What ever motivates these politicians anyway? They don’t seem to fear making fools of themselves or being outrageous in some of the things they say or do. A case in point – in November Congressman Scott McInnis (R..CO) drafted a letter which was sent out to all the major environmental organizations. In this letter he demanded that each organization get back to him by a Dec 1 deadline an announcement which would "denounce eco-terrorism." He managed to cajole six other congressmen to co-sign the letter.

This is still another case of the crisis of September 11 which seemed to throw many, if not most, of our nation’s leaders into a stance of absurdity. The letter reproduced below came to me via e-mail from Vivian Stockman and came this way via several others, Denny Haldeman for one. It is a poignant response to McInnis’ letter.

November 28, 2001

The Honorable Scott McInnis
United States House of Representatives
320 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman McInnis:

I am in receipt of your letter of October 30, 2001, which you sent to numerous environmental organizations "calling on you and your organization to publicly disavow the actions of eco-terrorist organizations." On behalf of WildLaw, the nation’s foremost (and best looking) non-profit environmental law firm, I am pleased to extend our thanks to you for your courageous stand and to set forth our strong condemnation of "environmental terrorism."

We have long fought against those secretive multi-national organizations that have sponsored "environmental terrorism" in America. Throughout our great land, these groups are poisoning our air, our water and our food supply. Children have been hurt. People have been killed. Landowners have had their property and profits taken from them. Rivers have had all their fish and other life killed, being rendered so unfit that no one is allowed to swim or fish in them. Law-abiding corporations have been damaged by these outlaws who do not follow the laws of the United States. Often, these "eco-terrorist" organizations are state sponsored. Indeed, here in Alabama, the State itself defends every group that citizens have tried to stop from committing these acts of "environmental terror."

These international organizations have cells in many countries and in many places here in the United States. Most of them have active and heavily- financed operatives right there in Washington, DC. These groups often do not recognize the rule of law. In their fundamentalist view of the world, they claim that they have more rights than US citizens, and they threaten that people must do their bidding or suffer great consequences. They target innocent citizens and even politicians who do not agree with them and their goals, and they use their vast resources to destroy the lives of those who dare question them. Therefore, knowing that these international organizations have the ability to take even you out of office, I must applaud your heroic effort against these groups by calling them "environmental terrorists" and looking for the support of the environmental community.

As part of our work against terrorism, I also wish to report two acts of extremely costly and illegal sabotage that should be investigated as soon as possible. One involves the destruction of corporate property in Massachusetts. In complete defiance of law and international treaty, a number of disguised men boarded several ships at night and destroyed the goods on board, causing a great deal of pollution. I do not know their identities other than the ringleader who used the name "Sam A." Also, in Rhode Island, a ship by the name of Gaspé was destroyed by arson by saboteurs who took the law into their own hands, contrary to everything you wrote in your fine letter. Please pass this information along to Attorney General Ashcroft and the FBI so that they can look into these illegal acts.

Thank you. It is completely un-American to terrorize the environment.

Sincerely,

Ray Vaughan

Executive Director, WildLaw