The ancient Chinese adage, "May you live in interesting times" seems apparent at Toronto Free Press these days.
On a lonely country road, about 30 kilometres outside of the Umbrian City of Perugia, Italy, 68-year-old Greenpeace International guru David Fraser McTaggart was involved in the head-on crash, which took his life. The driver of the other car also died and his female passenger was injured. At press time it was not known if the crash was under police investigation.
At about the same time that McTaggart was killed, Brian Thompson was taking a photograph of a bottle of olive oil, produced by McTaggart's olive farm. TFP, which has been publishing True Green Report for the last two years, has long had serious doubts about the altruism of Greenpeace where the environment is concerned. Admittedly, we believe that after his resignation and even in his honourary chairman status that the controversial McTaggart was running the whole show from his Italian olive farm. We wanted to run pictures of the farm over a caption to Greenpeace contributors, "If you contributed to Greenpeace in the past number of years this is where at least some of your money has gone."
We do not buy into the mainline media's romantic image of Greenpeace, which was founded by a ragtag group of Canadian hippies who went on to become kind of grumpy old men with impressive bank accounts. Indeed, we have been suspicious of the world's largest environmental organization in the world after reading in a 1991 Forbes Magazine article that "German publications carried revelations of millions of marks of donations being funneled into Greenpeace savings accounts rather than used to fight pollution." So strong is our belief that Greenpeace long ago abandoned its save-the-environment mission for marketing, money and left-wing politics, we devised our own bumper stickers, which read, "Save the Environment from Greenpeace."
Yet, the untimely death of David Fraser McTaggart brought new insight on ex-Greenpeacers and the newspaper industry.
Within a week of the car crash, and after his obit, nothing was being written about the late Mr. McTaggart. One week later and on the very Friday this column was being written, no one yet knew for certain the place or appointed hour of his funeral.
For two days running, Jonathan Gatehouse had stories published in the National Post relating to the ongoing feud between founding Greenpeace members Patrick Moore and Paul Watson.
A bit of a rounder with a barbed tongue, Watson was under attack by former Greenpeace colleagues for calling McTaggart "the Mule" and a "Machiavellian con man who found the ultimate con and rode it to glory and riches."
Shortly after leaving a message at his Washington-based Sea Shepherd Society office, I was pleased when the firebrand eco-crusader himself called me from his cellular. Headlines and hype notwithstanding, Watson said much worse about McTaggart while he was still alive. "The secret to David McTaggart's success is the secret to Greenpeace's success. It doesn't matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true-You are what the media define you to be. (Greenpeace) became a myth, and a myth-generating machine," he told Forbes Magazine in 1991.
Although much had been made of his threat to urinate on McTaggart's grave, his first threat dates back to 1982 and not, as the Post would have it, within days of the fatal car crash.
"Back in '82, David threatened me at an International Whaling Commission meeting in London, 'Remember, I could get rid of you with the flick of a finger.' I retorted back 'I may live to piss on your grave,'" Watson recalled.
McTaggart, who referred to Watson as "the terrorist," once had him escorted off the Rainbow Warrior at gunpoint by two Brazilian soldier bodyguard types, even though Watson claimed to have been invited aboard by the Dhali Llama.
Watson says he never had the privilege of speaking to the Post reporter. "Someone gave him my emails, which were written in code and broke down the code for him."
Surprisingly there was a certain rapport between the whaling activist of Sea Shepherd fame and myself.
Knowing it was not a daily like the National Post or New York Times on the other end of the telephone line, he treated me with patience and respect.
Watson, who has an upcoming $75-million movie based on his efforts to halt international whaling during the 1970s and '80s is the antithesis of the likes of Greenpeace Canada Executive director Peter Tabuns. A straightshooter, he doesn't hold a high opinion of politicians, left wing or otherwise.
During lengthy conversations, Watson was anything but the arrogant hero of a mega-million Hollywood movie.
It was the strange life and death of David McTaggart I wanted to hear all about.
Greenpeace advertises for sweet little old ladies not to forget Greenpeace in their wills. Did McTaggart will his farm and his sailboat Vega to the environmental pressure group?
With the recent Walkerton tragedy, why is Greenpeace lobbying for a worldwide ban on the industrial use of chlorine?
How much money collected for the environment actually goes into Greenpeace member's bank accounts?
Why were Greenpeace's Daryl Luscombe and Toronto City Councillor Jack Layton given seats on the environment committee for the Toronto Olympic bid?
Given their green politicking, will they be blamed if Toronto loses Olympic bid come July 13?
In the aftermath of David McTaggart's death, no media seems interested in probing how many millions from public donations are being funneled into Greenpeace saving accounts rather than used to fight pollution.
The truth about Greenpeace may be buried with its former founder.
Surely TFP cannot be in a minority of one in waiting for the truth about the world's largest environmental organization.
Meanwhile, I wish Paul Watson happy sailing and enterprising reporters everywhere in search of the truth, happy hunting.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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