1. That's funny, he doesn't look Muslim! (even though that's who the attack was first attributed to).
2. Stan Banos writes:
The new blonde haired, blue-eyed face of terrorism? That model head shot is definitely one of the photos of the year...
In the photographs first circulated around the world, Anders Behring Breivik looks almost preppy. Neatly parted blond hair frames a boyishly handsome face. The upturned collar of a peach-colored polo shirt pokes through a dark Izod sweater.It's hard to reconcile the softly smiling young man in these professional studio shots with the monster that witnesses say donned a police uniform and ruthlessly hunted down scores of young Norwegians, even firing at those who jumped into freezing water in a desperate bid to escape his rampage.
From The Star:
The portrait of the blond haired, blue-eyed Breivik, the collar of his salmon-hued polo shirt poking straight out of his black Lacoste sweater, seemed to stare out from newspapers and television screens everywhere here.
3. I saw a lot of sentences like this one (bold mine) from the Daily Mail:
Six foot tall and blond, Breivik is reported to have arrived on the island of Utoya dressed as a policeman and opened fire after beckoning several young people over in his native Norwegian tongue.
4. Breivik apparently likes uniforms. Here he is in full Masonic regalia:
UPDATE: 7/24/11, 8:30 PST
Apparently, Breivik has an intense interest in uniforms.
The video posted before the killer's slaughter gives more evidence of Breivik's passion. (The triptych above was compiled by the NYTÂ based on screenshots from the video.)Â He was also particularly fascinated with the Crusader uniform. Starting from about the 11:50 mark, near the end of the video, we see several Crusader shots that segue into stills of the Mason uniform above, then the uniform with the decorations, then the scuba/Seal shot.
This frame, which appears immediately after "Scuba Breivik" actually has a strong, if steely resonance with "Hazmat Breivik." Â Like alter-egos from his video game world, all these martial, commando and warrior costumes (and the headshots, too?) reflect someone hurting, and, looking back, apparently seething for identity.
UPDATE 2, Â 3: 9:15 am
Sadly, the the unfolding evidence of Brievik's Christian radicalism, Muslim-hate and paranoia over immigration could not prevent the media from drawing a parallel to Muslim extremists. Â Although the analogy to be drawn here -- sketched by Brievik himself -- is to the Crusaders, the following paragraph appeared in the NYT background piece Sunday morning referring to Breivik's video/manifesto:
Thomas Hegghammer, a terrorism specialist at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, said the manifesto bears an eerie resemblance to those of Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders, though from a Christian rather than a Muslim point of view. Like Mr. Breivik's manuscript, the major Qaeda declarations have detailed accounts of the Crusades, a pronounced sense of historical grievance and calls for apocalyptic warfare to defeat the religious and cultural enemy."It seems to be an attempt to mirror Al Qaeda, exactly in reverse," Mr. Hegghammer said.
Really? Was it Mr. Breivik attempting to mirror Al Qaeda in reverse, or was it Mr. Hegghammer, among others, attempting that?
Breivik's mirrored FB page and Photo Gallery --> see additional photos.
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(photo: Facebook via Reuters caption: These screen grabs of an undated photograph on Facebook.com shows the central suspect of the Norway terror attacks, named by sources as Anders Behring Breivik, July 23, 2011. The 32-year-old Christian fundamentalist Norwegian suspect is in police custody following a bomb attack in Oslo and a shooting massacre on Utoya Island that have claimed more than 90 lives. triptych: NYT via slideshow: Aftermath of Norway Violence.)
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Obama Visits Norwegian Ambassador To Pay Respect After Tragic Killings
Breivik foolishly believed that he was saving Norway and Western Europe from “cultural Marxism and Muslim domination.†He claimed that his victims were guilty of “treason†for promoting multiculturalism.
His publishing a 1,500 page document setting out his right-wing views gives a clear picture.
Even the British intelligence services seem to have noticed this man and his connections with right-wing groups in England.
He is said to have attended a meeting with UK fascists in April 2002. He is said to have contact with the Stop the Islamification of Europe and the English Defence League.
Breivik posted a video on YouTube—since removed—showing himself in scuba gear pointing an automatic weapon at the camera saying, “Before we can start our crusade we must do our duty by decimating cultural Marxism.†It was called Knights Templar 2083.
Breivik seems to have posted material on an anti-Islamic blog called “The Gates of Vienna.â€
Breivik is said to have written, “Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike.â€
The ease with which he could get hold of automatic weapons must also raise questions.
Breivik claims that he got his armoury from the Czech underworld, does not explain how he got them into Norway. Too many unanswered questions.
So sad that the police took so long to get there.
So sad that his actions didn't turn on any light bulbs before the fact.
Can Socialists now ask for a collective apology from the Christian community? Until I see demonstrations and protests in large numbers among Christian communities and moderate Christians standing up to reclaim their religon how can I trust them? Can I see some proof of this 'moderate' Christianity I keep hearing about? Until we defeat extremist Christians for our collective security, moderate Christians should not mind being singled out for extra security precautions also.
In reality, domestic terrorism is far more common than trans-national terrorism, even in the recent period. From 1998-2005, for example, terror attacks have claimed the lives of 26,445 people, of which only 6,447 were a result of trans-national terror (3,000 of those casualties occurred on 9/11).
Breivik has joined the club of Timothy McVeigh,
In his manifesto he says he wants to fight together with Israel, with our Zionist brothers against all anti-Zionists by assisting Israel
Breivik's hatred of Muslims was central to his ideology, and he based much of his thinking and writing on prominent American Islamophobes like Robert Spencer
Serious attention must be paid to those who radicalise on the right and the Islamophobes who preach a dichotomous worldview.
This week in Houston the big story is a guy from NC killing the Mother of his children then driving all the way here to dismember and dump her body, not a single mention of his religion. Seeing his picture, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that he's not Muslim. My own opinion is that this kind of biased reporting is really dividing our country.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/26/bullying-and-plastic-surgery-childhood-friend-speaks-out-on-anders-breiviks-life/
"Those two jihadists—two right-wing reactionaries, two terrorists, two anti-government white supremacists, two Christians—have a lot in common, down to the way the massacres they carried out were first mistaken for the work of Islamists by an American press rich in zealotry of its own. And they have a lot more in common with the fundamentalist politicians and ideologues among us who pretend to have nothing to do with the demons they inspire...
"McVeigh and Breivik are bloody reminders that Western culture’s original sin—the presumption of supremacy—is alive and well and clenching many a trigger. It’ll be easy in coming days, as it was in 1995, to categorize the demons as exceptions unrepresentative of their societies. Easy, but false. Norway, like much of Europe, like the United States, is in the grips of a disturbing resurgence of right-wing fanaticism...
"Islamists who may want us harm need only sit back and enjoy the view. They might as well have outsourced the job to their Christian brethren, with plenty of assists from mainstream conservatives. There’s no segregating these demons and maniacs. They’re an integral part of western culture. They’re us."
See: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/25-2
"The caricature and fear are spread as diligently by the Christian right as they are by atheists such as Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.
"Our religious and secular fundamentalists all peddle the same racist filth and intolerance that infected Breivik. This filth has poisoned and degraded our civil discourse.
"The looming economic and environmental collapse will provide sparks and tinder to transform this coarse language of fundamentalist hatred into, I fear, the murderous rampages experienced by Norway.
"I worry more about the Anders Breiviks than the Mohammed Attas."
See: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/26-3
So it goes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents,_2010
Non-Islamic terrorism has always existed, will continue to exist, and is just as dangerous. However, it is a lot (a lot!) less frequent and common. That is a reality we have to face, politically correct or not.
The "preppy" serial killers in the US. Joran VanderSloot, the international example.
The shooter in Austin who opened fire last year, then killed himself.
Virginia Tech shootings.
Jared Loughner.
Oklahoma bombing.
Columbine.
For starters.
Columbine - vengeance against bullying - not a "terrorist" attack.
OKC bombing - Yes, "terrorist"
Jared Loughner - Questionable. Was he actually trying to cause "terror" to liberals, or just being a general "postal worker"?
Virginia Tech - mentally ill individual - no political agenda, not a "terrorist" attack
Not every mass-murder is a terrorism attack. Many of them are done by mentally ill individuals, or someone looking for revenge. The concept of "Terrorism" requires that the attacker be specifically attempting to inject fear into a group of people in order to obtain their agenda. Seldom works.
Journalists were doing their JOB -- describing what details they knew....as they emerged. That's what they do......duh!!
The REASON the guy's picture was plastered is because the GUY PLASTERED them himself.
Again....get a clue....geez!
Just goes to show....anyone w/out a clue can piece together anything....even if it makes no sense whatsoever...and it gets thrown up on some blog. ugh!
How does the collection of photos "make no sense"?
The crime was senseless, that's for sure.
what are they supposed to do -- not publish them -- when there is nothing else available? pfft!
The crime being senseless! agreed!
Europe is still infested with neo-Nazism. Except today, it has taken a subtler, more mundane form. In Germany, people still put a lot of weight on blue eyes and if you happen to have brown eyes, they'd ask you where you're from, even if you're a blond caucasian.