Hopping aboard the post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism bandwagon, some Republicans have set their sights on so-called eco-terrorists. U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) and six other Republicans have asked mainstream environmental organizations to publicly disavow groups like the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, which have claimed responsibility for many acts of vandalism and arson in recent years. In a letter to the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and their brethren, the seven congressmen say that although the acts of eco-terrorism haven’t been as severe as the World Trade Center attack, they are "no less deplorable." Mainstream enviro leaders, most of whom are already on the record condemning eco-terrorism, have denounced the congressmen’s request as "McCarthyesque." Greenpeace’s John Passacantando: "They are trying to stick it to environmentalists in the name of patriotism."
