FBI: Eco -terrorists - a new threat to America

The FBI made an unexpected statement about a new threat to the American nation, calling the activities of militant environmental defenders and animal defenders "the largest terrorist threat in the United States" and accusing the ecoterrorist of residential buildings under construction, research laboratories and car dealerships, writes Independent (translation on the website of Inopressa ).

John Lewis, the head of the FBI anti -terrorism center, at the hearing in the US Senate Committee, said that such groups of activists are damaged by the economy, and suggested that the death of people would soon be added to the list of crimes.

These hearings, which took place in the Environmental Protection Committee and the public work of the Senate, were unusual because they were not talking about the threat of terrorism, which the American government constantly speaks of, referring to Al-Qaeda and similar organizations abroad.

The FBI reported that it conducted 150 investigations in 1200 crimes committed by eco -terrorists from 1990 to 2004.

The most close attention of the government was attracted by two American organizations - the Front of Liberation Front and the Earth Front Liberation Front . Lewis also mentioned the British organization Shac (Stop Huntingon Animal Cruelty - "termination of abuse of animals in Huntingdon", the city, in the research laboratories of which experiments on animals are conducted). On his website, Shac calls itself an international organization that conducts its activities in particular and in the United States.

The organization of the Shaac claims that it does not encourage any activity that contradicts the law. Meanwhile, the "front of the liberation of animals" on the site encourages its members to take "direct actions" to prevent abuse of animals. Also, the "Front of Liberation of Animals" shows the support of an even more shadow organization - the "Front of the Land Liberation", which does not have its own site on the Internet, but periodically takes responsibility for certain shares.

These groups are accused of using such tactics as solids of offices, sending in envelopes instead of letters of razor blades, the organization of explosions in offices and seizures of offices. So, they are accused of arson of a complex of residential buildings in San Diego in 2003, which caused damage in the amount of $ 50 million.

One of the goals of these groups is to show disapproval about urbanization and further growth of cities. This week, the police accused the ecoterrorist of fires of three places in Long Island, including in a fire in the Oyster Bay, which is under construction.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee, the Senator-Republican from Oklahom, James Inchouf added anxiety with his statements, agreeing with the opinion of the head of the anti-terrorist center of the FBI that the activities of ecoterrorist will ultimately lead to deaths. "This is only a matter of time, sooner or later someone will die as a result of their criminal activity."

Senator Inkhouf called on the FBI to find sources of financing these groups. Usually such calls were heard about al-Qaeda.

But senators from the Democratic Party expressed a number of objections, especially after Inkhouf mentioned the “Front of the Land Liberation” and the organization of Peta (PEOPLE FOR ETHICAL TREATMENT OF Animals - “People for Ethical Contacting Animals”), which is not a radical organization. (PETA representatives can sometimes throw a jar of paint in models demonstrating fur clothes, but are unlikely to threaten national security).

Meanwhile, yesterday, the American Civil Free Union announced its intention to file a lawsuit against the FBI for the fact that the agency "spying" for political activists and refused to provide information about this on the pretext of national security interests.

The 23-year-old physicist William (Billy) Cottrall was sentenced to eight years in prison for arson in August 2003 Hammer Motor Show and 125 cars. Billy is the same militant environmental defender that cause such anxiety of the FBI.

This former student was found guilty last month that he helped destroy the car dealership in Los Angeles, as well as in damage to cars in this salon. The cottage with the help of a spray spray was applied to the “devouring gasoline” jeeps of the inscription: “Thick, lazy Americans” and “I pollute the atmosphere”.

Cottatrel also admitted that he applied the abbreviation ELF on cars - the first letters of the name of the radical organization "Front of the Land Liberation", which took responsibility for a series of arson in Detroit, Philadelphia and San Diego.

The “Front of Liberation of the Earth” was exalted by the Kotrela as a “environmental defender”, but the cottage itself says that it is not in this organization. At the process, the cottage told the judge that his "only desire is to become a physicist" and he will never violate the law from now on.

Cottrala’s lawyer Michael Maikokk said that his client, a student at the University of Chicago and a candidate for doctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology, is a very educated person who has been interested in Einstein’s theory of relativity from childhood.

“I don’t understand why he exchanged Einstein for Frankenstein,” says Ziyad Alhassen, owner of the Hammer car dealership.

Experts of the parties to the prosecution and defense agreed that the cottage suffered from Asperger's syndrome, the form of autism, which affects the ability of a person to communicate with other people.

Kotroda lawyers say that it was because of this condition that the Kotrota was two activists who are now on the run that it was possible to persuade him to commit this arson. But the court agreed with the arguments of the prosecution that the cottage is an eco -terrorist who did not express repentance in his deed.

Judge Clauser called the crime of Kotroda "terrible" and ordered him to compensate for the damage in the amount of $ 3.5 million.

Cottrala's lawyers appel herself to the verdict.