And here's Judy Woodruff's report from this evening's PBS NewsHour. Finn Hagensen, in Oslo, indicates that the death toll could top 100 from the initial bomb attack in Oslo:And at WSJ, "Terror in Oslo":
At our first deadline reports indicated that the attacks were the work of a jihadist group. Later in the evening evidence emerged that a suspect in the shooting attack on a youth camp was an ethnic Norwegian with no previously known ties to Islamist groups. Coordinated terrorist attacks are an al Qaeda signature. But copycats with different agendas are surely capable of duplicating its methods.
Whatever the case, the attacks demonstrate that Norway is no more immune than any other country to such atrocities, no matter what its foreign or domestic policies may be. If this does prove to be the work of Islamists, it will be noted that neither Norway's opposition to the war in Iraq nor its considerable financial and political support for the Palestinians spared it from attack.
In its hour of grief, we're confident that Norway, like other free societies beset by terror, will respond with conviction, courage and resilience.
This is no one-off/one-man operation. This is state-sponsored terrorism/war-making, just as attacks in USA have been since WTC in 1993. A multi-operator, well/long-planned, well-executed professional operation by trained operators.
ReplyDeleteThe guy pictured is no farmer unless an absentee. Smooth face and probably silky hands. No mil right winger either. Too relaxed, pampered. This guy's a yuppie, a sybarite. Doesn't look like a shooter. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a patsy.
Doubtful Norwegian authorities will tell the truth. One guy didn't carry the weapons and ammo needed for this over to that island today. (Nor did one guy do the shooting.) He would have been stopped with that load. Nothing is adding up. Possibility he won't last being in custody. "Suicide," "dejection?"
Bomb and shooting, classic AQ MO. And there are plenty of "Nordic" Mohammedan converts just as there are plenty of American ones. Still, this guy doesn't look like an operator. No fire in his eyes, no far-off stare, he's wanting to be engaged, which is opposite of an operator's posture.