Former Enron CEO Ken Lay and former Animal Liberation Fron|/Earth Liberation Front spokesman Craig Rosebraugh seemed to be in some sort of competition yesterday to see which could invoke his Fifth Amendment rights the most. Rosebraugh showed up but invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment at least 50 times, prompting Rep. George R. Nethercutt Jr. (R-Washington) to ask Rosebraugh if he was in any way related to Lay.
Rosebraugh did submit written testimony prior to his appearance expounding his views that the Soviet Union installed a “progressive” government in Afghanistan in the late 1970s as well as voicing his support for convicted cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal.
Meanwhile the FBI’s James F. Jarboe testified that since 1996, the ALF and ELF combined have caused more than $43 million in damage in more than 600 attacks, making them the most active terrorist groups in the United States, although Jarboe conceded that white supremacist groups are still the more dangerous because even though the number of attacks is less frequent, such groups tend to target people.
Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colorado), who organized the hearings, said that it would be a mistake to dismiss animal rights and environmental terrorism as unworthy of attention. McInnis said,
These are hardened criminals. They are dangerous, they are well-funded, they are savvy, sophisticated and stealthy, and if their violence continues to escalate, it is only a matter of time before their parade of terror results in a lost human life.
On the other hand, McInnis should not build these groups into something they are not. There is no indication that people claiming to carry out acts of terrorism in the name of these groups are well-funded or particularly sophisticated. Most of these attacks rely on relatively simple methods that require minimal funding, such as the California activists who were sentenced for plotting to firebomb dairy trucks. Their weapon of choice was one gallon containers, gasoline and matches. Hardly the sort of operation needing extensive funding or organization.
The reality is that almost all of the acts committed under the ALF/ELF name are carried out by a handful of extremely committed activists acting on their own initiative using relatively unsophisticated means. For these reasons, cracking down on such terrorism will be an extremely difficult task.
Sources:
Ecoterrorist group is most active terror organization in U.S., FBI official says. Robert Gehrke, Associated Press, February 12, 2002.
Protests coincide with Congressional testimony from eco-terror group. Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Fox News, February 12, 2002.