Explaining Oslo: suspicions & scenarios

The ideological struggle over the Oslo atrocities has already begun and threatens quickly to overshadow the hideous and murderous events themselves. The race is on for Islamist and left-wing political groups and their supporters in politics and the media to exploit this appalling tragedy to discredit and delegitimize their opponents.

Even before all the bodies of the deceased have been recovered and the grieving even starts, the media are carrying reports labeling Anders Behring Breivik, the self-proclaimed mass murderer, as a Christian fundamentalist who espouses far-right, anti-Islamic views, as if this explains his vile rampage. Simultaneously, Europol, the European police agency, has announced that it will set up a special taskforce of over 50 counter-terrorism experts to investigate non-Islamist terrorist threats.

The speed of Europol’s response is breath-taking compared with the 90 minutes that it took security forces to finally confront Behring Breivik after he had begun…