The Oklahoman had this to say:
Oklahoman Editorial:
Domestic Terrorists Must be Stopped
2001-11-05
Catherine Ives was a researcher at Michigan State University in 1999, working on developing disease-resistant crops that could help alleviate starvation in Third World countries. Then, the facility in which she worked was torched, destroying Ives' work.
A group called the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the fire. Upset with the research because of its association with genetically engineered crops, ELF members shut down Ives' operation through an act of terrorism.
While the resolve of Americans to combat terrorism is currently at a peak, the focus remains on Islamic extremists. Domestic terrorists such as the ELF and the Animal Liberation Front continue to operate with little public notice of their acts of terror.
Richard Berman, executive director of an organization representing restaurant and tavern owners, wrote last week in a USA Today opinion piece that homegrown terrorism has not let up since the awful events of Sept. 11. Rather than admit that their form of terrorism is every bit as odious as that of the Mideast radicals, the environmental and animal rights groups self- righteously cling to the "correctness" of their cause.
"In this age of insanity, you may be branded a terrorist," says an Animal Liberation Front Web page, "but you will one day be remembered as a selfless warrior who dared to fight for what is right. " The words are directed at ALF associates who bomb or burn down research labs, sometimes killing animals in order to "save" them.
If those same words were distributed by Osama bin Laden, righteous indignation would be the reaction. Yet these domestic terrorists carry on with little scrutiny.
"The growing wave of domestic terrorism by animal-rights, anti-corporate and anti-biotech extremists has gone beyond vandalism," Berman wrote. "Property has been destroyed and lives have been put at risk. And Americans are the perpetrators. "
The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies have their hands full now, giving the domestic terrorists a virtual field day for their lunatic fringe activities. ALF claims to have set fire to a primate research facility just nine days after planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Periodic torchings or bombings of research facilities have been commonplace. The ALF or ELF has claimed responsibility for firebombings at meat companies and a feed mill. The fire at Michigan State University caused about $1 million in damages, Berman wrote.
Because these domestic terrorists have so far managed to avoid killing people, their activities have been largely ignored by the general public. But terrorism is terrorism, and any war on terrorism must include these twisted and unjustifiable attacks.
While not directly engaged in terrorism, groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are nevertheless linked to terrorist attacks. For example, in 1992 ALF member Rodney Coronado firebombed a Michigan research facility, a crime he later admitted committing. PETA contributed $42,500 to Coronado's legal defense in 1995 while spending less than $5,000 for animal shelters that year.
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh was outspoken in his contempt for domestic terrorism, but most Americans remain unaware that animal-rights and environmentalist radicals are loose in this society. Similarities between the homegrown terrorists and the men who hijacked four planes on Sept. 11 can be found in their rhetoric and their unfailing belief that no act is too extreme if the cause is "right. "
Arson, property destruction, burglary and theft are "acceptable crimes" in the pursuit of a cause, PETA co-founder Alex Pacheco once said. With such an endorsement of terrorism, it's not out of line to suggest that PETA itself encourages acts of violence.
In an opinion piece that appeared in The Oklahoman on Oct. 24, Nick Nichols, chairman of a crisis management firm in Washington, D. C. , said Americans too often tolerate violence committed by environmental and animal rights terrorists as "stunts" or "pranks. "
"This invites acts of greater violence," Nichols wrote. "Instead, we need to crack down with aggressive prosecution of domestic terrorism against property to protect us from more serious domestic terrorism against our people. "
To paraphrase President Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, you are either in the battle against terrorism or you are abetting it. Extremist animal and environmental activists have made it clear which side they're on.
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FWI
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