A clarification for the previous post. The EIA is a private organization, not a government agency, and I didn’t make that entirely clear. Nevertheless, it was federal law enforcement officers who raided Gibson’s plants. It should not be the business of our government to act as hit men or shills for zealots. Neither is it the DOJ’s function to enforce foreign nations’ laws based on the these fanatics’ interpretation of those laws, especially in the face of contrary opinions issued by those nations’ officials. The EIA’s director of forest programs Andrea Johnson also says she mis-spoke when she said that Gibson “was on the ground in Madagascar getting a tour to understand whether they could possibly source illegally from that country.” “I used ‘illegally’ when I meant ‘legally’ in talking about the trip to Madagascar,” she says. Big difference.Â
Stay tuned for more horror stories.