BP and I have traveled several times to Oslo, where we have several friends and colleagues. It's a lovely city, and we are very fond of Norway and the Norwegians. Sensible people, family oriented, beautiful country. How awful to hear that the peaceful streets of Oslo were shattered by violence, which spilled over into a youth camp. The dead are still being counted. BP and I have not yet heard from our friends, but hope and pray that they were at work, and had no reason to be near the government buildings. I mean, NORWAY? Who attacks Norway?
Photo by IT, from the Vigeland sculpture park in Oslo
9 comments:
"Who attacks Norway?"
Sadly, my money's on those who did it for their god. :-(
Kyrie eleison...
Yeah... who attacks Norway, indeed. I agree with JCF, sadly.
Norway is heavily involved in military actions in Afghanistan and Libya with fighter jets and bombers. There's a whole list of people eager to strike at Western allies if they can't strike at the USA.
However, according to the latest BBC report that I read online, the gunman arrested in the shooting is a native Norwegian, so this attack may not be what it appears to be.
Prayers and sympathies for Norway in its darkest hour since World War II.
The Oklahoma City bombing was widely attributed to Islamists -- until a right-wing Yank was charged (and only him, no co-conspirators). As Counterlight notes, Norwegian security suspects homegrown dissidents. However, to the question, Who attacks Norway? It could be those whom Norway attacks:
The NATO force of which Norway is a part has explicitly declared Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi to be a "legitimate target" and has repeatedly attempted to kill him; one attempt on Gadaffi's life -- a bombing attack on his son's residence -- resulted in the death of the dictator's son and three grandchildren. In response, Gadaffi "vowed to attack 'homes, offices and families' in Europe in revenge for NATO airstrikes," adding that "your homes, your offices and your families, which will become military targets just as you have transformed our offices, headquarters, houses and children into what you regards as legitimate military targets." --Glenn Greenwald on Salon
US drone bombers regularly slaughter innocent children and bystanders in attempting to kill someone identified as working against foreign occupation of their own countries. Why do they hate us? Reflect.
Prayers for all involved. The latest reports describe the suspect as "rightwing" and a self-described "conservative Christian" who had a problem with Islam. May God have mercy!
The thing was, once they identified Timothy McVeigh as the Oklahoma City bomber, they didn't look for accomplices or terror cells. Right-wing violence is perpetrated by lone nuts, by definition. But if Muslims can be blamed, it's a conspiracy to be traced as imagination allows.
80 dead, many children.
The police identified a native Norwegian with right-wing views: a Scandanavian Timothy McVeigh.
I remember after the Oklahoma City bombing thinking that it might have been a far right extremist. Oklahoma was too remote to be of interest to Islamist terrorists, and the Ouachita Mountains, swarming with violent white supremacists in those days, were near by. I remember hearing the tires screeching as all the teevee experts had to do U turns when the prime suspect turned out to be a white boy from Buffalo. I remember a Pakistani friend of mine was furious that the media so unthinkingly leapt to the conclusion that a Muslim did it.
I must admit that I was surprised by this. There is a lot of far right activity in Scandinavia and in Europe in general driven by anti-immigrant passions. Perhaps we need to pay more attention to that.
Counterlight, It would be nice to be able to get news from other places in the world instead of how many navel rings of Lady Gaga.
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