Breivik Report Released - July 22 Commission is brutal in its treatment of Norwegian Security Apparatus

The Norwegian Prime Minister released the Report of the  22 July Commission today - in Norwegian of course.  Within minutes electronic editions of newspapers worldwide were displaying the same wire story written by  Bjoern H. Amland of the Associated Press, whom we must assume reads Norwegian and read the entire 500 page report. Among Canadian newspapers which ran the story, the TORONTO SUN headline was very typical - "Norway massacre could have been prevented, says commission".  The New York Times was,  as usual, very careful. The full report hasn't been published yet in English translation, so the paper chose to avoid claiming what the English version will contain. Instead the NYT ran a report on the Commission's press conference, but with the same basic headline as everyone else  "Norway Panel on Massacre Funds Litany of Government Failures".  What is available, for those who bother to look,  is a 26 page summary of the Commissions findings, translated to English.  You can download it here - SUMMARY.
The primary conclusions of the Commission: "The attack on the Government Complex on 22 July could have been prevented through effective implementation of already adopted security measures." More important, and this is something the Americans fail to understand - "The Commission realizes, among other things, that the democratic costs related to systems intended to eliminate every risk of terrorist attacks are too high. We have to live with a certain level of risk."

Only our local rag, the Vancouver SUN, chose to monkey with the AP story and attach a ludicrous headline -  "Norwegian commission criticizes police response to far-right fanatic's bomb and gun massacre".

As usual THE SUN simply cannot pass on any opportunity to turn up the volume on examples of "far-right"or  "extreme right" political violence, even if their sloppy headline hijacks another journalists story. If the SUN had even bothered to read the Summary of the 22  July Commissions Report (as NYT staff must have) they would have realized that the commission panel in Oslo  did not trouble itself with the motives of Anders Behring Breivik.  Page 9 - "We have foregone issues related to the perpetrators motive, childhood and state of health, and we have not explored the measures society puts in place for the early prevention of radicalisation."  (Thankfully the panel also disdained reference to the meaningless "Left-Right political spectrum" - something which Canadian journalism is incapable of doing.)   Fanatical Mr. Breivik certainly is, but his modus was not that of some beer swilling, racist skinhead of the "Far Right".  He did not target immigrants, but rather the ruling party of his country who initiated and administered Norway's immigration program. That is why his crimes are so remarkable and worthy of analysis.  Breivik chose to attack the apparatus of Norwegian State Power at its vulnerable core - the private island camp where Party Youth frolic and plan for future electoral victories.  Breivik's was the most significant terrorist attack in the Western democracies since 9/11 in New York because it spread terror among the ruling elite, as much as it did the general population. For that reason it will likely be the template for militant attacks in Western Europe all through this century.

I happen to live in the murder capital of Canada - In Vancouver we hold the record for every category of murder for which records are kept, with the exception of murders within the health care system. The gruesome list begins with terrorist murders - the AIR INDIA Flight 182 Bombing,  the serial killing of women, the serial killing of children, the serial murder of drug dealers, and on down to lesser known sprees, like the demon barber case (killing of native women by forced drinking of alcohol).  All murder involves hate of one form or another, and yet the SUN is extremely selective when it pins "hate crime" labels on its political targets.  The worst example are of course the Sikh butchers who blew an Air India Boeing jumbo jet out of the sky.  Racist the Sikh murderers certainly were.  Political they certainly were.  Fanatical they certainly were.  Untouchable they certainly were ... and still are, because they got away with it.    Were the Vancouver Sikh terrorists  "Far Right"  or "Far Left"?   Or is their hatred more racial than political?  Perhaps their hatred is religious inspired and their politics cynical?  Where should we turn for the answers?  In a multicultural Vancouver such discussions do not take place because they are taboo. Who constantly reminds us of what is taboo? The media.

Political Theatre - ridiculous posing with firearm's is common within the para-military subculture, but Breivik took it up a notch by wearing fanciful insignia like this "Marxist Hunter" shoulder flash.

Keeping Obama (and Mitt Romney) out of the Kill Zone

Pity poor America.  All over the nation brooding men (and a few women) are pondering their limited options and a few will decide to do the unthinkable... commit mass murder. The most dangerous of them have been trained by the United States military and need but a few readily available tools to wreak havoc. Some covet the brass ring of notoriety and others just want to die with an Olympic sized audience watching.  

The recent mass killing in Aurora, Colorado earned a large audience share because it tapped into existing and successful corporate advertising campaigns (owned by Warner Brothers, D.C. Comics, etc).  But I find the fallout from last's weeks Sikh temple shooting a tad more interesting, because while the White House did its damage control with the Indian government (some of the victims were Indian nationals) the Obama re-election campaign did not send their man to Wisconsin, as they did following the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado.  Undoubtedly the U.S. Secret Service would not allow it, because a troubling pattern has emerged in American politics -  office holders rush  to crime scenes. They do it because that's where the  cameras are, and it is where large blocks of votes may be scooped up.  The bad guys know this, and they may well set a trap for a candidate and his security detail.  There will be further mass shootings in the U.S. before the November 2012 election, and it is entirely possible that one of them will be bait for a later more deadly ambush. During this federal campaign season, President Obama and GOP Candidate Mitt Romney must be kept out of the Kill Zone no matter how much their campaigns hunger to exploit human grief or respond to media baiting. 

"Your rifle is only a tool.  It is a hard heart that kills.  If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth." - Gunnery Sergeant Hartman FULL METAL JACKET, 1987

It should never be forgotten that among the worst cases of murder in the U.S. are those which are politically motivated, and too frequently the crimes are pulled off by men who got their training in the military. The military is also the source of the only systematic indoctrination these men have ever undergone.  

Much is made of, as it should be, Lee Harvey Oswald's  service in the U.S. Marines.  The USMC gave him small arms training, but more, it gave him the confidence that he could go up against a Presidential security detail, kill a president, and walk away from the scene.

John Allen Williams (AKA John Muhammad)  also received his small arms training in the U.S. military.  Sometimes known as the "Beltway Sniper" he came up with an innovation which the FBI call the "rolling sniper's nest", a car trunk modified with apertures for use as a shooter's blind.  It is far more adaptable than Oswald's single elevated position along a motorcade route.

Even more dangerous potential bushwhackers are ex-servicemen like Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.  Such men prefer explosives and in their delusional reality think infamy is an honour.  (In his arrest photo Mr. McVeigh chose to use his trigger finger to give his government "the finger".) One could easily imagine a scenario in which another McVeigh type prepositioned a bomb near a target (say a mosque or temple), have an accomplice commit an atrocity, and then patiently wait for the real target to show up.

President Obama could only go to Aurora for a photo-op because his security people were certain that James Holmes (aka The Joker) was a loner.  In the case of the the shooting of Sikhs in Wisconsin,  Wade Michael Page (who also received his weapons training and indoctrination in the U.S. Army) was part of a network of of ex-military personnel and of an angry subculture.  The S.S. could not be certain that his crime was not bait for a an attempt on the President... and are still not certain. So Obama stays away.   Prudence would dictate that both Obama and Romney stay away from all crime scenes until after the election is concluded.

This press release just went out - and it announces that the upcoming DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION has been declared a "National Special Security Event".   ie. this a blank cheque event as far the security aspects are concerned.  What the authorities most fear is not foreign terrorists making a rush on the convention, but rather an American ex-serviceman (or a group) who might be convinced that they could pull off an Anders Behring Breivik type raid.  Breivik is the fellow in Norway who set off bombs in the capital city to draw the attention of the security forces, and then proceeded to hit his primary target - the summer training facility of the political party that rules his country.  North Carolina is teeming with heavily armed ex-military types, some possibly annoyed with their world, and more than a few who match the description of previous offenders. N.C. is  probably a good state to stay away from,  all of next month.

Romney and Ryan now receive a level of close-in protection that can only be described as the "smother treatment"and I strongly doubt anyone in the crowd can lay a finger on any of the candidates during the 2012 Campaign.  (Romney for example, has stood virtually nipple to nipple with Secret Secret agents on several occasions this summer.) The danger will come from attackers who don't need to eyeball their target.

How Crazy are Americans? Start with the "Liberals" and work your way to the Conservative "Hawks" - remember "LET'S CREATE KOREAN NO MAN'S LAND - USING ATOMIC WASTE PRODUCTS"

In case you believe that the wackiest thing that ever happened in Tennessee was the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, I'm here to challenge that thought.  When I think Tennessee, I think "Gore"... as in Albert Gore, senior and "Al" Gore junior...  stalwarts of the U.S. Democratic Party... "big thinkers".  

At this very minute U.S. forces are deployed in attack positions bracketing Iran. U.S. Special Forces and spies are on the ground inside Iran and will assist the strike, when and if Obama signs off on the mission. Whenever I listen to politicians pondering U.S. "options" in Iran  I am reminded of crackpots like Albert Gore, Sr.   Read below his "big idea" for ending the stalemate in the Korean War.  Gore wanted to protect Korea by by creating a modern version of HADRIAN'S WALL,  using tons of atomic waste products.

In 1951 the Democrats had the White House.  Rep. Albert Gore of Tennessee wrote to President Harry Truman with an urgent plea. Use "cataclysmic" radiation to "dehumanize" a belt across the Korean Peninsula,  and repeat the process periodically so that the enemy (Communists) can never again harm Americans.

"Something cataclysmic, it seems to me, is called for. We have it.  ... Please consider using it." And here we are again. The U.S. is supremely frustrated by the antics and maneuverings of the Iranian regime.  Israel says it will strike if Obama has no stomach to deal with the Persians.  And don't forget the super deep penetrating bunker busters are already deployed and ready for dropping by B2s.  Wait... it's time to call Al Gore, Jr for some sage advice. 

President Harry Truman did not heed General Douglas MacArthur. He did not "Nuke" the Red Chinese as he was advised.  Truman also ignored Albert Gore, Sr  in 1951.  He did not order the deliberate contamination of Korean soil, and though North Koreans live in extreme poverty, at least its farmers are not producing hideously deformed children. That would have been the Gore legacy if Truman was weak minded.

The Gore's - a typical American nuclear family. [sorry, an irresistible pun]  Al Gore junior was a baby boomer, destined to invent exploit the Internet.

The Gore's... one of America's governing families. A sad by-product of a mutant Democracy where only two political parties are allowed to live, and where all other parties are euthanized at birth. The Gore's are a "Mad Bad Line" but they're  also just what the American people have grown accustomed to.  

According to all credible sources - the U.S. will strike Iran in a matter of day, not months. ... "Last week alone, two intelligence insiders, Major-General Danny Yatom and Efraim Halevy, both former Directors of the Mossad, Israel’s main external intelligence agency, said a military attack on Iran was imminent." [news from Israel Aug. 6/12]  USAF B2 bombers will strike at Iran's deepest bunkers and the USN will salvo  launch hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iranian military assets.     Let's hope that President Obama is not listening to the most rabid war-nuts in Washington.  Busting open Iran's nuclear storage facilities is a great way to spread radioactive contaminants, and some of the Iranians are just crazy enough to store dangerous nuclear waste products inside the known target areas. That will ensure that explosions and fires loft contaminants into the atmosphere and the White House will be forced to deal with the international political fallout certain to result from unnecessary attacks which irradiate the Iranian countryside. 

Gore Vidal's America - Neo paganism vs Orwellian Nightmare. Take your Pick

I haven't had to attend a funeral for several years, but I am aware of the fact that people do die, and some are very notable deaths.  I feel a loss when cultural icons pass on, and one of the more remarkable voices of our time, Gore Vidal, died just a few days ago.  In Vidal's case I do mean "voice" because my first exposure was not to his books, but rather his late night appearances on the TONIGHT SHOW (Johnny Carson) in the 1970s. For a kid attending a Catholic junior highschool in a decaying Tory enclave - Saint John, N.B., staying up late to watch Carson was a desperate attempt to absorb some sophistication.  At election time Vidal would share the guest couch with a bimbo plugging a movie and a stand-up comedian, merely to get in a few good zingers at the expense of the current Republican candidate.  Even though I knew Vidal was also mocking my budding political values, I enjoyed every witty word.  I often wondered if Vidal knew he was poking fun at the Canadian hinterland as much as to middle-America. Times change, people change, politics change - but I still admire Vidal's work.

I don't claim to have read many of his books. The man was so prolific that he wrote more in a lifetime than the average Canadian reads in a lifetime. Late in life he became a conspiracy theorist although he called himself a "conspiracy analyst".  One of lesser known books is a collection of essays entitled PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE. I don't have it but I've heard him speak on the issues and I certainly agree with his thesis that much of America's problem is that it antagonizes the World, and it doesn't know how to stop.  I also agree that America's commitment to a state of perpetual war, ("Defending Democracy" is the euphemism),  has become an ideological constant  very much akin to what the Communists call "permanent revolution" and which is fictionalized in Orwell's Nineteen-Eightyfour.  Vidal was an "isolationist Democrat" -  a very rare creature indeed.

PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE - if you want to check out what's covered in this book, the search page is at AMAZON.CA  - HERE

Obama - this is a man you all know and may even love. He also wrote a book. Have you read it?  As an antidote to carefully constructed autobiography might I recommend something a bit more honest? Try CONFRONT AND CONCEAL - Obama's Secret Wars And Surprising Use of American Power.  You can use the "Look Inside" feature at AMAZON.CA -  HERE.

Returning to todays subject... my favorite Gore Vidal novel has nothing to do with American culture.  It is JULIAN, published in 1964, which I found  time to read in 2003. Though dazzled by the story and the power of the prose, I felt I owed it to myself to compare fiction to conventional biography.  A week later I bought a copy of JULIAN the APOSTATE, by Giuseppe Ricciotti and also petitioned Uncle Google.  For too long I had carried in my head a simple construct of the reasons for the Fall of Rome -  a decadent society with an economy dependant on slave labour and fielding mercenary armies to protect its porous frontiers. I now understand the insidious role of organized Christianity which laboured to destroy Rome from within,  and then build the first Christian Empire atop and astride the ruins of what was Rome.  JULIAN was raised a Christian but later rejected its doctrines and devoted the remainder of his life to an attempt to restore the pagan gods to their rightful place at the centre of national culture.  

I can't help wondering about parallels in history. If we are truly, as some critics suggest, witnessing the  "Fall of the American Empire," then it stands to reason that we may also be witnessing the fall of the American God.   I grew up in a Canada where America's traditional values were freely mocked by opinion leaders - high school teachers, politicians, media celebrities and the like.  It took only one drawling reference to "Godless Communists" or "My Lord and Savior" to make a roomful of urban Canadians roll their eyes and groan in disdain. Be patient Canada... American Christianity is a shadow of what it was. Be also prepared for the Shock of the New. We are perhaps only a decade or two away from a legal requirement for NPR to broadcast the Islamic Muezzim's Call to Prayer, I hope I am still around, just to  witness Canadians who dare roll their eyes.

Vidal believed that the American government reaction to 9/11 did far more harm to his Nation than did the attack on New York by Bin Laden's assault team.  That is a just and reasoned verdict and it will stand the test of time. It matters not whether the American President is Christian or Muslim because it is not religion which is dividing their country. It matters a great deal that the U.S.A. is polarized politically, and that it's people fixate on the two-party system as if it were Democracy Perfected. To rely on the ideas and base motives of only two parties... (or two "brands") for another hundred years, is madness.  Some of Gore Vidal's ideas represent a heart felt slice of the alternative viewpoint which is derided by an arrogant media establishment, which has a vested interest in a two pony race.  A country which professes peace but constantly practices war is already Godless, and far more pagan than it realizes.

"BOMB The Hell Out of ..." somebody.  This was America in 1969. So what's changed?  Last week we read the news about America's new  SUPER - SUPER HEAVY bomb, now being readied to penetrate deeply buried nuclear bunkers in Iran... and to what end? How will they prevent the spread clouds of radioactive dust through the region?  read "Mega-Buster-Bunker-Bomb" on Wired.