Tuesday, December 21, 2004

THOSE SCARY ENVIROS II. After I posted yesterday's item on Maryland's non-existent eco-terrorists, I received an e-mail from Media Log reader C.M., who pointed me to this mind-blowing story that ran in the Anchorage Daily News on September 12, 2001.

At a moment when all of us were trying to figure out what had just happened, Republican congressman Don Young, of Alaska, had a possible answer. Liz Ruskin reported:

Young warned against rushing to the conclusion that Middle Eastern terrorists were responsible. There's some possibility, he said, that the attacks are linked to the protests against the World Trade Organization, another of which is scheduled for later this month in Washington, D.C.

"If you watched what happened [at past protests] in Genoa, in Italy, and even in Seattle, there's some expertise in that field," Young said. "I'm not sure they're that dedicated but eco-terrorists - which are really based in Seattle - there's a strong possibility that could be one of the groups."

Young issued a written statement the following day, but declined the opportunity to repeat the nutty remarks he'd made to the News.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're not, by chance, negotiating with yourself?

Anonymous said...

I wasn't able to slog through the site for the Anchorage paper (w/o paying) so maybe I'm missing something. Given the fact that the guy was quoted ON 9-11-01, has been the object of derision by people who sincerely want Alaska to go back to the 19th century and represents a place where you can WALK to the former Soviet Union (Bering Straits), what's so nutty? YOU try logging an area where some genius has left the deep--woods equivalent of a land mine and see whether you become a little paranoid as well....

Anonymous said...

Anon 2 is right about the viciousness of militant environmentalists, but the 9/11 attacks were from the outset pretty obviously the handiwork of Arab Muslim terrorists. Sure, a few eco-whackos are probably ready to kill for their cause, but has any of them yet shown a willingness to die for it?

Anonymous said...

And remember, the statements were published on 9-12-01. Hell, who WASN'T paranoid then? (Then again, that may be the point. If that doesn't evoke paranoia in some folks, maybe literally nothing will?)

Anonymous said...

Kennedy, you have a way of making nothing out of nothing.

All the planes landed at Logan last night. Why don't you write a story about that?