In response to today’s bombing and shootings in Norway, Oistein Mjarum, head of communications for the Norwegian Red Cross, told the BBC:
“We have never had a terrorist attack like this in Norway — if that’s what it is — but of course this has been a great fear for all Norwegians when they have seen what has been happening around the world.”
By any definition, this was a terrorist attack; what Mjarum means is that it is unproven whether the attack was indeed carried out by Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami. As the New York Times reports:
A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or the Helpers of the Global Jihad, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at C.N.A., a research institute that studies terrorism. The message said the attack was a response to Norwegian forces’ presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad. “We have warned since the Stockholm raid of more operations,” the group said, according to Mr. McCants’ translation, apparently referred to a bombing in Sweden in December 2010. “What you see is only the beginning, and there is more to come.” The claim could not be confirmed.
I think it's the Presbyterians.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh, geez. I'm so sorry I rushed to judgment.
May Norway steel its spine.
"Once upon a time, long long ago, ..."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSay on, Madisonian.
When one considers these peoples were the intrepid explorers and terror of the seas 1000 years ago, it's tragic to see how far their culture has fallen.
Perhaps they can award themselves the Nobel peace prize for spinelessness under fire.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMay I propose the golden jellyfish award?
Terrorist attacks in Europe just may be the best recruiting tool for the forces that oppose Muslim terror. Let's hope there is a silver lining to be found in this ugly event.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt sure didn't work out that way in Spain after Madrid got hit in '04.
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't expect the too-far-gone Norwegians will manage to grow any more spine than the Spaniards did.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI just read the NYT account and was struck by this paragraph:
"The attacks appeared to be part of a coordinated assault on the ordinarily peaceful Scandinavian nation, as images of the damaged government buildings called to mind past terror attacks in Beirut or Baghdad or Oklahoma City."
Do they really think people thought of Beirut or Baghdad or Oklahoma City before thinking of 9/11? They really do occupy a different universe.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI assumed a "destroy us last!" mentality drives their national interest.
Unfortunately, we have proven a bit more difficult to kill these days, so our middle-eastern friends seek easier prey.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"They really do occupy a different universe."
Sadly, eeros, I don't think so. I think they simply hate Amerikkka. They are upper-middle-class white people who won't ever forgive our country for slavery, and who feel guilty for their white skin and their privileges at birth.
The person who wrote that SPENT TIME conjuring the BEST anti-American examples to use. It didn't just flow.
"How can I turn this against my country?" That was a concrete thought the writer had.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusedarned Lutheran fanatics....
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI thought it might have been one of the Anabaptist sects.
You know how crazy the Amish and Mennonites can be.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusethere are sadly enough capitulators in Norway -- one might say quislings -- who will simply fold up and let the muslim horde overrun them. There will be no stiffening of the Norwegian spine. They lost their spine long ago witht he rest of Europe.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNow, for Norway, the question becomes whether the solution involves emboldened anti-terror efforts or capitulation and recruitment of more firefighting and EMS personnel.
Both methods have precedent.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse$5 says the first thing the Norwegians do is form a commission to study the issue.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's going to get worse, and then it is going to get better.
It's a pretty simple social calculus, really. I don't want death and destruction, and am only forcasting what I believe to be the likely outcome. Those who choose to survive the ever-increasing attacks of Moslem terrorists will eventually grow a spine, and the payback will be more and more severe the longer it takes for that remaining portion of the West to wake up.
A simple thought experiment: Imagine how the themes of popular movies would have evolved differently had one of the 9-11 attacks successfully destroyed an LA or SF landmark, including many innocent West Coast deaths... Because they didn't experience it like New Yorkers did, for Californians, 9-11 went down the memory hole.
This event will harden Norway, and probably Sweden and Denmark, too. European 'right wing' parties don't have to be xenophobic, and fascism is more properly a phenomonon of the Left. Instead, this will lead to an increase in the common-sense Right, who would recapture Norway for Norwegians first. Eventually they, and the rest of the world, will figure out who the real bad guys are. Let them fight over their plots of sand. Begone.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBreak out the axes and longboats, boys!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI know a lot of "respectable" conservatives think Herman Cain is a lunatic, but the sooner the world sees Islam as it is--a political philosophy like Communism or Nazism with a religious component, the better.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't think this was an Islamist attack. I think it was an attack on the Norw. Labor party by a disgruntled member. Why else would the attacker target a specific party event at an out-of-the-way island? How would he even know about this place unless he had prior knowledge of it? Islamists don't attack specific parties. To them, we're all the infidel.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI agree with you, it sounds logical.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy all the Norway bashing? This is a terrible act committed by lunatics. Did Norway ask for this? If they suddenly "got a spine" would these attacks end? How about some compassion.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe know the motivation for this attack, we know why Norway was chosen, and more specifically, why a Labour Youth Camp outing was chosen.
We care so much about Norway, and its freedoms, and the life of its people, that we are multi-tasking here. We are contemplating years and years ahead, and we don't want Norway to shrink from the list of Free Nations.
Sadly, the reason why Sweden and Spain and Norway are chosen in Europe doesn't bode well for their futures.
So, I suppose it reads as pretty heartless commentary, but we are talking and thinking through our compassion in terms of hoping Norway the best for its future and for free people everywhere, including here.
I at least can acknowledge how it may read as lacking compassion as I make zero apologies for it.
Our conjecture on Norway's future is over-loaded for compassion for the glory of the free human spirit and the living capsules in which it is contained.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse