Let’s Not Rule Anything In Or Out On Norway

At press time, authorities are claiming that the attacks in Norway were the work of a lone madman with no connections to any terrorist organization. We are skeptical of this assertion for a few reasons.

First of all, this conclusion seems to have been reached just hours after the incident. Reports in the immediate aftermath of such incidents are notoriously unreliable. We can’t help but wonder if Norwegian authorities didn’t jump the gun in proclaiming this attack the work of a lone madman.

In fact, there are some reports already of a second accomplice for at least the shooting portion of the attack. At this point it is way too early to know if these reports are reliable or accurate:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/23/witnesses-suggest-second-shooter-involved-in-norway-youth-camp-rampage/

We also cannot help but think that it would be quite a task for a lone attacker to carry out such an attack.

Think about it; the perp is described as a “madman” with a “minor” criminal record. He reportedly spent 1 year in the military when he was 18 years old. He is now 32.

He put together a powerful car bomb (and we have seen how challenging that is from Times Square and London), and reportedly planted another bomb in a nearby building and timed it to go off when the first responders were on scene dealing with the first device. This takes a high degree of expertise and coordination, with preparation, planning and logistics. Only a highly skilled demolition man could pull this off by himself. But that is of course not all. He then drove 40 miles, got in a boat, talked his way into a camp in a police uniform disguise and killed 87 people with small arms. Somehow, at some point, whether earlier or during this evolution, he also reportedly planted a third bomb but that one was discovered either before it detonated or after it failed to detonate.

This would make James Bond green with envy.

It is also worth mentioning that the skills generally associated with a terrorist bombmaker are generally different from those of a shooter. This one guy was a one man army. Or so we were told less than 8 hours after action.

Not impossible, but it doesn’t seem likely in our view.

Then there is the whole issue of motivation. It is now generally assumed that this was not a Jihadi attack and this may very well be accurate. However, those who pointed to a possible Jihadi motivation behind the attack had valid reasons to point this out.

Why would Jihadist terrorists target Norway?

1. Norwegian authorities indicted an Imam named Mullah Krekar — the
founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam–recently as
being involved in “extremism” and he responded with threats last week.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJ1T3qbtKpMPUw67TD7X5rTlwpWQ?docId=bac0246297764fc99cb097f616838f39

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1247400.ece

In fact, Norway has been the subject of terror threats for nearly a
half dozen years now:

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/01/mujahideen_army_calls_upon_fig.php

Al Qaeda has fingered Norway for attack:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/07/alqaedas-problem-with-norway/242352/

2. Norway is one of those European nations that thought it could solve
its economic problems by importing (through immigration) cheap labor
from Third World countries to sustain the welfare state. What they got
instead was Islamists who don’t have any interest in assimilating into
the host nation culture. Muslim enclaves have cropped up in major
Norwegian cities and there has been a great deal of tension as a
result of actions by some members of the immigrant Islamic community:

http://www.newsinenglish.no/2009/01/13/outcry-over-oslos-ownmuslim-morality-police/

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145161

3. Norway is a member of NATO and has played a limited role in support
of Operation Enduring Freedom. Now that NATO is starting to leave the
battlefield in Afghanistan, it is very important to the Jihadis that
they be seen as forcing the crusaders out, rather than it being NATO
leaving on its own initiative. When Norwegian forces withdraw from
Enduring Freedom, you can be sure that the Jihadis will claim credit.

At this point we should not rule out possible Jihadist involvement just because of the one shooter in custody. We will see what happens in the days and weeks ahead.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Interested in more national news? We've got you covered! See More National News
Previous Article
Next Article

Trending on The Hayride