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<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 14pt">Norway's 9/11</span></span>
Posted 07/22/2011 06:32 PM ET
<span style="font-weight: bold">War On Terror</span>: The explosion that tore apart government buildings in Norway's capital and the subsequent murder of kids on a youth outing <span style="font-weight: bold">have all the markings of radical Islamic terrorists</span>. No one is safe.
It didn't take long after the bombing and shootings at a youth camp, which at press time had killed six, for a group called "Helpers of the Global Jihad" to claim responsibility.
No country has bent further backward to accommodate the Arab world in its ongoing conflicts with the West. From the early 1970s, Norway, though a tiny nation of 4.5 million people, opened its doors to thousands of Muslim immigrants, mostly from Pakistan, out of deep humanitarian concern.
They hoped to make them good Norwegians. But today the Muslim community remains largely self-segregated, unassimilated and disgruntled in the heart of Oslo, a fertile breeding ground for terrorism.
The Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993 took place in Norway largely because of the perceived role that enlightened Norway played as middle man between the Arab world and the West.
So what could al-Qaida and its allies in the West have against such a benign, big-hearted country?
For one, Norway has 500 troops in Afghanistan, a large number for such a small country. In 2007, al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, threatened Norway for taking part in that war. Is this his follow-through?
Another possibility, posed by Britain's Guardian newspaper, harks back to the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that were reprinted by a Norwegian newspaper in 2006.
Then there's Iraqi-born Mullah Krekar, founder of the al-Qaida-linked Kurdish terror group Ansar al-Islam. He lives in Norway, having been given asylum there, but was recently indicted for threatening to kill Norwegian politicians if he were deported.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Perhaps the most likely reason is this: Al-Qaida and friends did it because, well, they could.</span> The U.S. and Britain have robust intelligence and defense capability, and have been on high alert for years.
Not so Norway. It just had its 9/11.
This should be a wake-up call for all those well-meaning but sadly naive people in Europe — Norwegians especially — who still believe the claim of Muslim fundamentalists that "Islam means peace."
Whether in Spain, Britain, Germany, America, Bali or now Norway, the fact remains: <span style="font-weight: bold">We are at war with and under constant threat from Islamic fundamentalism.</span>
With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 less than two months away, we in the U.S. would do well to be especially vigilant. <span style="font-weight: bold">In the greater jihad waged against the West, Oslo may be just a warning shot across our bow.</span>
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis...907787363976.2#
<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-size: 8pt">There. A classic example.</span></span>
Posted 07/22/2011 06:32 PM ET
<span style="font-weight: bold">War On Terror</span>: The explosion that tore apart government buildings in Norway's capital and the subsequent murder of kids on a youth outing <span style="font-weight: bold">have all the markings of radical Islamic terrorists</span>. No one is safe.
It didn't take long after the bombing and shootings at a youth camp, which at press time had killed six, for a group called "Helpers of the Global Jihad" to claim responsibility.
No country has bent further backward to accommodate the Arab world in its ongoing conflicts with the West. From the early 1970s, Norway, though a tiny nation of 4.5 million people, opened its doors to thousands of Muslim immigrants, mostly from Pakistan, out of deep humanitarian concern.
They hoped to make them good Norwegians. But today the Muslim community remains largely self-segregated, unassimilated and disgruntled in the heart of Oslo, a fertile breeding ground for terrorism.
The Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993 took place in Norway largely because of the perceived role that enlightened Norway played as middle man between the Arab world and the West.
So what could al-Qaida and its allies in the West have against such a benign, big-hearted country?
For one, Norway has 500 troops in Afghanistan, a large number for such a small country. In 2007, al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, threatened Norway for taking part in that war. Is this his follow-through?
Another possibility, posed by Britain's Guardian newspaper, harks back to the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that were reprinted by a Norwegian newspaper in 2006.
Then there's Iraqi-born Mullah Krekar, founder of the al-Qaida-linked Kurdish terror group Ansar al-Islam. He lives in Norway, having been given asylum there, but was recently indicted for threatening to kill Norwegian politicians if he were deported.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Perhaps the most likely reason is this: Al-Qaida and friends did it because, well, they could.</span> The U.S. and Britain have robust intelligence and defense capability, and have been on high alert for years.
Not so Norway. It just had its 9/11.
This should be a wake-up call for all those well-meaning but sadly naive people in Europe — Norwegians especially — who still believe the claim of Muslim fundamentalists that "Islam means peace."
Whether in Spain, Britain, Germany, America, Bali or now Norway, the fact remains: <span style="font-weight: bold">We are at war with and under constant threat from Islamic fundamentalism.</span>
With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 less than two months away, we in the U.S. would do well to be especially vigilant. <span style="font-weight: bold">In the greater jihad waged against the West, Oslo may be just a warning shot across our bow.</span>
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis...907787363976.2#
<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-size: 8pt">There. A classic example.</span></span>
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