America's Most Dangerous Domestic Terrorist Group

realtraveller · #1 02-13-2002, 01:03 PM

According to the FBI, which group is the most dangerous domestic terrorist group? Is it the Aryan Nation? The Ku Klux Klan? An anti-abortion group?

Nope. It's......

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1252635

Why have we heard very little about this group?

Is it because they haven't killed anyone yet? Or is it because many Americans (and those in the news media) are sympathetic with their goals (if not their means)?

theeye · #2 02-13-2002, 01:29 PM

FWIW, I've definitely read plenty of coverage over the years of this group, despite tending towards more liberal-oriented publications in general.

Of course, I've got a husband who likes to call himself an anti-environmentalist.

I believe this is the same group who frequently "spiked" trees in forests scheduled for logging. Putting metal spikes in the trunks of these trees is extremely dangerous to loggers as it can cause electric saws to ricochet back upon the user. It can (and I believe, though I'm not entirely sure, actually has) caused fatal accidents.

As a self-styled liberal (my card must be somewhere

), I don't approve at all of this group's tactics.

**conradd** · #3 02-13-2002, 02:08 PM

Don't know where you are, but there has been extensive coverage about ELF in the Pacific Northwest. Many of my family members work in the timber industry and this group of terrorists have been actively disrupting timber sale areas for years. It's not just tree-sitting, but spiking trees, vandalizing equipment, and destroying millions of dollars of property. I don't think any deaths have been directly linked to ELF, although they've certainly caused some injuries.

Deb

wivabef · #4 02-13-2002, 02:27 PM

This might have been the wrong forum to ponder ELF and ALF's seeming oblivion -- the people responding here tend to be more in the know than the average Cyber Q. Public.

This Mother Jones article offers a more indepth look at the two groups as well as a more sympathetic view (but not at all condoning) of their activities.

I'm against property destruction. These groups have only accomplished anomosity towards their cause and set back the efforts of more peaceful yet still aggressive types like Greenpeace.

**drmomentum**[$] · #5 02-13-2002, 03:14 PM

I'll have to add to the voices here of people who have frequently heard of (and been angered by) the activities of the ELF.

The FBI calls them "the most dangerous" eh? I don't think I trust their criteria. I've heard before that the "10 most wanted" was often used as PR. You made it to the top of the most wanted list if you were close to being apprehended, thus making the newspapers when the FBI quickly took into custody the "most wanted" criminal(s).

What about whoever is (was) sending anthrax letters? I guess they're not close enough to catching those responsible for them to be considered the most dangerous.

-JP

poseidon · #6 02-13-2002, 03:55 PM

I've got to chime in, too. ELF is nothing new in the news. I'm not sure why you've not heard about it.

realtraveller · #7 02-13-2002, 06:11 PM

except for the burning of the resort in Vail, none of the rest of their criminal activities have gotten the same coverage as the criminal activities of other groups.

In fact, today's L. A. Times devoted not one thimble full of ink to these hearings.

**jgibson2**[$] · #8 02-13-2002, 11:03 PM

The Baltimore Sun carried the story. I'd bet you could find it in the Washington Times and the Washington Post, too. Both groups have been coverred. If I remember correctly, ALF got into a primate research center in Maryland several years ago and released some research animals. Dummies. If they gave a hoot about the animals, they might have stolen them and relocated them to somewhere they could survive. Turning them loose made them a hazard and put them at risk.