

Jugs of gasoline were set ablaze under three vehicles, engulfing them and a nearby car in flames Wednesday at a dealership in Girard, about 110 miles north of Pittsburgh, FBI Special Agent Bob Rudge said. Three other vehicles also had jugs of gasoline set under them but failed to ignite.

``I have no reason to doubt that it's an individual who committed the acts on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front,'' Rudge said.

The FBI considers the Earth Liberation Front one of the nation's most prolific domestic terrorist organizations. It is thought to be responsible for the 1998 torching of a ski resort in Vail, Colo., an arson that caused $12 million in damage and is considered the most destructive act of eco-terrorism in U.S. history.

ELF is loosely organized. Anyone who carries out an action under the group's guidelines and claims responsibility as part of the organization is considered a member. Over the past year, its name has been attached to a string of vandalism in Pennsylvania.

Last month, the group's Web site said ELF members and cells from the Animal Liberation Front set a Nov. 26 fire at a mink farm in Erie. The fire destroyed a barn, but no animals or people were harmed.

The group also claimed responsibility for an Aug. 11 fire at an unoccupied forest research station near Warren and the torching in March of a construction crane at a bridge work site in Erie, Rudge said.

ELF's claims of responsibility typically come through its Web site, where managers say they serve only as a media conduit for the group. A manager who did not provide an identity said in an e-mail that the communique about Wednesday's fire came in anonymously, as do all reports of ELF attacks.

Rudge said that communique, posted on the Web site, appeared to be authentic because it included information that hadn't been made public.

01/04/03 15:10 EST

[Agent Smith]

Does anyone think that this type of criminal behavior is even remotely acceptable? These tactics are dangerous and unnecessary.

[mailman]

The ELF are some crazy sumbitches. They are the ones that were burning new (not occupied) houses on Long Island a few years ago.

And no Agent Smith the should catch and prosecute the bastards under some of these new terrorist laws.

[T_Schroll]

I hope you PETA people know that your money is going to fund these bastards. This has been established as fact in Congressional testimony.

[Stargazer]

Originally posted by T_Schroll
I hope you PETA people know that your money is going to fund these bastards. This has been established as fact in Congressional testimony.

PETA's tactics run a close second to these people, imo. I'm not surprised that PETA money funds them. I'm all for preserving the earth, but not the way these people go about it.

[articulatekitten]

"Eco-terrorism" is an oxymoron. Save the earth by destroying things & endangering lives? It's only a matter of time before one of these attacks kills someone &/or gets wildly out of control.

A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist.

[Coach Micool]

Originally posted by articulatekitten
"Eco-terrorism" is an oxymoron. Save the earth by destroying things & endangering lives? It's only a matter of time before one of these attacks kills someone &/or gets wildly out of control.

A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist.

Very true.
Sometimes I think the 'Terrorist' term is used way too much, thus minimumizing and diluting it's actual value.
The term used toward these people is accurate tho.

How can all the fires and the stuff burnt in the fires, not actually more dangerous to the environment than the exhaust of the cars that were to be sold would put off in a few years of usage?

I just don't understand with the funding these organizations seem to obtain why they don't:

PETA: take their millions and purchase/build a coulpa zoos to house the animals they want to take care of? I know they want to make us do this and that towards all animals, but would there be any many dogs and cats out their if they made it illegal to have them as pets and not be free?

Greenpeace: take their millions and buy a large # of acres, let the wildlife and the trees live in peace their, creating an environement they wish do preserve. I know they want the global
environment to be bettter, thus affecting their land, but have they ever traveled abroad and seen what other countries actually do towards polluting? What about all the old cars driven around in America by the "poor' folks, which pollute more and use more gas than 2 SUV's?

All these organizations have big hearts and good intentions, but the members are just so overwhelmed by their emotions on the issues, they lose all their common sense when it comes to right and wrong and feasibility. They end up hurting their causes with their whacko, unlawful actions, more than the help their causes.

[Superfluous_Nut]

The idea is to disrupt the profiteering, not necessarily take a couple SUV's out of the equation. They figure if they target SUV's they'll make them less desirable or something.

They've got an interesting system of membership that isn't too dissimilar to Al-Qaeda. Seems to be even more decentralized in that ELF doesn't seem to really exist. You can almost say that this attack is "ELF compliant". Not sure I'd call it terrorism. It's certainly vandalism.