As we combat Islamic terrorism

abroad, we must recognize the deadly threat posed by a homegrown source,

one that since 1997 has been responsible for over 600 attacks and has

inflicted more than $100 million in property damage.

The attacks have become bolder,

fiercer: in August a 206-unit apartment complex near San Diego was firebombed,

resulting in $50 million in damage. And just days ago, also in San Diego,

four upscale homes under construction were torched.

This growing danger is: environmental

terrorism. It is time that we reflect on the scale of the danger we face,

and the ideology behind that menace.

From Alabama to Michigan, from

Pennsylvania to California, underground cells of eco-terrorists have been

waging a campaign of tree-spiking, industrial sabotage, arson and bombing.

Last year the most prominent eco-terrorist group, the Earth Liberation

Front, proudly claimed responsibility for more than 130 attacks.

What is their goal? According

to the ELF, our Westernized way of life "comes at the expense of

... the natural environment." By seeking a safer, longer, happier

life, by seeking more than a bare, primitive subsistence, mankind, they

say, is guilty of crimes against nature. Accordingly, they wish "to

inflict economic damage on those profiting from the destruction and exploitation

of the natural environment," hoping eventually "to speed up

the collapse of industry."

Eco-terrorists have consistently

targeted these "exploiters," from timber companies, to land

developers, to science researchers.

In the most notorious of their

actions, in Vail, Colo., in 1998, the ELF burned down part of a ski resort,

causing $12 million in property damage. The attack was mounted, the group

said, on behalf of the wildlife whose habitat was being "trespassed"

upon.

Last year nine new homes in

Phoenix were firebombed because they were deemed, by eco-terrorists, to

be encroaching on the natural desert. Two years ago, to protest the existence

of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a British animal-research lab, "animal-liberationist"

goons blew up several cars belonging to the firm's employees, and severely

beat the company's managing director with baseball bats.

These militants are alarmingly

brazen. Gloating in a tone redolent of Osama bin Laden's post-Sept. 11

videos, the ELF has published a meticulous, 47-page report of its self-described

illegal activities. The attacks are listed by region, date, tactics used

and damage caused. There are even mock awards for the "most impressive"

attacks and "most vehicles damaged in a single action." To spur

further violence, the group's Web site offers a free illustrated manual

on "Setting Fires With Electrical Timers" (along with advice

on what to do if an FBI agent comes knocking).

Yet, astonishingly, little

has been done to stop the eco-terrorists. Some have been caught and even

brought before grand juries, but few have been punished. In February 2002

the House Resources Subcommittee held a hearing on eco-terrorism, but

nothing came of it: the main witness, an ELF spokesman, refused to answer

most of the questions. Meanwhile, the attacks, both large and small, continued

last year at an average pace of one every four days.

These people are not mere vandals.

They declare that they do not "consider the destruction of property

... to be committing violence" if done for the sake of nature. It

is just a matter of time before they extend their rabid rationalizations

to the killing of human beings.

The eco-terrorists hate the

system of capitalism and industrialization because it leads us, properly,

to regard nature as only a means to satisfy man's wishes. They are driven

their goal of keeping nature untouched. With every dam he constructs,

every house he erects and every shovelful of soil he removes, man is denounced

for "raping the earth" and "murdering the eco-system."

The eco-terrorists want to stop all such activities, by whatever means

necessary.

Our inaction in the face of

Islamic terrorists prior to Sept. 11 helped to embolden them; our inaction

in the face of eco-terrorism is doing the same. We dare not wait for eco-terrorists,

motivated by their own nihilistic ideology, to mount their own Sept. 11.

They must be stopped by the force of government, now.

[Elan Journo is a senior

writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif. The Institute (www.aynrand.org)

promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of "Atlas Shrugged"

and "The Fountainhead."]