Tragedy in Norway

The other two threads are just derails from the start more concerned about the posting history of some posters rather than discussing the issues about this situation so I am going to start a new thread.

Mods feel free to lock or combine this thread with the the other ones if you don't want to clutter up the BBS but I think the other thread is so far off track that it will never make it into the station.

To kick things off.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4387300...ing-anti-islam-crusade/from/toolbar?GT1=43001

Alleged killer tells judge 'two more cells' at large
Norwegian suspect admits killings, says he wanted to save Europe from Muslim takeover

OSLO — Anders Behring Breivik told a Norwegian judge on Monday his bombing and shooting rampage that killed scores aimed to save Europe from a Muslim takeover, and said that "two more cells" existed in his organization.

Breivik's remarks at the closed-door custody hearing were relayed by the judge, Kim Heger, at a news conference.

The killer has previously said he acted alone and police had earlier said they were trying to confirm this.

But after Breivik's claim about other cells, police attorney Christian Hatlo said "we cannot completely rule out" the possibility that others were involved in Friday's attacks.

After the hearing, Heger said he had ordered Breivik detained in solitary confinement for eight weeks, with no letters, newspapers or visits, except from a lawyer. The detention, in line with a request from prosecutors, will allow them to investigate the case against Breivik.

Jeering crowds awaited Breivik at Oslo District Court.

"Get out, get out!" shouted Alexander Roeine, 24, banging on a car he wrongly believed contained the mass killer. In fact police brought Breivik into the courthouse via a side entrance.


"Everyone here wants him dead," Roeine said, adding that he knew one of the dead and three survivors of the attacks.

Story: German tourist rescued teens during Norwegian island massacre

'Essential' for 'normal life' to continue
Earlier Monday, Norway police lowered the number of deaths in Friday's bombing in Oslo and mass shooting at a youth camp to 76, down nearly 20 from previously reported numbers, citing difficulties in gathering information at Utoeya island where the shooting spree occurred.

There were 68 killed at the camp site run by the Labor Party, significantly lower than the 86 previously reported, and eight killed in the bombings, an increase of one, police said.

"We had to prioritize the survivors and make the area safe and we came out with a too high number of dead," police spokesman Oystein Maeland said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. "The main thing for us was to convey the information that the number [of dead] was much higher than then 10 we had reported earlier."

"Now it's essential that normal life continues," said another police spokesman.

Police also responded to criticism that their response time was too slow, saying that they "only have one helicopter with limited air time, it’s not a tool we can use all the time and it wouldn't have made any difference to these events," a spokesman said. "A better response time than that cannot be expected."

It took police a full hour to get a team of elite forces to the island. Norwegian television chartered a helicopter and filmed the killer before the police showed up. When the armed team did arrive, Breivik gave himself up without a fight.

'My last martyrdom celebration'
The prosecutor said Monday that Breivik appeared "unaffected" by his actions and was prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison. Breivik had said through his lawyer that he wanted to explain his motives at the hearing, but a judge ruled that the hearing would be closed to the public and press.
Story: Norway attacks shine light on right-wing extremism in Europe

The maximum jail term in Norway is 21 years, although that can be extended if there is a risk of repeat offenses.

The 32-year-old, who portrays himself as crusader against a tide of Islam in a rambling 1,500-page online manifesto, says he wants to explain acts he deemed 'atrocious' but 'necessary'.

To prepare for the attack, Breivik wrote that he wanted to hire prostitutes and drink expensive French wine.

"My thought was to save the last flask for my last martyrdom celebration and enjoy it with the two high-class model whores I intend to rent prior to the mission," he wrote.

He also wanted to spend time in a solarium "to look fresher" before the attack.

Meanwhile, in France police searched Breivik's father's house, Britain's Press Association reported. Breivik and his father, a former Norwegian diplomat who is said to be devastated by the news of his son's involvement, haven't spoken in many years, according to media reports.

Breivik had asked to wear a uniform in court, but was denied the request by the judge. His lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said he did not know what type of uniform he wanted to don. Breivik has not served in the armed forces but in some of the pictures he posted on the Internet before his killing spree he was dressed in a military-style outfit. The killer was dressed as a policeman during his shooting spree.

Lippestad said his client had admitted to Friday's attacks but that he denies any criminal guilt.

"He has been politically active and found out himself that he did not succeed with usual political tools and so resorted to violence," Lippestad told TV2 news. "I await a medical assessment of him," he said.

The worst peacetime massacre in the normally placid country's modern history appears to have been driven by Breivik's mission to save Europe from what he sees as the threats of Islam, immigration and multiculturalism.

That he surrendered to police when finally confronted on the tiny island of Utoeya after shooting dead 86 youngsters underlines his desire to secure a public platform.

Norway mourns
Crowds packed Oslo cathedral square for a minute of silence at midday on Monday that swelled into five. The only sounds were the beeping of traffic crossings, the crying of seagulls and a dog barking.

"This is a tragic event to see all these young people dying due to one man's craziness," Sven-Erik Fredheim, 36, a mechanic, told Reuters near the cathedral square where people piled more flowers onto a carpet of bouquets already laid there for the dead since Friday's violence shocked a normally quiet country of 4.8 million.

It is important to have this minute of silence so that all the victims and the parents of the families know that people are thinking about them."

Norwegian newspapers focused on the victims as shock turns to mourning, giving chilling new accounts of the island massacre and focusing on acts of bravery which saved lives.

The main broadsheet Aftenposten led with "Sorrow unites Norway" and printed a picture of a central Oslo square filled with flowers and lit candles in remembrance of the dead.

Daily Dagsavisen asked "Why didn't you come earlier?" citing screams by youth as police arrived on Utoeya island on Friday — an hour after they were notified of the shooting.

Survivors offered harrowing accounts of the shooting. Ingvild Stensrud, 16, hid in a house on the island with friends only to find the shooter in their midst.

"No one understand what was happening," she told TODAY, explaining how she survived by hiding under the body of a girl who was shot. Only three out of the 10 people in the room survived, she said.

"Its horrible my friends were killed and I was shot because I believe in a multicultural Norway," she said.

Immigration debate
Breivik's lawyer has said that his client feels he did not deserve punishment.

"He explains himself fairly calmly, but every now and then expresses emotion," Lippestad said of Breivik. "He buries his head in his hands."

"He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary."

Police believe Breivik acted alone after losing faith in mainstream parties, even those that have gained popularity and parliamentary seats on anti-immigration policies in otherwise liberal, tolerant European nations, including affluent Norway.

The attack was likely to tone down the immigration debate ahead of September local elections, analysts said, as parties try to distance themselves from Breivik's beliefs and reinforce Norwegians' self-image as an open, peaceful people.

Norway's immigrant numbers nearly tripled between 1995 and 2010 to almost half a million in a population of 4.8 million.
Story: In rural town, Norway attacker seemed a city loner

The sense that many were drawn by Norway's generous welfare handouts helped spur the growth of the Progress Party which became Norway's second biggest in parliament after the 2009 election on a largely anti-immigration platform.

Breivik was once a member of the party, but left complaining it was too politically correct. It was then he began scheming to "resist", burying ammunition more than a year ago, weight-lifting, storing up credit cards and researching bomb-making while playing online war games.

Exploding bullets
After three months of laboriously pounding and mixing fertilizer, aspirin and other chemicals on a remote farm, Breivik drove a hire car packed with the results to the center of Oslo on Friday, triggering the device outside government offices, killing seven and shattering thousands of windows.

He then drove to the small island of Utoeya, 28 miles away. Dressed as a policeman, he calmly shot down youngsters at a youth summer camp of the ruling Labour Party. His terrified victims tried to hide under beds or in the woods. Some leapt into the lake and tried to swim to the mainland.
Story: Norway police free detainees, no link to attacks

"This is going to be an all-or-nothing scenario," Breivik wrote in his English-language online journal on the morning of the attack. "First coming costume party this autumn, dress up as a police officer. Arrive with insignias Will be awesome as people will be very astonished."

A surgeon at a hospital that treated 35 of the wounded said Breivik may have used "dum-dum" bullets for maximum damage.

"These bullets don't explode inside the body but fragment into pieces more quickly than other bullets," Colin Poole, chief surgeon of the Ringerike district hospital, told Reuters.

 

Its terrible but I think there is more to the story. I don't know much about Norwegian police policy and capabilities but considering that there was a bombing in downtown Oslo I suspect that this wasn't so much ineptness as so many resources were devoted to that that it took awhile to transition. At the same time initial reports coming from the island were very sketchy so they might not have felt it was a priority in the face of the explosion in Oslo.