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"Jens Stoltenberg på Utøya" (Picture of the Youth at Utøya -2010) by Arneiderpartiet (Labor Party) on flickr
Watching the international media on the web and TV change gears Friday, as information started to fasten to the fact that the worst terrorist act in Scandinavia since the 3rd Reich was perpetrated by a right-wing Christian zealot, was fascinating. This, rather than what people like Pam Geller, Daniel Pipes, Dennis Prager, David Horowitz, CNN, Fox News and many others were touting for hours as most likely an act of Muslim Jihad in a country that is way, way too liberal.
I was keyed into paying attention to how this meme might have to morph fairly early in the afternoon, by an item carried by Michael Rivero at What Really Happened, about the major event at the youth camp the day before the massacre:
During the second day of Labour Youth League summer camp at Utøya got the Labour Party’s young hopefuls visit by Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
Together with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Sidsel Wold and Norwegian People’s Aid Kirsten Belck-Olsen, discussed the Foreign Minister of the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
As foreign minister arrived Utøya he was met with a demand from the AUF that Norway must recognize a Palestinian state.
- The Palestinians must have their own state, the occupation must end, the wall must be demolished and it must happen now, said the Foreign Minister to cheers from the audience. [automatically translated from Norwegian by Google translate]
That was an event held Thursday at the summer camp for the children of Norwegian liberals.
As the story developed Friday, almost every news outlet was quick to provide experts on Muslim terrorism and how that might have a growing negative impact on Norway and Europe. On Anderson Cooper, Friday afternoon, as he had his experts on Jihadism on camera, he was being told by another person – a CNN reporter – that the shooter, possibly the bomber, was a blond Norwegian. Cooper seemed to be taken aback, turning back to his Jihad experts, who were dismissive of the new information.
The bombing-shootings took up enormous bandwidth in our media machine until it came out that the alleged perpetrator has more in common with Sarah Palin and Alan Dershowitz than with Rachel Corrie or Furkan Doğan, both of whom have been labelled terrorists by Dershowitz.
As the end-of-the-week-in-midsummer stupor overtakes the media on a hot Friday evening in the USA, will they get around to trying to find out what set Anders Behring off?
The bombing had to be pre-planned, probably for some time. Was the pro-Palestinian event Thursday at the camp where over 70 were killed published on the web, facebook, twitter or somewhere else? Most likely. That may be what pushed this guy’s last button.
And just who created the group that fictitiously took credit for the massacres early Friday?
The ‘Helpers of Global Jihad’ group, of which al-Nasser is a member, made the claims in an email circular issued to various sources. The group does not appear to have any past history.
It is thought that the bombings are a belated response to Norwegian newspapers and magazines republishing cartoons of Mohammed originally published by Jyllands-Posten of Denmark.
I’m not about to go all conspiracy theory on this story. I am bothered, though, that the media was extremely rapid to ramp up the radical Islam run amok meme, yet so unready to deal with what is increasingly appearing to be possible – that the Christian gunman was impelled to kill liberals he may have felt were too sympathetic to Palestinians.
Update – Saturday, 12:30 p.m. PDT:
This diary questions what pushed Breivik over the edge. Phoenix Woman’s diary this morning, He’s Not a Terrorist – He’s a Freedom Fighter! touches upon some of the more pathetic errors in the media on Friday, as accurate information on the shooter-bomber became available. David Dayen’s front page fdl diary, takes this subject further - Norway Terror Reveals Disturbing Assumptions About Muslims.
Glenn Greenwald devoted his Saturday column to yesterday’s pathetic media coverage. His second update links to an Electronic Intifada article that shows how the false meme developed soon after the bomb went off in downtown Oslo. Essentially, it appears one dubious “expert” pushed the global media “over the edge”:
The source is Will McCants, adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University. On his website he describes himself as formerly “Senior Adviser for Countering Violent Extremism at the U.S. Department of State, program manager of the Minerva Initiative at the Department of Defense, and fellow at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center.” This morning, he posted “Alleged Claim for Oslo Attacks” on his blog Jihadica:
This was posted by Abu Sulayman al-Nasir to the Arabic jihadi forum, Shmukh, around 10:30am EST (thread 118187). Shmukh is the main forum for Arabic-speaking jihadis who support al-Qaeda. Since the thread is now inaccessible (either locked or taken down), I am posting it here. I don’t have time at the moment to translate the whole thing but I translated the most important bits on twitter.
The Shmukh web site is not accessible to just anyone, so he is the primary source for this claim. McCants stated from the beginning that the claim had been removed or hidden, and on Twitter he even cast doubt on whether it was a claim of responsibility at all.
snip - EI posted screenshots of several tweets by McCants, then this:
McCants later reported that the claim of responsibility was retracted by the author “Abu Sulayman al-Nasir.” Furthermore, according to McCants, the moderator of this forum declared that speculation about the attack would be prohibited because the contents of the forum were appearing in mainstream media. It does seem more than a little bit odd that genuine “jihadis” would post on a closed forum that a former US official and “counterterrorism expert” openly writes about infiltrating.
EI is highly critical about how easily McCants’ dubious information was spread:
The media also failed. They reported on the claims McCants disseminated because his position and perceived expertise gave these claims credibility. Would The New York Times have required multiple sources and independent confirmation of the existence of the posting and its contents if it had not come from someone with McCants’ supposedly solid credentials?
For hours after McCants posted the update that the claim of responsibility was retracted, BBC, the New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post were still promoting information originally sourced from him. The news was carried around the world and became the main story line in much of the initial coverage.
The threshold for a terrorism expert must be very low. This whole rush to disseminate a false, unverifiable and flimsily sourced claim strikes me as a case of an elite fanboy wanting to be the first to pass on leaked gadget specs.
Update – 4:30 pm PDT: Here is what is being purported as his farewell video, posted before the downtown bomb went off:
Note: This diary originally named “self-styled terror expert” Steven Emerson as having been a person who falsely asserted on Friday that the Oslo events were linked or possibly linked to jihadists. He claims to have not discussed Oslo on Friday. My apology.
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I’ve been looking at that part of the world more often in the last few years and have noticed a bunch of people thereabouts have been spouting some extremely eliminationist stuff, so the “it’s got to be a jihadist” doesn’t surprise me.
There’s been serious anti-immigrant rhetoric building steadily over the years. You’d think those countries would know better.
So, my first thought on this guy isn’t that he felt the liberals didn’t love Israel enough, but that he hated brown people and *really* wanted others to hate them too, and see the “dangers” they held – like jihad.
‘Course, he could be a right winger more off his rocker than the usual, like the guy that murdered a bunch of people here in Tucson not long ago.
It *really* doesn’t surprise me the MSM here was ready to blame a brown person. They are probably *still* looking for a way to blame Muslims.
Yep, the number of cretins who crawled out of their think tanks (propaganda mills) to declare it was the work of international jihadists didn’t surprise me in the least. The fact that Norway is currently governed by a left-leaning three Party coalition made me think it was most likely a local right wingnut that was not exactly happy with his left-leaning government and from what I’ve read that seems to be the case. Even after that was determined, they, the stinker thinkers, went on about how he could not have “acted alone” and was being directed by “outside forces.” Yes, double down on your stupid propaganda while you’re at it why don’t ya.
Perhaps the person to commit himself or herself most fully to the meme that Oslo had to be the work of a Jihadist or Jihadists was the Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin. Her long WaPo Right Turn blog entry from early Friday remains non-updated. The same Jennifer Rubin who was so quick back in January to jump on people for jumping to conclusions on the motivation of the Tucson shooter. Here’s the core of her rant:
whew – hard to beat that. Being that wrong at the WaPo these days usually gets one a promotion, though.
I’m trying to find out overnight whether Michael Lee’s assertion is correct. A group of Norwegian students are intending to present the Gaza Monologues at the UN this fall. I thought the group was from Trondheim, and not connected to this camp.
Here’s a link to the article Lee cites in his tweet.
What Really Happened published this picture, taken at the camp Thursday, early Friday, with a caption “The Foreign Minister was met with claims that Norway must recognize a Palestinian state when he visited the Labour Youth League summer camp Thursday.”
note – some of the kids in the picture may be among those killed.
I was weird. I was on twitter for a half hour or so and people were demanding that arabs or muslims denounce the terrorist act.
it didn’t make sense to me that the kurds which are fighting extradition to Iraq would do something like this or that I’m a statement would be made so soon after the attacks.
I posted this in ddays thread, it’s machine translated.
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.7723269
Sounds like a neocon that isn’t going to let a good crisis go to waste. He’s all for ‘Humanitarian’ interventions, and global governance. I checked him out.
Later on, after it was discovered the shooter wasn’t a muslim, i saw this…
I’d like to know their definition of terrorism.
This site/page has some good background.
only one tweet from the killers twitter profile:
————————————————-
@AndersBBreivik Anders B. Breivik
One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests.
————————————————-
This is a misquote from John Stuart Mill
“One person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests. ”
Member of a frimurerloge. (christian freemason) of the John lodge St. Olaus TD Three pillars.
Right-wing extreme nationalist. He has a glock and an AK47 registered to himself, maybe another rifle too.
Says he’s a diligent debater on several Islam-critical websites, among them Document.no, where he has several posts expressing nationalistic attitudes and is critical of a multicultural society, doesn’t think they can live together.
He had a debate on Minerva, where he comments on a post by the Conservative deputy leader Torbjorn Røe Isaksen on culture, marxism, religion
http://www.minervanett.no/2010/01/27/det-imperfektes-politikk/
Looks like to me he thought liberals were the enemy within for inviting in the muslims and corrupting his culture.
The are the Labour Youth League, political group.
Labour Youth League summer camp at Utøya has strong roots. The island was donated to youth party already in 1950, and the powerful Labor Party ministers are visiting the island every summer to meet the youth.
Jennifer Rubin is such a loathsome bigot. Everyone is AQ to her.
They are a Kurdish Wahhabism sect, and probably fought in Afghanistan and OBL was there so,… you know.. Al Qaeda. There is no known ongoing ties. And she included the gratuitous Obama bashing, because Afghanistan relates to Iraq/Kurdistan because they’re all brown and jihadist like, and leaving anywhere is bad, because forever war against “snakes” is a good thing.
They pick on Christians and another syncretic religious sect known as Ahl al-Haq or Kaka’is, “whose beliefs combine Zoroastrianism and Shi’ism”. They try to force them to convert but it doesn’t look like they attack outside their homeland.
As far as I’ve learned.
http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/mena/ansarbk020503.htm
I’m waiting for WI Gov. Scott Walker to make Anders Behring Breivik an honorary Wisconsin Republican.
Pam Geller is still as hateful as ever. That place is like a petri dish. Even when they found out he was a Norwegian they decided he was a convert and they continued with the vomit party.
The headlines are full of stories about this guy and the right wingers in the US Congress breaking off and going home while agencies shut down and we move closer to default. The conclusion is unavoidable: The worldwide right wing is throwing a temper tantrum.
It’s revealing to watch the coverage of this sad incident, both in the MSM and in commentary.
As I’ve been trying to explain to some here at firedoglake, our own prior prejudices determine how we see, filter, and projectively interpret the world.
I was trying to point out the constant demonization by many here at FDL of any and all to the right, and in particular the Tea Party. One might say that for many here the GOP and Tea Party are their own political Muslims. They’re the daily target of projective ridicule and anger, blamed for each writer’s own unseen and unaccepted internal nature.
This observation hasn’t met with the most open-minded of receptions.
Perhaps how this operates will be easier for people to see when they can watch the right wing and the MSM do it in this unfortunate case.
Better pay attention quickly and save pages as you view them, however – most of the major examples of glaring prejudice and hatred are being scrubbed as reality starts to expose the proponents:
and
and
And from the “When we say ‘terrorists’ we really mean ‘Muslims’” department
even so, MSNBC in the very same story goes on to prominently report:
Note how all of these reveal how the writers use their own prior beliefs to filter and interpret the world, and use the targets of their prejudice as screens upon which to project their own character.
We would do well to remember all this the next time we read or write here about the GOP and Tea Party “nuts” (and worse).
Steve Emerson was among the first prominent “terrorism experts” to proffer a jihadist connection to the Oklahoma City bombing before the McVey connection became clear. In this nation, being spectacularly wrong EARNS you credibility…so long as the error follows favored narratives.
Shocking and Outrageous this many people killed by a powerful heartless bombing and shooting. Lot of dead white people is heart rendering.Less than a 100 is nothing compared to how many we blow away.
More or less we ,as a nation, do this daily in multiple countries.
It’s “our” foreign policy to bomb, rocket or shoot to death untold millions and then have a picnic. Brown people don’t render our heart so much and that is the ultimate crime against humanity.
Our military consumes vast amounts of bullets, bombs and cruise missiles, packages of hate we pay for, that have only death of little people as a purpose to change the 1%ers that rule that society.
The general thrust of this post is right, of course. There is an industry out there of so-called terrorism experts making a living out of pontificating about jihadism, not to mention the billion dollar “security” industry they are the PR wing of. But a couple of things: this was not a lone “Christian” wacko, but someone who was part of the white supremacist fascist movement in Europe. He wrote about the fascist English Defence League and advocated that it be emulated in Norway. Palin has proto-fascist tendencies, as does the Tea Party movement in general, but there are important ideological differences between them and explicit fascists. So let’s be a little more rigorous about that so our antennae about things fascist in the U.S. are better tuned in. Also, social democrats are not liberals, though they may have some overlaps. E.g., the difference between European universal healthcare and the joke that is recently passed healthcare “reform.” These were kids of social democrats, not liberals. But good for ET calling out the terror pundits.
A couple of links:
http://leninology.blogspot.com/2011/07/that-viking-jihad-again.html
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=25501
Whenever I see Jennifer Rubin’s name in the WaPo I’ve learned to skip the article. I’m not surprised that she immediately went into her pre-programmed attack mode.
The disturbing and tragic attacks in Norway will probably be pushed to the inside page if the rightwing credentials of the suspect are confirmed. If he is a rightwinger he will not be in the Muslim terrorist model that our fawning corporate media hypes.
I have only a terse oneliner from late local news on this terrible double event to contribute, as all I heard during the day yesterday were fragments linking the two that in no way gave the sense of the huge number killed – huge for a small country like Norway; this will have been shattering for them.
I would suggest that there must have been some sort of co-ordinating factor, strongly suggesting that groupthink is involved, and that like the anthrax attacks in the US, someone did want people to think ‘jihad’ in a sick mixed message way.
I hope and trust that it will be handled in a sensible manner as happened with the Oklahoma tragedy, not as we stupidly went wild elephant in musk after 9/11.
My prayers are with the Norwegian people.
Interesting that you begin and end with admonitions to FDL writers/commenters re the GOP/Tea Party then use examples of corporate media jumping to conclusions re a massacre to make your point.
Indeed.
It is, isn’t it? A naked attempt to muzzle.
During the second day of Labour Youth League summer camp at Utøya got the Labour Party’s young hopefuls visit by Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
ET the Foreign Minister visited this camp? This was not some political hippies running a summer camp the Foreign Minister’s job would be what the State Dept does in America imagine how politically connected these kids must be to get Norway’s Hilary equivalent to show for a talk.
This was a Right Wing attack on Norway’s political ruling elite. This was aimed at killing the next generation of that ruling elite. It would be interesting to see the news or internet Anders listened to/read and see if any local hate mongers were pushing against Norway’s ruling elite, their kids advocating a mass killing or just violence.
How will Norway’s elite respond problems in America we complain don’t get solved until it effects our elite well our Republican elite I don’t think Norway can ignore this.
Given Norway’s oil wealth and wise investments Norway has a National fund that invests often green and socially conscious, the Right in Norway has not much reason compared to America to be mad but maybe discontent is relative and insane is a constant in these attacks if insane is not a constant hate media/internet is the factor to watch for.
Next question the amount of Right Wing News or Internet hate speech that is allowed in Norway get that variable and if or how insane this guy is we might have an idea between Anders and Jared Loughner about how much hate media is needed to push a nut and or sane person into doing violence.
Together with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Sidsel Wold and Norwegian People’s Aid Kirsten Belck-Olsen, discussed the Foreign Minister of the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
As foreign minister arrived Utøya he was met with a demand from the AUF that Norway must recognize a Palestinian state.
- The Palestinians must have their own state, the occupation must end, the wall must be demolished and it must happen now, said the Foreign Minister to cheers from the audience. [automatically translated from Norwegian by Google translate]
That was an event held Thursday at the summer camp for the children of Norwegian liberals.
Uh can anyone give another theory as to a trigger for this attack ET Norway’s politics is not something I feel qualified to even google Chicago politics are confusing enough and I know most of the players, how they operate etc I don’t know where to go for news I can trust in English much less who is spinning the news and why.
Still these guys have triggers if he hates Muslims supporting Palestine might be his trigger.
If he hates Muslims and likes Israel as many of the Right in America do Then Israel is in some trouble.
If Anders listens to Voice of America and Hilary arguing that Palestine should not be an independent state…America and Israel are in some trouble.
From CNN:
“Official sources and social media indicate that Breivik might be a right-wing Christian fundamentalist who may have had an issue with Norway’s multi-cultural society.”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/23/norway.explosion/index.html?iref=BN1&hpt=hp_t1
Emphasis mine.
And just who created the group that fictitiously took credit for the massacres early Friday?
ET I must disagree its time to go conspiracy theory on this this smells like a Right Wing plant.
“The 33-year-old”
A Swedish extremist, Victor Gunnarsson (labeled in the media 33-åringen, “the 33-year-old”), was soon arrested for the murder but quickly released, after a dispute between the police and prosecuting attorneys. Gunnarsson had connections to various extremist groups, among these the European Workers Party, the Swedish branch of the LaRouche Movement.[12] Pamphlets hostile to Palme from the party were found in his home outside Stockholm.
Gunnarsson later moved to the United States of America, where he was murdered. Acquaintances stated he had admitted murdering Palme.[13]
On 21 February 1986 — a week before he was murdered — Palme made the keynote address to the Swedish People’s Parliament Against Apartheid held in Stockholm, attended by hundreds of anti-apartheid sympathizers as well as leaders and officials from the ANC and the Anti-Apartheid Movement such as Oliver Tambo. In the address, Palme said, “Apartheid cannot be reformed, it has to be eliminated.”
Ten years later, towards the end of September 1996, Colonel Eugene de Kock, a former South African police officer, gave evidence to the Supreme Court in Pretoria, alleging that Palme had been shot and killed in 1986 because he “strongly opposed the apartheid regime and Sweden made substantial contributions to the ANC”.[16][17] De Kock went on to claim he knew the person responsible for Palme’s murder. He alleged it was Craig Williamson, a former police colleague and a South African superspy. A few days later, Brigadier Johannes Coetzee, who used to be Williamson’s boss, identified Anthony White, a former Rhodesian Selous Scout with links to the South African security services, as Palme’s actual murderer.[citation needed] Then a third person, Swedish mercenary Bertil Wedin, living in Northern Cyprus since 1985, was named as the killer by Peter Caselton, a member of Coetzee’s assassination squad known as Operation Longreach.[citation needed] The following month, in October 1996, Swedish police investigators visited South Africa, but were unable to uncover evidence to substantiate de Kock’s claims.
Roberto Thieme
The Swedish journalist Anders Leopold, in his 2008 book Det svenska trädet skall fällas (“The Swedish Tree Shall Be Brought Down”), makes the case that the Chilean fascist Roberto Thieme killed Olof Palme. Thieme was head of the most militant wing of Patria y Libertad, a far-right political organization, financed by the U.S. CIA. According to Leopold, Palme was killed because he had freely given asylum to so many leftist Chileans following the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973.[20
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Olof_Palme#Murder_theories
The Swedish-American journalist John P Anderson has for eleven years studied the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as well as the CIA's operational methods and history. He believes that the murder of Olof Palme was a CIA operation.
His theory is that then Vice President George Bush, who also was a former head of the CIA, and the CIA Chief of the time, William Casey, together used President Ronald Reagan as an involuntary tool to implement the operation against Palme.
The motive for the assassination was very complex, and related to the many various arenas where the Reagan administration and PM Olof Palme were on colliding courses. One of these arenas was about the Swedish arms producer Bofors' illegal deliveries of heavy weapons and ammunition to Iran, which later was revealed to be part of the Iran-Contra scandal. In the autumn of 1985, UN Peace Mediator in the Iran/Iraq war and Prime Minister Olof Palme stopped the shipments after he had been made aware of them.
http://www.leopoldreport.com/JohnA.html
Olof Palme was also very anti nuclear and Reagan was dealing with a very popular anti nuke movement at the time
On the international scene, Palme was a widely recognised political figure because of his:
harsh and emotional criticism of the United States over the Vietnam War;
vocal opposition to the crushing of the Prague Spring by the Soviet Union;
criticism of European Communist regimes, including labeling the Husak regime as "cattle of dictatorship" (Swedish: "Diktaturens kreatur") in 1975;
campaigning against nuclear weapons proliferation;
criticism of the Franco Regime in Spain, calling the regime "devilish murderers" (Swedish: "Satans mördare") after its execution of ETA and FRAP nationalists in September 1975;
opposition to apartheid and support for economic sanctions against South Africa;
support – both political and financial – for the African National Congress (ANC) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO);
visiting Fidel Castro's Cuba in 1975, during which he denounced Fulgencio Batista's government and praised contemporary Cuban and Cambodian revolutionaries;
strong criticism of the Pinochet Regime in Chile;
support – both political and financial – for the FMLN-FDR in El Salvador and the Nicaragua under FSLN; and,
role as a mediator in the Iran-Iraq War.
Under Olof Palme's government matters concerned with child care centers, social security, protection of the elderly, accident safety, and housing problems received special attention. Under Palme the public health system in Sweden became incredibly efficient, with the infant mortality rate standing at 12 per 1,000 live births.[12] An ambitious redistributive programme was carried out,[13] with the Swedish welfare state significantly expanding from a position already one of the most far-reaching in the world during his time in office,[14] while tax rates reached the highest levels in the free world.[15] Palme was also an avid supporter of gender equality, attending a World Women’s Conference in Mexico. In 1968
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme
Palme was proving Socialism was working and National healthcare was better than the free market rumors about the CIA taking him out are legion.
Holy Crap I speculate sometimes but Anders is a Right Wing Fundy? Who hates Multicultural society?
Is the American news picking this up? I doubt it I expect this story to go away real soon even though the American media loves this kind of thing.
I just hit the speculation jack pot of being right.
I think the Right in America are going to get very scared about what Norway is going to do next you don’t kill elite ruling kids and not expect a result from parents. African Americans can die in New Orleans who cares Brownie did a heck of a job.
But the kids of the ruling elite die there will be a response.
Now then did Anders listen to Fox News? I’m going for Smokes SD I will check your link after that.
Even after that was determined, they, the stinker thinkers, went on about how he could not have “acted alone” and was being directed by “outside forces.” Yes, double down on your stupid propaganda while you’re at it why don’t ya.
Very nice catch I bet they will all claim that he was a lone nut, acted alone, and was not influenced at all by right wing media.
Ossama is Arab he wants the Kurds to take back power probably as much as America wants to be a former colony of England Saladin and the Kurds conquered the Arabs Jennifer Rubin got her degree from what cracker jack box?
I have a rather sick feeling you may be partially correct – but I would lay much of the grief at the feet of the neoliberal administration that is our own current nightmare. America has messed up the world.
I was doing some homework on Michael Hudson’s website and came across the following in a previous interview he did with Bonnie Faulkner on a different subject – “Wall Street’s Euthanasia of Industry’ (great interview by the way.)
:“When I was in Norway one of the Norwegian politicians sat next to me at a dinner and said, “You know, there’s one good thing that President Obama has done that we never anticipated in Europe. He’s shown the Europeans that we can never depend upon America again. There’s no president, no matter how good he sounds, no matter what he promises, we’re never again going to believe the patter talk of an American President. Mr. Obama has cured us. He has turned out to be our nightmare. Our problem is what to do about the American people that don’t realize this nightmare that they’ve created, this smooth-talking American Tony Blair in the White House.”
That prophetic remark I think puts into context this terrible crime against the youth of Norway. It is heartbreaking, and it is our nightmare also.
I was trying to point out the constant demonization by many here at FDL of any and all to the right, and in particular the Tea Party
We attack them when they lie and spread hate, we attack their policy ideas as stupid too.
Do we lie and spread hate? We attack them yes but in self defense and to point out their ideas are stupid.
When Tea Baggers like Jon McCain blame immigrants for crime in AZ when as the immigrant population increased crime wet down in AZ damm right I jump on McCain and the Tea baggers.
If you want to argue the Tea Baggers have some good ideas the Lake is always open to debate. A we dare mean too it to defense of the tea baggers misses the motives of why they and us are mean.
Your mention of scrubbed stories is good next time links or if possible save the pages that part of your comment I liked.
More like a GOP attempt to stop us from defending ourselves a bully crying to the teacher because a kid he bullied hit back.
“So, it turns out that the Norwegian terror suspect who murdered an estimated 91 people, most of whom were kids, was in contact with the EDL, whom he admired and wished to emulate:
The man arrested for yesterday’s murderous attacks in Norway admires Britain’s far right English Defence League and claimed to have held discussions with it.”
So he was linked and talking to Racist groups
“Among rants about Islam and Communism is the following (roughly translated from Norwegian):
“I have on some occasions discussed with SIOE [Stop Islamification Of Europe] and EDL and recommended them to use conscious strategies.
The tactics of the EDL is now out to “entice” an overreaction from Jihad Youth / Extreme-Marxists something they have succeeded several times already”
http://leninology.blogspot.com/2011/07/that-viking-jihad-again.html
So his world view the political agenda he was trying to push might have been to push a race war maybe he was hoping Muslims would get blamed it seems he was counting on Muslims being blamed and he was right the media fell for it hook line and sinker.
Any bets the Arab terror group that took credit for the attack was set up by Anders and has connections to him?
I have a rather sick feeling you may be partially correct – but I would lay much of the grief at the feet of the neoliberal administration that is our own current nightmare. America has messed up the world.
Links to the Media fox news, clearchannel and our government which encourages this by not going after hate groups their motive is to provide scapegoats instead of blaming Wallstreet for the economy and Norway’s hate groups would tend to confirm this I agree with you but we need to confirm those links.
“The tactics of the EDL is now out to “entice” an overreaction from Jihad Youth / Extreme-Marxists something they have succeeded several times already. Over The reaction has been repeatedly shown on the news which has booster EDLs ranks high.”
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=25501
There has been a change in tactics the Racists want to target the Left and blame it on the Muslims. The Fake Muslim group that took credit suggests this we need to confirm Anders was connected to it.
It will be harder to confirm that the Right Wing Media had knowledge of this ahead of time and was all set to blame Muslims for this.
Certainly Obama wanted a reason to keep troops in Afghanistan and Iraq the Media also wants this the rush to judgment that it was Muslims was probably just them thinking they could use this to get what they wanted.
Now they have a problem every terror attack that hits the Left in particular Obama would be considered Left by the racists (not by us) will likely be blamed on racists not Muslims.
Why the racists have a new tactic and if you have noticed the Right gets an idea and they all do it.
Notice the Right appears on every channel talking about the same topic with the exact same take on the issue, events whatever.
We can expect the Right wing racists to copy this tactic again even though it failed.
When things like this happen we always ask “why” but there is no sane reason. I believe that killers kill because that is what they want to do. This person in Norway could just as easily been a serial killer. Instead he’s a spree killer. The reason is that they enjoy it – it’s about their power.
Interesting points.
Thanks for both comments.
Thanks we often forget that America treats the rest of the world like South America we do engineer coups, destroy politicians careers or even kill them.
he source is Will McCants, adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University. On his website he describes himself as formerly “Senior Adviser for Countering Violent Extremism at the U.S. Department of State, program manager of the Minerva Initiative at the Department of Defense, and fellow at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center.” This morning, he posted “Alleged Claim for Oslo Attacks” on his blog Jihadica:
Time for a new Diary ET an ex American State Dept person started the lie about a Muslim group taking credit for this but now claims the post was removed?
But we now know a Racist did the killing?
We have to ask is this guy a stupid opportunist or was he in on it?
The knee jerk reaction of the press to assume that every terrorist attack is perpetuated by a Muslim further stokes the flames of hatred and division.
http://my.firedoglake.com/ironcomments/2011/01/12/why-are-we-afraid-to-call-jared-loughner-a-terrorist/
Others are asking these questions, and they are important. I’m working on aspects of how McCants is being dealt with too, but not at all ready to write anything about it.
Ahhhhhh crap!
Looks like the assault of Anders B. Breivik has just begun. Yesterday, Anders posted a 1500 page rant, and video of him modeling his new line of fascist uniforms and guns.
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.7724781
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.7724781&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=UTF-8
Had not followed this closely enuff to know about the anti muslim jive until later today, so thanks for your recap and the links.
Lord help the victims and their families . . .
N may the perpetrator find quick and final ending to his life on this rock, he forfeits another day on it for what he’s done.
N to close, the biggest threats are white, fundies, of all nations.
Rcc’d sir, hope you will be at the webinar tomorrow, love to hear yer voice . . . *bows*
I’ll try to make it onto the webinar Sunday. Depends on the weather.
Here’s a link to what is being alleged to be his farewell video, posted just before the downtown bomb went off.
Indeed, the similarity between the prejudice of some at FDL and some in the GOP/Tea Party is quite horrific.
The predictable attempts (by only a few, thankfully) to deny and defend those similarities with “but that’s not what we do, what we do is different and justified” would themselves be easily seen as more examples of the fundamental equivalence of the two sides, and so while disturbing and regrettable they were in this case still valuable.
So it was an equivalence not simply “interesting,” but sickening – while simultaneously being illuminating to those open-minded enough to contemplate it, and unifying to those brave and mature enough to accept it.
Thanks for helping make it more clear.
In a way it was a “jihadist” type of act, certainly a very calculated political act.
Quotes from:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/23/997883/-Norway-attacker-was-a-political-Terminator?via=blog_1
EternalVigilance is hoist on her own petard. She did exactly the same thing to FDL as Will McCants did, and didn’t provide a link.
It was a Yemeni from sweden that was upset about the cartoons and all the information was mixed.
The Guardian has this:
So did the NYT retract or scrub, or did CNA or Will McCants? There’s no link to the “evidence”.
I hope we’re not stuck with every crazed thought this asshole’s spews for the next several decades like we have been with Manson.
This sick fuck lined up leftie teenagers and shot them because of their political beliefs. Then he shot these kids in back as the ran away screaming from him. He’s trying to present himself in video as some noble warrior.
He’s a sick fuck who shot kids running away from him in the back.
Juliana, I have just one quibble with your comment. the Oklahoma bombing wasn’t handled in a straight up manner, but it was coordinated in the press well.
Although it’s off topic I can’t let it go without leaving a trail of cookie crumbs, thatvisionthing has left a number of comments with valuable information that the truth wasn’t at all what we thought it was. link The FBI was involved, they used cutouts at the SPLC, and they’ve assassinated people to keep the truth from coming out. link, archive
Nah, I wasn’t prejudiced in my thinking. I was basing it on reality ie the facts I had at the time. That’s something the Teapers and GOP don’t really care about. Anybody remember the Bush neocon who openly admitted they create reality to fit their ideology and immediate purpose. Sorry dude, you’re talking apples and oranges. Did you miss the “reality based community” memo?
Helpers of Global Jihad actually have no history that I can find which leads me to speculate it’s merely a CIA or Mossad ghost front for just this very purpose.
Well, the right wing are politically connected too. This kid is a member of the The Norwegian Order of Freemasons: Lodge St. Olaus to the white Leopard in operation since 1749, He’s probably a member of a lodge of St. John (Iº – IIIº) degree.
They have a big building next to parliament. “The Grand Lodge has followed the Swedish Rite since 1818, which requires its members to adhere to Christianity.”
The did practice the Rite of Strict Observance which appears to me to have some racist overtones.
They can’t trust America in what way?
They are part of the secret fascist network left over and protected from WW2, They weren’t de-nazified. They had their own stay behind secret services to strangle communist elements. Perhaps they cant trust america because we elected a n***er, or maybe that speech to the muslim world that turned out to be nothing but empty words.
I’d like to know more about that conversation
So his actions were or weren’t tribal? I believe he acted alone. The authorities had a record of him possessing an AK47 and a handgun. The bomb he could have easily produced himself. He may have been influenced by outsiders but I’ll stand by him not being directed by them until proven otherwise.
The Rite of Strict Observance appears to have been replaced by the rectified rite.
I’m not getting into all that illuminati nonsense, but they are a politically connected brotherhood that appears to nurture cultural “homogeneity”.
These are dirty little secrets.
Being wrong earlier, perhaps I know nothing, but you may be close to the truth.
(Before the massacre here in Tucson, my guy and I were scared for two of our House Reps because of the r-w hate machine. We felt sure one of them would be shot before the year was out.
Wasn’t sure which one, as one is Hispanic – Grijalva, and the other is Jewish – Giffords.
Both had tons of death threats and broken windows and gunshots through the office at least once IIRC, if not many times.)
I do stick by saying there’s a lot of white fear growing in that part of the world. Lots of immigrant hating in particular, and who is the white guy going to blame for “them taking over” – Liberals. . .
Though, Norway’s “liberal” elite seem pretty much like our Blue Dogs in many ways, as they also are super-psyched for constant deportations and participating in (our) wars, etc.
Comparing the Norway response to these attacks to the US though – Whoa… So different, so far. It’s not a total terror-fest?
I hope Norwegians don’t fall in to the terror-grip as the US has, and can mourn without losing the soul of their country.
ls that for this massacre? if so do you have a link for Victor Gunnarsson?
I don’t have the link, but Norway is trying to “steal” oil from the US. Horrors!
Up in the Arctic, perhaps. MANY countries are pissed off about it, including the UK and many S. American countries…..
Sorry I don’t have the URL, as you seem to like a lot of info, as I do :)
It’s only “demonization” if the attacks are false.
The vast majority of Tea O.P. are clearly bigots. We’re just presenting facts.
Yeah, Ansar Al Jihad Al Alami is different that Ansar Al Islam, which the Imam who started it is in Norway and denied being involved, but had the finger pointed at him yesterday.
On the wiki page it says that CT experts say that Helpers of the Global Jihad might not exist, so perhaps you are right, but it could also be right wingers trying to place blame on muslims. The language they used looks Beckian: “the same organization announced in May 2011 that it was going to carry out operations against the “Zionist-crusader” alliance.”
It’s Freudian. Breivers video is full of crusader ideology and he fashions himself as Knights Templar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansar_al-Jihad_al-Alami
You haven’t watched video.
That video explains a lot.
New inspiration for Glen Beck. His “evidence” follows the same mental map type of loose connections. The C in BBC becomes the communist sickle and hammer, and then also the Islamic moon and star.
I’d like to hear what his parents have to say, or hear a statement from his Masonic Lodge, in part- they are the incubators of his inspirations.
In the NYT
New America Foundation look like the establishment greenwashing itself and doing a bad job. …
Brian Fishman is blaming inspiration on “Jihadis” on twitter
I just want to say: Timothy McVeigh and fertilizer bombs, and shooting to killing kids isn’t something muslims have ever done AFAIK.
Looks like Greenwald is giving them hell and they’re banding together for emotional/ego support.
The meaning of a story being “scrubbed” is the links either no longer work or point to stories that have been rewritten to erase the embarrassing elements.
That is why the stories were quoted but no links provided – the entire point was to provide exactly the evidence that would find that story text in a search engine cache, but the links the engines would then have provided would have led to stories that were obviously redacted or totally different. This is what proves the story has been scrubbed.
Me providing a screen shot would not have been significantly different than me providing these quotes – hence the clear directive to go find and save alternate sources immediately before they all end up in the memory hole.
Outlets like the NY Times mark their stories as no-cache precisely to allow them to change history without the inconvenience of having to explain their actions, or the embarrassment of being found to be lying or wrong.
It may still be possible for the skeptical to find copies of the original stories (I of course have my own). I suggest they search for engines that ignore the no-cache directive, or for places that extensively quote or fully reprint the stories.
Personally, I suggest that such energy is better spent searching for the much more easily found instances of slur and prejudice here at FDL, since what really matters here isn’t what the NYT or MSNBC do, but what people at FDL do, and ought to change.
Here’s my problem with what you say: why the sneering remark about ‘going all conspiracy theory’? Do you seriously believe that there are no conspiracies, at this point? Please STOP DEMONIZING an important avenue of inquiry for those who are trying to understand the world, and why things happen as they do.
This is another key area where the Left continually blinds itself because of its krazed hatred for the right wing. Not all conspiracy theorists are right wingers, but many are, so conspiracy theory tends to be associated with the right wing by the Left, and that, it seems, is reason enough for the Left to consider conspiracy theory to be icky, and nasty, and generally untouchable. It’s lazy, bigoted and self-defeating for the Left to have this attitude.
But in fact, people on the Left should be more eager to know about the evil doings going on behind the scenes than folks on the Right. If anything, we have suffered far more from conspiracies that we only found about about years later (but likely suspected all along, and were called paranoid for suspecting), or maybe never found out about at all (does anyone seriously imagine that we have found out about all the dark stuff that happened in the sixties, for example?).