Letters to the Editor
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A few possible flaws with the conviction
I am not sure how many of you have ever made the drive from Olympia to U of W, but 60 miles on I-5 through Tacoma and Seattle, even at 7 - 8:00 PM in 42 minutes is not like driving 60 miles along I-71 in Ohio south from the Cleveland suburbs at that time of evening (and I have driven both routes numerous times). I would be very surprised if one could make that trip in that time (one would have to be driving 90 mph for most of the distance - avoiding a traffic ticket for driving 90 along that heavily patrolled route is really stretching belief. I can only surmise that the jury did not believe the stated arrival time at UW. Hard to believe that any Tacoma area resident who has been on I-5 in the past 15 years would believe one could make a trip that fast. As for her being further along the freeway, once you leave Olympia, you are in Lacey, then Nisqually and the Fort Lewis area.
Does this alone mean she is innocent? Of course not, but before you argue that "she could have made it in that time", better to know the route.
Hopefully she will get a fair hearing on appeal (of course, finding the grounds for appeal, especially in the federal courts, is not so easy, so one should not assume that the appeals courts will right all wrongs).
I am not a great fan of Earth First or the tactics used by those claiming that mantle - I am also not enamored of mansions or giant vehicles (just try being hit by one - a normal car will probably be totaled by someone needing to feel "manly" by driving a tank). I know those smaller towns - the loggers and those relying on natural resource jobs and the frustration level many have from being at the mercy of corporations who could care less about their lives and which will use those folks to further their goals of unfettered access to those resources, tossing them aside when the corporation's needs are met. I found the story of Ms. Water's work with communities and workers to be the most compelling aspect of the article and contradictory to her involvement in this action.
Thus, if facts are as the article stated in these areas, I would have serious doubts as to her guilt and would see this as one more case of the FBI and federal prosecutors exaggerating the facts to get a conviction which will scare many folks away from even legal activities and protest. This story should also be viewed in the context of a good number of dubious prosecutions and attempted prosecutions in the Northwest which have occurred the past six or seven years.
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Thought Exercise
BTW, just a little thought exercise for readers out there.
Re-read the article, but replace 'Briana Waters' with "Mohammad Sulaiman", and "Center of Urban Horticulture" with "Synagogue". Now replace William Rodger's last words in his jail cell with any Al-Qaeda press release about 'Jews and Crusaders'
Viola! Instant candidate for an all-expense paid trip to Hotel Gitmo!
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Of Course She's A Terrorist
Environmental Activist??
Was Hitler a racial purity activist?
Besides... the sexier you are, the more freedom you deserve. She should be jailed for life.
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Not a terrorist, just a scapegoat
Wow, if only all cases could be prosecuted that quickly, we wouldn't have the backlog in the legal system that we currently have. These prosecuters just picked an easy target, and now they're going to throw her in jail. U.S. attorneys? Aren't these people chosen by the President, the guy who should eventually stand trial and be prosecuted for the atrocities he has bequeathed on this planet? Doesn't mankinds destruction of this planet make all of us terrorists?
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Don't confuse EF! with ELF or vice-versa.
Of course the biotech industry would like to silence critics as well as stop saboteurs. So they, and the FBI, won't mind if you mix the two groups up.
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A Key Point Missing
Tracy Tullis seems to be saying that this kind arson isn't that big a deal and the war on "eco-terrorism" is government run amuck. Still, the clear theme of this story is that Briana is completely innocent and was railroaded to prison through the use of perjured testimony of participants saving their own skin. She neglected to mention that there was other evidence that clearly supported their version of events. One of the witnesses claimed Briana provided a rental car for their getaway. Briana's cousin testified that he rented a car for her that day and all the rental receipts and a paper trail of the $200 she paid him were all provided. She was actually lucky to get a hung jury on the more serious counts. I find this little "omission” pretty sleazy.
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ELF Arsons are still Terrorism
"There's a question of whether burning property is really the equivalent of flying a plane into a building and killing humans."
No, there isn't a question. Burning property seeks to influence government or civilians to act differently than they would otherwise act. It's an attack on innocent people (their property) as per the government.
It fits perfectly within the definition of terrorism by the US state department. You don't need to kill anyone. That little section about "broad" language is also misleading because terrorism has been defined that way for some time. I'm not sure what the problem is other than a relatively attractive 30 something mother who has been "wrongly convicted".
This is a pretty poor story with a somewhat misleading title.
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Something I have wondered for quite some time now..
Perhaps someone can explain to an older guy that's getting a little senile..
What exactly is the substantive difference between the following two terms?
"Terror"
and
"Shock and Awe"
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it's a given for any rational person that this will happen if there is no oversight
the wingers thought that as long as "their people" were in charge they would go after their common terrorist AND culture war enemies and it looks like they were right.
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Sarcasm aside
What I really mean to say is this prosecutorial grandstanding shows a lack of respect for everyone who has died from terrorist acts, because it equates property loss with loss of life.
But this is where we are now. How did Eliot Spitzer build his career? He made his bones as a hardass prosecutor.
If the warrior-prosecutor personality trait is what we reward in our political ecosystem, then all of our political animals will evolve in this hardass overcharging opportunistic direction.
I think both Democrats and Republicans share the blame for this phenomenon.
The Democrats abandoned liberalism and humanism in the nineties so they could pander to the tough on crime crowd.
They enabled the Republicans and the Republicans took that power and pushed it to the limit and now here we are.