Domestic Terrorists: A Comparative Analysis

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The U.S. is struggling to find a way to prevent domestic terrorism. Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and the armed forces are working tirelessly to neutralize domestic terrorist cells and dismantle the influence of international extremist. This is a short summary discussing three domestic terrorist groups, and the similarities and differences between them. The three groups are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Earth Liberation Front (ELF), and the Army of God. The ALF and ELF are similar groups that use the same tactics and procedures to commit their acts. However, they differentiate from each other because one focuses on the environment and the other animal rights. Rohnie Lee who was a member of an activist group called the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) founded the ALF. HSA is opposed to the sport of foxhunting, and took a non-violent approach to their cause. Lee disagreed with this approach and formed the Band of Mercy which took a more militant approach to stop the sport of hunting. After his release from jail in the late 1970s after a failed bombing attempt on the Oxford Laboratory Animal …show more content…

Earth First! In effort to take a non-violent approach to protecting the environment, Earth First! made its mark in the late 1970s. However, during that time, the group had little to no impact on environmental policies, and many of its members decided that the group was not radical enough, despite the leader’s request to continue using non aggressive strategies. This led to the establishment of ELF in the early 1990s. The ELF’s purpose is to carry out the most violent “direct-action” agenda, with a goal similar to ALF to inflict the maximum economic damage to the enterprises they felt were destroying the environment. Some of their acts included breaking into farms, releasing animals, setting fires to buildings, and wrecking offices that provided services to businesses they are

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