Sunday July 24, 2011

I've Been Thinking:

With my deadline looming on Friday, brought on by the Jewish Sabbath, I took what information had emerged and made a judgment call. As it turns out, I was in error.

Earlier on Friday it was clear that Norway had fallen prey to horrific mass murders - near simultaneous attacks in the heart of Oslo and in the Labor Movement summer camp just outside Oslo. Even early on the numbers of dead appeared beyond comprehension - only to be dwarfed by the actual number that emerged over the weekend.

Two Muslim groups immediately accepted responsibility. I evaluated, interpreted and concluded that the events in Norway were the acts of Islamic terror. Only later, with the advantage of having received more and accurate information, I see that that was not the case.
Although Muslim terror groups have threatened Norway and although these acts were clearly modeled on al Qaeda style operations they were perpetrated by a lone right wing Christian extremist who wanted to wipe out liberal ideas.

The mass murderer was a terrorist and a self proclaimed crusader for his cause. He knew what he did was wrong but said, through his lawyer, that what he did was necessary.

At the time of my writing there was no way of getting any better info and of extrapolating from there. I have kept the mistaken entry as originally posted as an important reminder for myself and to keep the historical record straight.

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