The ever-liberal Seattle Times lionizes environmental terrorists.
Arson suspects linked to previous activism
By Hal Bernton and Craig Welch
Back in 1999, Jonathan Paul and Joseph Dibee fought to save gray whales from the harpoons of Makah Indian hunters. They launched a protest vessel off the Olympic Peninsula and buzzed about the coastal waters in an effort to disrupt the tribal hunt.
In the years that followed, the two men went separate ways. Paul returned to Oregon, where he heads a wildland firefighting company. Dibee stayed in the Seattle area, where until recently he worked as a software engineer for Microsoft.
Now, the two men are linked once again. The pair are among 11 named in a federal criminal indictment alleging a conspiracy to commit arson and vandalism attacks on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front.
Paul and Dibee rank among the best-known Northwest activists caught up in the wide-ranging federal investigation. In addition to their efforts to block Makah whalers, they also were involved in other high-profile protests in the region.
Paul, 39, was arrested in Medford, Ore., on Jan. 17. He posted a $700,000 security bond at a Eugene hearing attended by supporters, including his sister, activist and actress Alexandra Paul, who appeared in the television series "Baywatch."
Federal investigators are still searching for Dibee, 38. He is believed by federal investigators to have fled the country in December to avoid arrest.
The ELF and ALF movement has been active for years, picking targets deemed to be a threat to the environment or to wildlife.
Federal officials, in a case that relies heavily on informants, allege that Paul and Dibee were part of a cell that committed 17 acts of arson and vandalism between 1996 and 2001. The targets ranged from a Vail, Colo., ski resort to the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle.
The indictment alleges that both Dibee and Paul joined in a July 21, 1997, arson at the Cavel West slaughterhouse in Redmond, Ore., which processes horses that once were wild. They allegedly dressed in dark clothing, masks and gloves and placed time-delayed incendiary devices in the building. Then, according to the indictment, they returned to a staging area, where they stripped off their clothes, poured acid on them and buried them in a hole.
That is the only arson that Paul is accused of carrying out. Dibee allegedly was involved in two other arsons, including a 1998 fire at the National Wildlife Research Facility in Olympia that caused $1.2 million in damage.
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Facing years in prison
Both Dibee and Paul face the prospect of years — if not decades — in prison if convicted of all the arson and conspiracy charges. That prospect has stunned friends and family, who bridle at Justice Department efforts to tag the men as domestic terrorists.
"He's not a terrorist. I tend to reserve that term for people who kill people," said Dibee's sister, who asked not to be identified by name to protect her privacy. "He is loved and respected by his family as well as peers."
Dibee, who lived for years in the Seattle area, is described by friends as an eccentric, brilliant innovator. He designed his own backpacks and loves to hike, kayak, fly airplanes and scuba dive. A vegan — he abstains from eating meat and dairy products — he also has a passion for animals of every shape and form. When he was a boy, otherwise skittish chipmunks would perch on his knee or nibble from his hand, according to his sister.
At Microsoft, Dibee worked on a security team for Internet Explorer, and he had a special interest in cryptography, according to a transcript of an August 2004 Microsoft online chat that Dibee helped host. He was a dedicated worker, sometimes spending more than 100 hours a week on the job, according to his sister.
Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos confirmed Dibee's employment with the company. But, citing the ongoing federal investigation, he declined to disclose how long Dibee had worked at Microsoft or the date of his departure.
Outside of work, Dibee had a long history of activism. In a 1997 protest against factory trawlers heading out of Seattle for Alaska, he became nearly hypothermic after spending 50 hours tucked in a section of the Aurora Bridge to safeguard the climbing ropes used by other activists.
"In all my dealings with Joe, I've known him to be one of the most principled people I've ever met," said John Sellers, executive director of the Ruckus Society in California, which trains left-wing activists and coordinates acts of civil disobedience, such as those that took place during 1999's World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle. Sellers worked with Dibee in the Aurora Bridge action.
Involved for years
Paul also has been involved for years in activist causes. He was raised in Connecticut, and says a defining moment in his life came when as a 15-year-old, he used a rock to dispatch a chickadee wounded by a friend. In a 1999 interview with The Seattle Times, Paul said that experience convinced him it was wrong to kill anything.
In the Northwest, Paul has been active both in protecting old-growth forest and animal rights. In 1992, federal officials sought to question Paul about his knowledge of the Animal Liberation Movement. He spent 160 days in jail in Spokane for refusing to testify about a suspect believed to have vandalized a Washington State University laboratory.
Friends say Paul has committed nonviolent acts of civil disobedience that are out in the open for all to see.
"I've known Jonathan for years, and I see no indication that he would ever go about things in a covert way," said Paul Watson, a longtime anti-whaling activist who lives in Friday Harbor.
Contrasting styles
Paul and Dibee launched their 1999 Makah whaling protests in very public fashion, rallying under the banner of Sea Defense Alliance and promoting their cause to the press. They sought to steer their protest boats between the Makah hunters and the grays. But two Sea Defense vessels were seized by the Coast Guard, and a few days later — on May 17, 1999 — the Makah were able to take a small gray whale, their first in more than 70 years.
As a team, Dibee and Paul had sharply contrasting styles.
Dibee is often self-effacing. Paul could be brash, loud and eager to grab the limelight. After the hunt, the two men had a falling-out and fought over control of the Sea Alliance's flagship protest vessel, The Bulletproof, according to civil-court documents and friends.
The clash with Paul appeared to disillusion Dibee, and he appeared to pull back from much of the activist movement, said Tim Hermach, a longtime friend of Dibee's.
Dibee was upset that personal differences could get in the way of saving the planet and was dismayed by turf battles and groups that "lacked a clarity of purpose," Hermach said.
If federal officials apprehend Dibee, he will be reunited with Paul in a federal courtroom in a joint trial of all 11 people named in the indictment.
The trial is scheduled to start Oct. 31 and is expected to last at least five weeks. |
