Eco-terror indictments
Feds charge 11; five alleged to be behind '98 Vail fire
A five-year reign of destruction orchestrated by a band of eco- vandals who struck from Seattle to the high country of Colorado came crashing down Friday with the indictments of 11 people on federal charges of domestic terrorism. The 65-count indictment, announced by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in Washington, D.C., includes allegations that four of the 11 - plus an unindicted co-conspirator - were behind the 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort that caused $12 million in damage and set a devastating standard for sabotage in the name of environmental preservation. In all, the grand jury indictment covers 17 acts committed from 1996 through 2001 in five states. Most were in the Pacific Northwest and ranged from arsons at U.S. Forest Service facilities and government research labs to fires at meat plants, a lumberyard and a Chevrolet truck dealership. Throughout the 83-page charging document, prosecutors outlined a litany of attacks and tactics that included oaths of secrecy among defendants, the use of false identification, dark clothing and masks, spray-painted messages to law enforcement and efforts to spread signature bomb- making techniques to unrelated vandals in hopes of misleading investigators. "The indictment tells a story of 4 1/2 years of arson, vandalism, violence and destruction claimed to have been executed on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front or Earth Liberation Front - extremist movements known to support acts of domestic terrorism," Gonzales said.One must really appreciate the line: "devastating standard for sabotage in the name of environmental preservation!" I am just a bit confused however by the definition of 'domestic terrorism' that is being used to umbrella acts of vandalism, in which not one person is injured nor killed, as something so similar to the labels applied to Al Qaeda. Wow i mean if burning buildings and and blowing up billboards and cars were a worthy of the label "terrorist" i can't imagine what one would call physically removing people from their residences, bulldozing them to the ground, and never once paying anyone any of the hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Oh, that is called eminent domain.
This constant "labelling" of acts as "terrorism" by Bushco, which are viewed to be in opposition to their plans to annex the US and divide it into various military security states borderiing enclaves of the very wealthy, is nothing more nor less than propaganda spewing. It is unlikely that many of those charged in this matter will see trial or the inside of jails. In typical Bushco fashion they have charged people who are essentially innocent in hopes of breaking them to reveal who actually committed the crimes. This is all PR with little or no substance. This is Bushco diverting attention from their huge criminal conspiracies onto a convenient target to get whatever minor irritating media off their backs. The verbiage is meant to shock and awe, but the overall value of the actions is nothing more than is done in the name of big business each and every day in this country. Interesting isn't it???
UPDATE: What a difference intelligence makes (yes pun intended). The SeattlePost Intelligencer's story this morning concerning the indictments of the eleven individuals, does not mention the terror connotation at all. Rather it portrays the events and acts in the clear light of fact and reality. When you shred the story of the propoganda and spin of Bushco you get a much different perspective on the acts of the Justice Department in this case. Can you say borderline incompetence???
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/256560_ecoterror21.html
