Mass Murder in Norway

The death toll is up to 92 people in Oslo and Utoya Island, at last count.

The killings, it now seems clear, were carried out by a 32-year old Norwegian, named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, who had expressed far-right views, and had dressed as a policeman to carry out his bomb attack on government buildings in central Oslo before heading to the island of Utøya, where he shot at least 85 people.

Who were the victims, I wonder?

Teenagers at the lakeside camp organised by Stoltenberg’s ruling Labour party fled screaming in panic, many leaping into the water or climbing trees to save themselves, when the attacker began spraying them with gunfire.

More on the suspect?

Andersen said the suspect also posted on websites with Christian fundamentalist tendencies. He did not describe the websites in any more details.

Norway’s national police chief, Sveinung Sponheim, told the national broadcaster NRK that the suspected gunman’s internet postings “suggest he has some political traits directed towards the right, and anti-Muslim views, but whether that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen”.

A police official said the suspect appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that “it seems like this is not linked to any international terrorist organisations at all.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway’s police.

“It seems it’s not Islamic-terror related,” the official said. “This seems like a madman’s work.”

No, it’s not Islamic-terror-related, instead it’s Christian, anti-Muslim, rightwing-terror-related. Dozens of left-leaning teenagers have been killed by a nationalist, anti-immigrant blond Norwegian, and the official line is that unlike when those scary Muslims do it, this was the act of an isolated madman. If a swarthy, bearded guy with an Arabic surname was responsible for these attacks, he would be considered a terrorist. When it’s a white guy named Breivik, he’s a madman.

It could be worse. At least they’re specifying that no Muslims were involved in the attacks, unlike some supposedly reputable news sources whose names begin with “Washington” and end in “Post” who just go ahead and ASSume it must have been a Muslim shooter.