Page 150 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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however, found no evidence to support this claim. They
did find two letters, one in English and one in Arabic, EPL. See PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY
on Abu Kamal’s body after the shooting. The English (COLOMBIA).
letter, titled “Charter of Honour,” clearly outlined his
four targets: (1) Americans, Britons, French, and all
Zionists; (2) a group of his students who attacked him
ERP. See PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY ARMY
in 1993; (3) an Egyptian police officer and his brother
in Cairo; and (4) several Ukrainian students in Gaza (EL SALVADOR).
who had beaten his son. The letter also proved that the
attack was premeditated. Abu Kamal wrote, “My rest-
less aspiration is to murder as many of them as possi- ETA. See BASQUE FATHERLAND AND LIBERTY.
ble, and I have decided to strike at their own den in New
York, and at the very Empire State Building in parti-
cular.”Authorities did not find any connections between
Abu Kamal and any pro-Palestinian terrorist groups. EUSKADI TA ASKATASUNA. See
In response to the shooting, New York mayor Rudy BASQUE FATHERLAND AND LIBERTY.
Giuliani railed against Florida’s lax gun laws, citing
New York’s stringent requirements; within days,
Senators Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and
Richard Durbin of Illinois introduced legislation that EVAN MECHAM ECO-TERRORIST
would ban foreign visitors from purchasing and carry- INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY
ing guns. Existing federal law required legal foreign
immigrants to prove 90-day residency to purchase a
weapon (how Abu Kamal circumvented this law In the late 1980s, the Evan Mecham Eco-Terrorist
remains unclear.) On March 5, 1997, President Bill International Conspiracy (EMETIC), an Arizona-based
Clinton asked the Treasury Department to both restrict offshoot of the radical environmentalist group Earth
gun access by foreign visitors and strictly enforce exist- First!, engaged in ecoterror acts against nuclear power
ing residency requirements of federal firearms laws. plants until it was infiltrated and dismantled by the FBI.
EMETIC (named, sarcastically, after the conserva-
See also FREELANCE TERRORISM tive Republican governor of Arizona, Evan Mecham)
first emerged in November 1987, when the ski lifts at
Further Reading the Fairfield Snow Bowl Ski and Summer Resort in
Flagstaff, Arizona, were sabotaged. EMETIC claimed
Department of Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms. “Temporary and Proposed Rules for Residency responsibility and called for a halt to further develop-
Requirements for Persons Acquiring Firearms.” www.atf. ment of the resort, which was located on lands sacred
treas.gov/regulations/tdatd389.htm. to the Navajo and Hopi in the San Francisco Peaks. In
Kleinfield, N. R. “Rampage at the Empire State Building: 1988, members of the group attacked the Snow Bowl
The Suspect/From Teacher to Gunman: U.S. Visit End Resort again. That same year, EMETIC also sabo-
in Fatal Rage.” New York Times, February 25, 1997, A1. taged 29 power lines leading to a uranium mine (also
Purdy, Matthew. “Empire State Gunman Gave No Hint of located on land sacred to Indians) near the Grand
Anger, His Hosts Say.” New York Times, February 27, Canyon, causing a “significant interruption of power”
1997, B1. according to FBI reports.
Purdy, Matthew. “Rampage at the Empire State Building: No arrests were made until May 29, 1989, when
Overview.” New York Times, February 26, 1997, A1.
Violence Policy Center Study. “Where’d They Get Their two EMETIC members, Mark Davis and Marc Baker,
Guns?” www.vpc.org/studies/wgun970223.htm. were apprehended while using a propane torch to cut
down a utility line pole from an electrical substation
in Wenden, Arizona. More than 50 armed FBI agents
EPANASTATIKO LAIKOS AGONAS. wearing bullet-proof vests and night-vision goggles,
See REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE. traveling in helicopters, on horseback and on foot,
participated in the capture. Another EMETIC member,