FBI'S ATTEMPED MURDER OF JUDI BARI

THE FBI's Attempted Murder Of Activist Judi Bari

Judi Bari, an ecological activist and a key organizer in the California chapter of Earth First!, was a bane to the logging community for years. Judi's goal was to save the California Redwood Forest. The loggers goal was to destroy it.

For her activism, Judi was targeted by the FBI for their COINTELPRO counter-intelligence program - a systematic form of harassment based on terrorism, in which Judi and Earth First! would be discredited in any ways possible by the FBI. This was done to neutralize Judi and her group.

The FBI used death threats and spread phony literature in an effort to portray Judi and Earth First! as domestic terrorists. They even went as far as having an aquaintence of hers show up with a machine gun and talking Judi into posing with it so that the FBI could later use the photos to claim that Judi was a terrorist.

This was just one of many lies hatched by the FBI and the special agent in charge at the time, Richard W. Held. Held by all accounts is a malicious bastard, and has destroyed the lives of many good people targeted by the FBI over the years, including certain Black Panther Party members, American Indian Movement Activist Leonard Peltier, and the late actress Jean Seberg.

What's clear in Judi's' case, but what no one will actually come out and say, is that the FBI orchestrated the bombing of Judi's car, when their COINTELPRO tactics to neutralize her failed. The FBI bombed Judi's car? Yes. Doesn't that make them domestic terrorists? It sure as hell does! The details of the FBI's attacks on Judi can be found below.

Back in 1990, Earth First! activist Judi Bari was critically injured when a bomb planted in the car in which she was driving, exploded, "shattering her pelvis and crushing her backbone." She and her partner, Daryl Cherney (who was also seriously injured in the blast) sued the FBI and Oakland Police Department claiming that they conspired to implicate Judi and Darryl of blowing themselves up.

However, In 2002, evidence proved otherwise, as a federal court awarded Darryl and Judi (posthumously as she died of breast cancer in 1997) 4.4 million dollars in damages. Judi, however, would not be denied her say in regard to the FBI's framing of her, as she wrote about the bombing, as well as the FBI smear campaign against her, in a book entitled "Timber Wars."

She also mentioned by name, the FBI agent whom she blamed for engineering the smear campaign against her, Richard W. Held. Held was also heavily involved in the FBI's counter intelligence program, COINTELPRO, a program designed to infiltrate and destroy any public organizations that held beliefs different from those approved by the United States Government.

Held's punishment for this? He retired from the FBI and went on to become head of security for Visa International. Evidently, if you work for the FBI crime can pay well -- and in Held's case it paid quite well.

There are many Websites on Judi Bari's battles with the FBI. The following one is as good a place as any to begin. You can also use Google to research Judi and the wonderful legacy of activism that she leaves behind.

The FBI's COINTELPRO Attacks On Activist Judi Bari
http://www.totse.com/en/politics/federal_bureau_of_investigation/162841.html