'Eco-terrorism': A threat only an embattled government could love

If ELF didn’t exist, the Bushies would have to invent it. 5

Why are the DOJ, FBI, and ATF making so much noise about "eco-terrorism"?

FBI deputy assistant John Lewis said, "The No. 1 domestic terrorism threat is the eco-terrorism, animal-rights movement."

Put aside for a moment the conspicuous running together of two different movements. By no reasonable metric would eco-terrorism and animal-rights direct action combined be judged the premiere domestic threat of our times. The number of lives taken and property damaged by organized crime swamps anything done by the ELF, even if we accept every claim made on its behalf. Drugs, prostitution, smuggling, piracy -- all kill more and damage more property. Hell, white collar crime makes the $23-million-over-10-years attributed to "eco-terrorism" look like a laughable rounding error.

In terms of lives and lucre, there are manifold forms of crime under the FBI's jurisdiction that do more damage. Other than its status as "terrorism," as determined on the sole authority of the executive branch, what marks "eco-terrorism" worthy of the enormous time and resources being devoted to it?

Especially since, as we were all recently reminded, Osama bin Laden is still very much alive, and radical Islamic terror has already done more than $23 million in damage -- in one day, you might recall.

The cynical among us might suggest that it is to the executive branch's great benefit at the moment to be seen securing high-profile victories over terrorism, however defined or identified. It is also to this administration's advantage to associate environmentalism -- a source of vocal and embarrassing bi-partisan and international criticism -- with violence and extremism. If the ELF didn't exist, the Bush administration would have to invent it.

So say the cynics. Dirty, no-good cynics!

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. Tom Philpott's avatar

    Tom Philpott Posted 2:47 am
    23 Jan 2006

    Very creepyThis is creepy stuff you're digging up, David. It's especially disturbing given all the revelations of domestic spying. Indeed, the near-manic puffing up of the "threat" of quote-unquote ecoterrorism is no doubt designed to justify the spy program. Something tells me this Rovian spin campaign is falling flat with the public. Are the boys in the White House getting desperate, or what?

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  2. birdboy Posted 4:27 am
    23 Jan 2006

    Surprised?The only things threatened by 'ecoterrorism' (if it exists at all) is huge, environmentally destructive industries and corporations. Is it any surprise that our government, which is owned and controlled by big, destructive industries and corporations, is worried about the threat? Of course they will try to convert that threat into something that the American public should be worried about. I truly expect that 'they' will create at least one act of 'ecoterrorism' this year which injures innocent people and causes big property loss, and they will frame some environmental group, and then hang them out to dry for public viewing. As they gain control over the courts, and finish strangling our democracy, they will go after the rest of us, cloaked under the veil of 'national security'.
    Convenient that 'Bin Laden' shows up and prompts us to pull our troops out just as Bush's 'stay as long as' plan becomes unpopular, isn't it? Every time Bush or the war fades out, enter the otherwise elusive and silent Bin Laden. Hmmm.

    a liberal in redsville

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  3. ninshubur Posted 7:47 am
    23 Jan 2006

    And that pressIt's appalling to me that the media geisha who attend this administration (I got that from Janeane Garafolo [sp?]) never question this pumped-up rhetoric, these more recent "claims of responsibility" or the government's motives in playing this thing to the hilt. What gives?
    Thanks for tracking this stuff, David.

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  4. folkie Posted 12:12 pm
    23 Jan 2006

    It's all about broccoli.I've got this seemingly outlandish but totally logical theory about why the focus has been on terra-ists instead of terrorists:
    http://tinyurl.com/7pnxk
    Well, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

    A lost cause is the only one worth fighting for.

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  5. showze Posted 2:24 pm
    23 Jan 2006

    It`s Dick Cheney`s Personal Enviro Agendait is Dick Cheney`s Personal Agenda. Cheney hates enviros. he is a wyoming redneck, and the rednecks of the west, especially the loggers have been obsessed with ecoterrorists for years...ever, since the days of tree spiking by earth first....In idaho, the loggers used to treat earth first members, like niggers in mississippi, before civil rights.
    in idaho logger country, earth firsters were beaten up, arrested, and thrown in jail by local law enforcement, judges and juries.

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