UPDATE: 12/26/05. I've revisited the issue of "PeTA's Terrorist Connections" and expanded significantly on the present post here. I did so in response to the hue and cry raised by the ACLU over the feds surveiling PeTA. I think the feds would be derelict in their duty were they not to surveil PeTA — but read the update, then you make your own call.
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In the past, PeTA has been accused of supporting terrorists. It occurs to me that readers of Animal Crackers might want to see the primary sources upon which that accusation rests. And so I offer this, from which you can download a PDF file of Peta's 2001 Form 990 tax return. On page 28, you will find an entry indicating that PeTA made a $1,500 contribution to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF).
The "Government Sentencing Memorandum," available as a PDF file at the same site (or online here), is well worth reading in it's entirety - it establishes a clear link between convicted arsonist and ALF operative Rodney Coronado and the PeTA luminaries and founders Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco:
Forensic evidence discovered during the investigation confirmed that Coronado played an important role in planning and executing the ALF's campaign of terrorism. Investigators learned that immediately before and after the MSU arson, a Federal Express package had been sent to a Bethesda, Maryland address from an individual identifying himself as "Leonard Robideau". The first package went to Ingrid Newkirk, PETA's founder.The second package was intercepted by employees of Federal Express after they discovered that a phony account number had been used to send the package. This second package contained documents that had been stolen from Dr. Aulerich during the MSU raid. Also in this package was a videotape of a perpetrator of the MSU crime, disguised in a ski mask. It had been sent from a drop box adjacent to the Ann Arbor hotel where Coronado had rented a room. Analysis of the handwriting on the freight bill for the Federal Express package showed it to be Coronado. Search warrants also disclosed evidence that the defendant was an active participant in illegal activity on behalf of animals.
The first warrant was executed at the home of Maria Blanton, a longtime PETA member who had agreed to accept the first Federal Express package from Coronado after being asked to do so by Ingrid Newkirk. Records found during the search of Blanton's home demonstrated that Coronado and others had planned a raid at Tulane University. These records showed that Coronado, Alex Pacheco (another PETA founder) and others had planned a burglary at Tulane University's Primate Research Center in 1990. ..... The records seized included surveillance logs; code names for Coronado, Pacheco and others; burglary tools; two-way radios; night vision goggles; phony identification for Coronado and Pacheco, and animal euthanasia drugs.
Footnote: Significantly, Newkirk had arranged to have the package delivered to her days before the MSU arson occurred.
In the event, Coronado was sentenced to nearly 4 years in the slammer.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the doings of ELF, its spokesmen openly advocate violence and ELF claims responsibility for a whole host of arsons, including the $12 million dollar fire that destroyed a Vail ski resort and the $20 million fire that destroyed partially-completed condominiums in San Diego, CA. Not surprisingly, the FBI lists ELF and it's sister organization ALF as terrorist organizations.
Now, keep in mind that PeTA is a tax exempt organization. If you'd like that to change, you can sign a petition urging the IRS to revoke PeTA's tax-exempt status here.
UPDATE: For further information on PeTA's terrorist connections, go here.
Brian
