Posted On March 19,
2003
Craig Rosebraugh, the enigmatic environmental anarchist
whose tenure as the public face of the terrorist
Earth Liberation Front (ELF) was marked by millions of dollars in violent property
destruction, a sizable financial gift from People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, and a penchant for
hiding behind the Fifth Amendment, has declared war on
America.
Fresh from his appearance at
Cal State Fresno's "Revolutionary Environmentalism"
conference, Rosebraugh has penned a manifesto calling
for anti-war protesters to carry out "direct actions"
against the American government, military installations,
multinational corporations, financial institutions, urban
centers, and broadcast television networks.
Like the ELF, Rosebraugh has no use for peaceful
protests, calling them "pointless, and perhaps even
counterproductive." Instead, he prefers an activist plan
that, quite literally, terrorizes America into withdrawing
troops from the Persian Gulf.
"An atmosphere of severe unrest,"
Rosebraugh wrote on Monday, "if manufactured properly, will
force the U.S. government to place military resources in
the streets of the United States, will threaten the
economy... and ultimately create a political atmosphere
unfavorable for Bush to continue on with the war."
How to manufacture this sort of
atmosphere? Rosebraugh articulates the following
seven-point plan (in his own words) for would-be members of
his hate-America terrorist brigade:
-
"Attack the financial centers of the
country... physically shut down financial centers which
regulate and assist the functioning of [the] U.S.
economy."
-
"Large scale urban rioting [so that]
the U.S. government will be forced to send U.S. troops
into the domestic arena thereby taking resources and
political focus away from the war... Rioting should be
focused on governmental agencies and corporations."
-
"Attack the media centers of the
country... Using any means necessary, shut down
the national networks of NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, etc. Not
just occupations but actually engage in strategies and
tactics which knock the networks off the air."
(emphasis added)
-
"Spread the battle to the... very
heads of government and U.S. corporations... Hit them
in their personal lives, visit their homes."
-
"Make it known publicly that this
movement DOES NOT support U.S. troops... Create an
atmosphere lacking of support to assist U.S. troops at
home and abroad in losing their morale and will to
fight."
-
"Actively target U.S. military
establishments within the United States... use any
means necessary to slow down the functioning of the
[U.S. military]." (emphasis added)
-
"[S]trike hard and fast and retreat
in anonymity. Select another location, strike again
hard and fast and quickly retreat in anonymity... Do
not get caught. DO NOT GET CAUGHT. Do not get sent to
jail. Stay alert, keep active, and keep fighting."
Rosebraugh implies over and over that
the anti-war movement simply hasn't gone far enough. He
clearly wants to take the ELF's terror tactics -- honed
during attacks on logging companies, new home builders, and the Vail ski lodge -- and direct them at
the federal government itself.
Secretary of Homeland Security Tom
Ridge said yesterday that intelligence on homegrown
terror groups influenced his decision to raise America to
the "code orange" alert level on Monday. "[R]egional extremist organizations and ad
hoc groups or disgruntled individuals may use this time
period to conduct terrorist attacks against the United
States," he told reporters during a Tuesday press
conference.
In a poignant Washington Times
book review of a Unabomber biography, Fresno State University's Bruce Thorton
argued on Sunday that we may one day fall prey to "a
homegrown terrorism driven by debased myths and shop-worn
ideas."
"The war against terrorism," Thornton
added, "has more fronts than we think."