Breivik Admits Murdering 77, Claims Self Defense As Lay Judge Is Replaced

The trial of Anders Breivik continues, and while a lay judge was replaced with an alternate, the focus should be on Breivik's strategy of claiming that he murdered 77 people in self-defense.

He claimed to be speaking as a commander of a Norwegian and European "anti-communist" resistance movement and an anti-Islam militant group he called the Knights Templar. Prosecutors have said the group does not exist.

Maintaining he acted out of "goodness not evil" to prevent a wider civil war, Breivik insisted, "I would have done it again."

The statement came after a citizen judge was dismissed Tuesday for his comments online the day following the July 22 attack that Breivik deserves the death penalty. Lawyers on all sides had requested that lay judge Thomas Indreboe be taken off the trial.

Breivik is being tried by a panel of two professional judges and three lay judges, local politicians who are appointed for four-year terms and participate on an equal basis as the judges in deciding guilt and sentencing. The system is designed to let ordinary people have a role in the Norwegian justice system, though the lead judge still runs the trial. Indreboe was replaced by backup lay judge Elisabeth Wisloeff.

This is a strategy that is destined to fail, particularly since none of children Breivik murdered actually engaged in acts that could ever be construed to be acts from which one would ever need to use violence to prevent harm to oneself.

The 69 people Breivik murdered at the youth camp at Utoya Island were not taking up arms or preparing for a war - that was Breivik. Breivik was acting in furtherance of his beliefs that he was the vanguard for a war against non-Norwegians; he was an Islamophobe and xenophobe. He hated those who weren't like himself, and vowed to take up arms in furtherance of his cause.

Now, he wraps himself in the belief that his actions were self-defense, which he's using in the most perverted of manners.

UPDATE:
Ausador at LGF provides a glimpse into the worldview and thinking of Breivik and why he could possibly think that he was engaging in acts of self-defense when carrying out mass murder. The presumption is that if you believe in the supremacy of "white" "culture", and see it beset upon all sides and nonwhites horning in on the culture and society of whites, then acts to protect the white culture is justified.

That's the general line of thinking, and it's an ideology shared by white nationalists in the US and across Europe, and it is a hate-filled ideology that justifies the use of violence to cleanse the world of non-white influences, ideology, and enforce the supremacy of whites.

Breivik's acts are a logical extension of this hate-fueled ideology.

Norwegian Right Wing Massacre Suspect Claims Self Defense

Anders Breivik made an appearance in an Oslo courtroom and was not only defiant about his course of action, but actually claimed that his murder of 77 people, including 69 people who were shot and killed on Utoya Island at a youth camp operated by a liberal political party, was self-defense.

Breivik further claimed that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case because it is comprised and derives authority from the same government he claims has no power and is subverting Norway through its multicultural policies.

In remarkable evidence played to a packed and shocked courtroom, recordings of cellphone calls made by the gunman to the police suggested that he tried twice to give himself up and simply went on killing in the absence of officers to accept his surrender. In the period after the first call to his final shot being fired, prosecutors said, 41 people died.

Anders Behring Breivik, 33, has admitted on several occasions that he carried out the rampage on July 22, in which 69 people were shot and killed on Utoya Island, near Oslo, where the youth wing of the governing Labor Party was holding a summer camp. Hours earlier, a car bombing in central Oslo killed eight people.

As the grisly evidence unfolded, and some of the bereaved families and survivors in the courtroom sobbed inconsolably, Mr. Breivik remained mostly impassive, and at one point seemed to a reporter watching him to stifle a yawn. Only as the court viewed a video that Mr. Breivik had made before the attacks to publicize his cause, did he break down in tears, dabbing at his face.

Asked by a judge on Monday whether he wished to plead guilty, Mr. Breivik said, “I acknowledge the acts, but I don’t plead guilty as I claim I was doing it in self-defense.” He had previously denied criminal responsibility on the ground that he was protecting Norway against Islamic immigration.

Mr. Breivik showed no emotion on Monday as the prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh solemnly and painstakingly intoned the names of the dead. “I do not recognize the Norwegian courts,” Mr. Breivik said at another point in the hearing. “You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism. I do not acknowledge the authority of the court.”

Hundreds of reporters and video crews have flooded into Oslo to cover Mr. Breivik’s hearings, which are evoking both drama and outrage as Norway relives the horror last summer that shattered its self-image as a well-ordered place of relative tranquillity and tolerance.

The bloody intrusion of urban terrorism into ordinary lives was rekindled in dozens of images of wreckage and explosions recorded by security cameras at the time of the Oslo bombing — before the killings on Utoya — and shown to the court on Monday, prompting survivors, bereaved families and journalists to gasp in shock, some of them covering their mouths with their hands.

Then, in perhaps the most wrenching moment of the first day’s hearing, the court heard a two-minute recording of the voice of an unidentified girl hiding in a toilet on the island. “He’s coming. He’s coming. Please...”

Then there was only the sound of shots being fired.

Let's not forget that Breivik believes that he was firing the first shots in a race war and he was defending white people from the others. It's racist and violent xenophobia at its most stark and naked core.

Within the past several weeks, several psychiatrists have examined him, and while two early examinations found him insane, a more recent examination found him competent to stand trial. His views are extreme, but that doesn't make him insane. He clearly seems to know right from wrong, which is something that goes to the core of whether someone can have criminal intent, particularly intent to kill.

Here, Breivik was knowingly and purposefully killing his victims because he believed that he was fighting against the Islamization-multicultural overtaking of Norway and its heritage. He understood that he was doing wrong, but did it anyways. He's providing justifications for his acts, but they are empty gestures by a hate-filled individual who shows no remorse for his actions. He clearly didn't have a problem with slaughtering dozens upon dozens of children to further his own agenda.

Disavowing Extremists But Accepting Their Support; Paul Continues Campaigning

Ron Paul is emblematic of what's wrong with politicians. He's on the record as espousing extremist views through a series of newsletters written in his name, with his name on the letterhead, and touted by Paul for years on end, but now that he's come in for far more scrutiny in the 2012 campaign season than he did in 2008 when these newsletters came to light, he's disavowed those newsletters and claims he didn't write them or know about them.

It's preposterous to think he didn't know the contents of these newsletters, but even granting him that, he still accepts support from the very kinds of people who espouse those kinds of conspiracies and extremist thoughts.

Don Black, director of the white nationalist Web site Stormfront, said in an interview that several dozen of his members were volunteering for Mr. Paul’s presidential campaign, and a site forum titled “Why is Ron Paul such a favorite here?” has no fewer than 24 pages of comments. “I understand he wins many fans because his monetary policy would hurt Jews,” read one.

Far-right groups like the Militia of Montana say they are rooting for Mr. Paul as a stalwart against government tyranny.

Mr. Paul’s surprising surge in polls is creating excitement within a part of his political base that has been behind him for decades but overshadowed by his newer fans on college campuses and in some liberal precincts who are taken with his antiwar, anti-drug-laws messages.

The white supremacists, survivalists and anti-Zionists who have rallied behind his candidacy have not exactly been warmly welcomed. “I wouldn’t be happy with that,” Mr. Paul said in an interview Friday when asked about getting help from volunteers with anti-Jewish or antiblack views.

But he did not disavow their support. “If they want to endorse me, they’re endorsing what I do or say — it has nothing to do with endorsing what they say,” said Mr. Paul, who is now running strong in Iowa for the Republican nomination.

The libertarian movement in American politics has long had two overlapping but distinct strains. One, backed to some degree by wealthy interests, is focused largely on economic freedom and dedicated to reducing taxes and regulation through smaller government. The other is more focused on personal liberty and constraints on government built into the Constitution, which at its extreme has helped fuel militant antigovernment sentiment.

Mr. Paul has operated at the nexus of the two, often espousing positions at odds with most of the Republican Party but assembling a diverse and loyal following attracted by his adherence to libertarian principles.

Mr. Paul’s calls for the end of the Federal Reserve system, a cessation of aid to Israel and all other nations and an overall diminishment of government power have natural appeal among far-right, niche political groups. Aides say that much of the support is unsolicited and that it is unfair to overlook the larger number of mainstream voters now backing him.

But a look at the trajectory of Mr. Paul’s career shows that he and his closest political allies either wittingly or unwittingly courted disaffected white voters with extreme views as they sought to forge a movement from the nether region of American politics, where the far right and the far left sometimes converge.

Paul's positions hew closely to those of extremists that want to push a gold standard, eliminate the Federal Reserve, and eliminate any and all kind of support for the State of Israel. Throwing all those positions together has brought together extremists of all stripes, including white supremacists, neo Nazis, and other kooks, and he has no problem continuing to garner support from the likes of Don Black with Stormfront.

Stormfront is a white supremacist group run by Black, who not only is a former Klansman, but was among the first to recognize the importance of the Internet in spreading his messages of hate and vitriol.

Instead of distancing himself completely from the likes of Black and his followers, Paul is riding a thin line between accepting their support and volunteer efforts and claiming that he doesn't stand or support those positions.

That just is insufficient. He must purge his group of these hate groups and their supporters, but doing so would essentially eviscerate his own limited campaigning operations since it would expose just how closely bound he is to the extremists.

Then again, his flailing and failing campaign will implode in coming weeks, and will be little more than a footnote in the campaign when all is said and done.

Geller's Anti-Islam Brigade Seeks Placement of Anti-Islam Ads On MTA Property

Anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller is at it again. When she's not busy battling the Park51 project near Ground Zero, she's busy trying to stop what she calls the Islamization of America (she enables a group by that name - SIOA).

Her latest bid is to demand that the MTA post an offensive advertisement that calls Muslims savages. Not some small segment of Muslims who engage in terrorism, but all Muslims. There's no fine line she's skirting here.

She's labeling the entire religion as savages, and it's little wonder that the MTA is not amenable to posting these offensive ads on their buses and subways.

Geller claims that the ads are truthful and speak to the craven actions of Islamic terrorists who have had a nonstop assault on Israel since it was founded and on Western targets for decades.

But she's again tarring the entire religion, and sees this as a clash of civilizations, rather than a small subset of the religion that seeks jihad. She also thinks that this is a free speech issue.

It is a free speech issue, but one that runs headlong into hate speech, and that's precisely the nature of this particular ad. It's hate speech at its most banal.

It also violates the MTA advertising guidelines, but as Benjamin Kabab points out, Geller has managed to get the MTA to pick up prior ads directed at Park51 - and the MTA benefits from the advertising fees ($10,000).

At the same time, the MTA doesn't need to deal with fending off a lawsuit at a time when its budget can ill afford to deal with this kind of craziness. But then again, one has to feel that the whole purpose of putting out this hateful advertisement and the MTA's refusal to post it has been newsworthy enough that Geller and her cohorts have gotten their money's worth from free publicity and news and blog accounts to make their point without having to get the MTA carry the advertising at all.

Oh, and for what it's worth, the Park51 project, a Muslim interfaith center with activities for the Lower Manhattan community opened up with no fanfare and no comment from the local community, although a Muslim prayer space has been operating for about two years. Funny how that worked out for Geller. With all their vitriol, the Park51 project, which was to convert the former Burlington Coat Factory building on Park Place into a major community center, was completely unsuccessful in stopping the project - but was completely successful in exposing the hateful ways of Geller and her cohorts.

The Park51 project intends to demolish the existing structures and replace it with a new center, but that portion is on hold pending financing.

Questions Arise Over Norwegian Police Response To Utoya Massacre

Norway continues to mourn and come to grips with the horrible terror attacks that killed more than 90 people.



As authorities continue their investigation into Anders Breivik and how he managed to murder more than 90 people, many of them teens at a youth camp on the island retreat of Utoya, there are new questions over the speed of the police response. It appears that police took more than an hour to arrive on the scene.

A SWAT team was dispatched to the island more than 50 minutes after people vacationing at a campground said they heard shooting across the lake, according to Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim. The drive to the lake took about 20 minutes, and once there, the team took another 20 minutes to find a boat.

Footage filmed from a helicopter that showed the gunman firing into the water added to the impression that police were slow to the scene. They chose to drive, Sponheim said, because their helicopter wasn’t on standby.

“There were problems with transport to Utoya,” where the youth-wing of Norway’s left-leaning Labor Party was holding a retreat, Sponheim said. “It was difficult to get a hold of boats.”

At least 82 people were killed on the island, but police said four or five people were still missing.

Divers have been searching the surrounding waters, and Sponheim said the missing may have drowned. Police earlier said there was still an unexploded device on the island, but it later turned out to be fake.

The latest reports indicate that Breivik acted alone, but that he left a 1,500 page manifesto that investigators will pore though to examine his motivations and for additional evidence.

He added that the actions had been planned for some time.

The suspect is reported to have had links with right-wing extremists.

Still pictures of him, wearing a wetsuit and carrying an automatic weapon, appeared in a 12-minute anti-Muslim video called Knights Templar 2083, which appeared briefly on YouTube.

A 1,500-page document written in English and said to be by Mr Breivik - posted under the pseudonym of Andrew Berwick - was also put online hours before the attacks, suggesting they had been years in the planning.

The document and the video repeatedly refer to multiculturalism and Muslim immigration; the author claims to be a follower of the Knights Templar - a medieval Christian organisation involved in the Crusades, and sometimes revered by white supremacists.

He spent years putting together this particular manifesto, and was quite meticulous in how he planned the attacks.

Mr Breivik went to elaborate lengths to conceal his purpose. People who wanted to visit were told he was busy with the summer harvest, though he knew nothing of farming. He was apparently content to let a rumour circulate that he had dropped out of circulation in shame over a homosexual affair.

Mr Breivik's manifesto-- “2083. A European Declaration of Independence”--also provides some insight into his motivations. His ideology appears to be a form of reactionary Christian fundamentalism, fuelled by hatred of Islam, Marxism and non-whites.

Page after page detail his thoughts on politics and society. He rails against the European Union, the United Nations and other transnational organisations. Norwegian politicians are castigated: the right-wing Progress Party (to which he once belonged) is condemned as too tame and the ruling Labour Party comes in for particularly vicious attack.

Mr Breivik’s hatred has stunned Norwegians. The country has a proud reputation as an international peace-broker, is home to the Nobel peace prize and has scant appetite for rightist radicalism. Even during its heyday under the Nazi occupation, Vidkun Quisling’s fascist Nasjonal Samling Party mustered no more than 2.5% of the vote. In 2009's general election, the neo-Nazi party Vigrid won just 179 votes.

The only serious far-right violent incident in recent years was the murder, in 2001, of Benjamin Hermansen, the 15-year-old son of a Norwegian mother and Ghanaian father. Two members of BootBoys, a neo-Nazi group, were convicted of the killing.

Haters Protesting Haters

The Westboro Baptists didn't take the Memorial Day weekend off. Instead, they were out protesting at Arlington National Cemetery, but they were greeted by none other than the Ku Klux Klan, which organized a counter protest.

Hours before President Barack Obama led the nation's Memorial Day observances at the Tomb of the Unknowns, three members of the Westboro Baptist Church were challenged by others who disagreed with them -- including members claiming to be from the Ku Klux Klan.

The Kansas-based church has attracted nationwide attention for its angry, anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. military members.

Among those counter-protesting at the cemetery's main entrance: About 10 members of a group that claims to be a branch of the Ku Klux Klan from Virginia called the Knights of the Southern Cross. They were cordoned off separately in a nearby area, but drew little attention as they gave out small American flags behind a banner that read "POW-MIA."

They said they were there to object to the Westboro Baptist Church's anti-troop message.

Anti-gay preacher once fought for civil rights

"It's the soldier that fought and died and gave them that right to free speech," said Dennis LaBonte, the self-described "Imperial Wizard" of the KKK group that he said he formed several years ago.

"That's fine," said Abigail Phelps, the daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps. "They have no moral authority on anything.

"People like them say it's white power ... white supremacy," Phelps said. "The Bible doesn't say anywhere that it's an abomination to be born of a certain gender or race."

LaBonte insisted he is not a racist nor a "hate-monger," but said he believes the white race is "slowly and most assuredly being denigrated."

Neo Nazi Rally In Trenton Protests Against Illegal Immigrants Fizzles In Drizzle

I don't just hate the Illinois Nazis. I hate them wherever they roam, and in this case, about 50 of these haters were busy railing against illegal immigrants down in Trenton.

Jason Heicke, NSM's chief of staff, said the rally was held to protest high property taxes, illegal immigration and the outsourcing of American jobs overseas. However, a racially charged atmosphere prevailed.

"We’re sick and tired of this government and it not working for the people," said Heicke, a lifelong New Jersey resident. "The problems out here locally are crime and high taxes and businesses leaving the state and that’s what we were out here to rally against."

Shouts of "white power" and "sieg heils" emanated from NSM members while about 150 counter-protesters shouted back, "Hey hey, ho ho, these Nazi scum have got to go."

Under rainy skies, the two rallies were framed by walls of police officers in riot gear, hundreds strong, who separated and surrounded both groups keeping them at least 100 yards apart at all times.

One counter-protestor, Trenton’s Bryant Williams, carried a sign reading "God don’t like Nazis so he made it rain."

Williams said he was befuddled by the neo-Nazis’ presence in the state capital.

"It’s 2011. We’ve got way more crazy things going on the world right now. We should be past this. It’s doesn’t make any sense. We’ve got a black president now. We should be past this."

State Police spokesman, Sgt. Stephen Jones, said officers from local, state and federal agencies were deployed for the event after NSM members and groups such as the Black Panthers and the Jewish Defense Organization, who decried the rally, traded barbs in the weeks leading up to the rally, raising fears of violence.

Police and the counterprotesters outnumbered these haters by a wide margin. While it is heartening that counterprotesters outnumbered the neo Nazi groups by a 3-1 margin, it's troubling that there are neo Nazi groups that are spreading a xenophobic, racist, and hate-filled message.

More Details Emerge About Kevin Harpham and the Spokane MLK Parade Bomb Plot

More details are emerging about Kevin Harpham's background and involvement in white supremacist groups in Idaho and Washington. While the Southern Poverty Law Center claims that Harpham was a member of the National Alliance, one of that group's members claims that he was never a member.

Yet, a member of another white supremacist group, Aryan Nations, claims that he and Harpham spoke quite a bit during the past decade about joining the group, but he never did so:

Erich Gliebe, the acting chairman of the National Alliance, contradicted the Southern Poverty Law Center's claims. Gliebe said he has been a member of the National Alliance since 1990 and didn't recognize Harpham's name. Gliebe added that the National Alliance, "has a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal activity. Anyone who even hints or jokes about illegal activity is not welcome in the organization."

Paul Mullet, the former self-proclaimed leader of the Aryan Nations , said that Harpham expressed interest in joining the Aryan Nations back in the mid-2000s. Mullet said Wednesday afternoon that he had about a dozen conversations with Harpham after he contacted him for information on joining the Aryan Nations. Mullet said that Harpham never joined the group.

It isn't surprising that these white supremacist groups are trying to disavow any knowledge about Harpham or alleged memberships since it could lead to still further law enforcement scrutiny into their actions.

Harpham has a mylife reference page (subscription required).

Arrest Made in Martin Luther King Day Bomb Incident In Spokane

A suspect has been arrested in the foiled bombing of a MLK Jr. parade in Spokane Washington. FBI and law enforcement were converging on a home near Spokane.

The bomb had a remote detonator and the ability to cause mass casualties, according to officials.

The bomb was defused without incident but unnerved residents of Spokane, especially those who took part in a parade whose theme was steeped in peace and nonviolence.

The attempt raised the possibility of a racial motive in a region that has been home to the white supremacist group Aryan Nations.

In addition to the bomb, the backpack contained two T-shirts that authorities analyzed for clues.

Officials praised as heroes the three city workers who spotted the backpack about an hour before the parade was to start on Jan. 17. They looked inside, saw wires and immediately alerted law enforcement.

The bomb was carefully placed on a metal bench with a brick wall behind that would have directed shrapnel toward Main Street, where marchers were expected to pass, investigators said.

Kudos go not only to investigators who broke the case, but the alert individuals who found the backpack and informed law enforcement in time to defuse the bomb before it could detonate to deadly effect.

UPDATE:
KHQ6, which made the initial reports, indicates that at least one person was arrested in connection with the case.

Viewers in Stevens County told KHQ at least nine FBI vehicles sped towards a house near Highway 395 south of Colville. At least two counter-assault vehicles were also at the house, according to the viewer.

City workers found a suspicious backpack along a parade route on Martin Luther King day where thousands of people were scheduled to march.

Additional photos of the device are also at the KHQ6 site.

UPDATE:
Perhaps not surprising, the Seattle Times is reporting that the person arrested has connections to a white supremacist group. White supremacists were considered likely suspects given the target and proximity to the haunts of many white supremacist and hate groups in Washington and nearby Idaho.

UPDATE:
We have a name:

A magistrate clerk at the U.S. District Court in Spokane tells The Associated Press that Kevin William Harpham, who was arrested Wednesday, is scheduled to make an initial appearance Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time.

He's 36 years old. He's being charged with one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and one count of knowingly possessing an improvised explosive device.

UPDATE:
The SPLC has more on Harpham's background (HT: Stanley Sea at LGF), which includes membership in the neo-Nazi National Alliance in late 2004. It isn't known whether he continued to be a member or joined with any other hate groups since then.

UPDATE:
More details about the takedown:

Records indicate Harpham is a registered voter, which suggests he has no prior felony convictions, and could explain why it took so long for a suspect to be identified.

Agents are in rural Stevens County searching Harpham’s home near Addy, which is south of Colville. Witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion that agents used to breach the front door.

Kevin Coy, who lives near the house being searched, said law enforcement took one of his neighbors into custody this morning as he drove across a bridge over the Colville River. In an interview with KHQ News, Coy described the suspect’s house as a trailer, and said there were lots of dogs around. He also said a blue four-door Honda was put on a trailer and removed by the federal agents.

Previously, federal officials had called the bomb a thwarted attempt at domestic terrorism and said the investigation would likely turn on forensic testing of the bomb, which had been sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation lab in Quantico, Va.