Anders Breivik 'Trained' for Shooting Attacks by Playing Call of Duty

THE GUARDIAN: Breivik tells court he practised his shot using a 'holographic aiming device' while playing video game

Anders Behring Breivik has described how he "trained" for the attacks he carried out in Norway last summer using the computer game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The 33-year-old said he practised his shot using a "holographic aiming device" he had bought to use with the war simulation game, which he said is used by armies around the world for training.

"You develop target acquisition," he said. He used a similar device during the shooting attacks that left 69 dead at a political youth camp on the island of Utøya on 22 July.

Describing the game, he said: "It consists of many hundreds of different tasks and some of these tasks can be compared with an attack, for real. That's why it's used by many armies throughout the world. It's very good for acquiring experience related to sights systems."

He added: "If you are familiar with a holographic sight, it's built up in such a way that you could have given it to your grandmother and she would have been a super marksman. It's designed to be used by anyone. In reality it requires very little training to use it in an optimal way. But of course it does help if you've practised using a simulator."

The prosecution asked Breivik if he was aware that "there are some bereaved people sitting here in the courtroom who lost children at Utøya". How do you think they are feeling, Breivik was asked. "They are probably reacting in a natural way, with disgust and horror," he said. » | Helen Pidd in Oslo | Thursday, April 19, 2012

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Breivik Wanted to Decapitate Former Norwegian Prime Minister, Kill Everyone on Utoya Island
THE WASHINGTON POST: OSLO, Norway — Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik planned to capture and decapitate former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland during his shooting massacre on Utoya island, he said Thursday.

Breivik told a court in Oslo that he planned to film the beheading and post the video on the Internet. Brundtland had already left the Labor Party’s youth camp on Utoya when Breivik arrived on July 22, after setting off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight people.

“The plan was to behead Gro Harlem Brundtland while it was being filmed,” Breivik told the court. » | Associated Press | Thursday, April 19, 2012

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Anders Behring Breivik originally planned three bomb targets: Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer, originally planned for a three-pronged bomb attack in Oslo that would have targeted the government district, the Labor Party's office and a third target, possible the royal palace, he told court. » | Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Trial – live »

LE FIGARO: Breivik dit s'être préparé au carnage avec des jeux video : Au quatrième jour de son procès, l'auteur du massacre de 77 personnes en juillet dernier en Norvège, a également expliqué que son objectif initial était de perpétrer trois attentats à la bombe suivis d'une fusillade. » | Par lefigaro.fr | jeudi 19 avril 2012

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Islamkonferenz: Friedrich verurteilt Aktivitäten radikal-islamischer Salafisten
DER TAGESSPIEGEL: Bundesinnenminister Friedrich zeigt Salafisten zum Auftakt der Islamkonferenz die rote Karte. Union-Fraktionschef Volker Kauder trat kurz vor Beginn der Konferenz in Opposition zum ehemaligen Bundespräsidenten Wulff.

Bundesinnenminister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) hat zum Auftakt der Islamkonferenz die Aktivitäten radikaler Salafisten verurteilt. „Religionsfreiheit ist ein hohes Gut“, sagte er am Donnerstag in Berlin. Es gehe aber nicht um die Verteilung des Koran.

„Die Salafisten wollen nicht für eine Religion werben, sondern für eine Ideologie.“ Friedrich fügte hinzu: „Wir lassen es nicht zu, dass uns die Salafisten mit ihrer Propaganda die Tagesordnung aufzwingen.“ Dennoch müsse ein klares Zeichen gesetzt werden. Salafisten hatten am vorigen Wochenende in deutschen Städten wieder kostenlos Koranexemplare verteilt und damit eine Debatte ausgelöst.

Einige Politiker wie Niedersachsens Innenminister Uwe Schünemann (CDU) forderten, das Thema auf die Tagesordnung der Islamkonferenz zu setzen. Weiter lesen und einen Beitrag hinzufügen » | Donnerstag, 19. April 2012

TAGESSPIEGEL: Koranverteilung: Marketing für Radikale – Die Behörden halten das kostenlose Verteilen des Koran auch für eine Aktion unter Salafisten – es geht um Einfluss und Rivalität. » | Von Andreas Dernbach | Samstag, 14. April 2012

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Merkel Ally Says Islam Not Part of Germany
REUTERS.COM: A leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said on Thursday that Islam did not belong to Germany, remarks sure to stir controversy as the government hosts a conference to improve the integration of Muslims.

A row over whether an ultra-conservative Salafist Muslim group should be allowed to hand out millions of free German translations of the Koran to non-Muslims had already raised tensions and threatened to overshadow the conference.

"Islam is not part of our tradition and identity in Germany and so does not belong to Germany," Volker Kauder, head of Merkel's conservative bloc in parliament, told the Passauer Neue Presse.
"But Muslims belong to Germany. As state citizens, of course, they enjoy their full rights." » | Reuters | BERLIN | Thursday, April 19, 2012

Verwandt »

Volker Kauder: "Der Islam gehört nicht zu Deutschland"
WELT ONLINE: Vor der Islamkonferenz widerspricht Volker Kauder Ex-Bundespräsident Christian Wulff: "Der Islam ist nicht Teil unserer Tradition." Trotzdem gehörten Muslime zu Deutschland.

Vertreter des Staates und der Muslim-Verbände kommen an diesem Donnerstag zu neuen Beratungen im Rahmen der sogenannten Islamkonferenz zusammen. Unmittelbar zuvor widersprach Unionsfraktionschef Volker Kauder (CDU) erneut der Aussage des damaligen Bundespräsidenten Christian Wulff, der Islam sei ein Teil Deutschlands.

"Der Islam ist nicht Teil unserer Tradition und Identität in Deutschland und gehört somit nicht zu Deutschland", wiederholte Kauder in der "Passauer Neuen Presse". "Muslime gehören aber sehr wohl zu Deutschland. Sie genießen selbstverständlich als Staatsbürger die vollen Rechte."

Auf der Konferenz in Berlin soll auch die umstrittene Verteilung des Korans durch radikalislamische Salafisten zur Sprache kommen. Das kündigte Bundesinnenminister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) als Veranstalter des Gesprächsforums an. "Religion darf nicht für ideologische Machtansprüche missbraucht werden. Diese Botschaft muss auch von der Deutschen Islamkonferenz ausgehen", sagte er. » | dpa/mcz | Donnerstag, 19. April 2012

TAGESZEITUNG (BERLIN) – TAZ.DE: Kauder macht den „Kreuzritter“: Vor Beginn der Islamkonferenz hat CDU-Politiker Kauder bekräftigt, dass Muslime zu Deutschland gehören, der Islam aber nicht. Die SPD kritisiert ihn als letzten „Kreuzritter der Union“. » | Donnerstag, 19. April 2012

Breivik nennt sich selbst "risikoperverse Person"
WELT ONLINE: Der norwegische Massenmörder Anders Behring Breivik hat sich am vierten Prozesstag zu den Vorbereitungen auf sein Attentat geäußert: Er nahm sich ein Jahr frei und spielte "World of Warcraft".

Der norwegische Massenmörder Anders Behring Breivik hat zu Beginn des vierten Prozesstages zum ersten Mal auf seinen rechtsextremen Gruß mit ausgestrecktem rechtem Arm und geballter Faust verzichtet.

Angehörige seiner Opfer hatten ihn am Vorabend darum gebeten. Nachdem ihm die Handschellen abgenommen wurden, sprach der Attentäter stattdessen länger mit seinem Anwalt. Er wirkte gefasster als am Vortag, als ihn Staatsanwältin Inga Bejer Engh in die Enge getrieben hatte.

Am Donnerstag sollte der 33-Jährige zu seinen Vorbereitungen für die Attentate mit 77 Toten im vergangenen Sommer befragt werden. Staatsanwalt Svein Holden begann mit Breiviks Mitgliedschaft bei den Freimaurern und seiner finanziellen Situation. "Ich war eine ziemlich risikoperverse Person", sagte Breivik zu seinen finanziellen Transaktionen. Ein Jahr lang "World of Warcraft" » | dpa/cor | Donnerstag, 19. April 2012

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Breivik Thought [He] Had Slim Chance to Survive Bombing
ASSOCIATED PRESS: OSLO, Norway (AP) — Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik thought he had only a slim chance of escaping Norway's capital alive after setting off a bomb in the government district on July 22, he told a court Thursday.

The anti-Muslim extremist said he had expected to be confronted by armed police when he left Oslo for a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya island, where he killed 69 people in a shooting massacre.

"I estimated the chances of survival as less than 5 percent," he said.

Police only cordoned off the area directly affected by the blast, and no one stopped Breivik as he drove to the island dressed in a homemade uniform and armed with a rifle and a handgun he said he had named after weapons used by Norse gods.

A total of 77 people were killed in the twin attacks.

On the fourth day of his trial, Breivik entered the Oslo district court without the clenched-fist salute he had used in previous hearings. His lawyers had advised him against it after complaints by survivors of the massacre and relatives of victims. » | Karl Ritter, Associated Press | Thursday, April 19, 2012

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Egypt’s Islamic Grand Mufti Makes Rare Visit to Jerusalem after Decades of Opposition
THE REPUBLIC: CAIRO — A top Egyptian Islamic cleric paid a rare visit to Jerusalem Wednesday, breaking with decades of opposition by Muslim leaders on traveling to areas under Israeli control.

The Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa wrote on his Twitter account that the symbolic visit was in solidarity with the Palestinians' claim to east Jerusalem, under Israel's control since it was captured in the 1967 Mideast war. He prayed in the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, during his two-hour visit.

Gomaa called the trip an unofficial visit, clearly an attempt to defuse criticism he is already facing for breaking an unofficial ban by Muslim clerics and most Egyptian professional and private associations on visiting Israel or Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories. The Egyptian Coptic Church, and most Muslim clerics around the region generally uphold the ban as well. » | Sarah El Deeb | Associated Press | Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Islamic Awareness Week Aims to Knock Down Misconceptions
JC ONLINE: With hijabs to try on, Middle Eastern recipes to taste, and copies of the Quran on display, Islamic Awareness Week is in full swing at Purdue University.

In a tent at Memorial Mall Wednesday, members of the Muslim Student Association shared information about Muslim culture.

"This is very important and a pleasure to all of us," Purdue graduate student Sameer Mojlish said. "Students come to ask us questions (about our religion and culture) and it's a great opportunity to share with them our faith and beliefs."

Mojlish was one of several students in the tent representing Islam, a culture many Muslims feel is often misrepresented and undervalued in the media. » | William Murrell | Thursday, April 19, 2012

Le gouvernement Cameron perd le soutien de l'opinion
LE FIGARO: Les baisses d'impôts pour les plus riches et une série de bourdes font plonger le premier ministre dans les sondages.

Fin de l'état de grâce. Après avoir conservé le soutien de l'opinion plus d'un an et demi après son accession au pouvoir, en mai 2010, malgré une politique d'austérité sans précédent, le gouvernement de David Cameron plonge dans les sondages. Depuis un mois, l'écart se creuse entre le Parti conservateur, au pouvoir au sein d'une coalition avec les libéraux-démocrates, et le Parti travailliste, dans l'opposition, jusque-là au coude-à-coude. » | Par Florentin Collomp | Londres | mercredi 18 avril 2012

Psychogramm: Warum Breivik weinte

ZEIT ONLINE: Der Attentäter Breivik zeigt während des Prozesses in Norwegen kein Mitgefühl mit den Opfern. Ihn rührt nur die eigene Propaganda.

Was bewegt diesen Mann? Diese Frage beschäftigt in dieser Woche alle Anwesenden im Osloer Amtsgericht. Fünf Tage lang darf der Terrorangeklagte Anders Behring Breivik seine Motive für die Angriffe in Oslo und auf Utøya am 22. Juli vorigen Jahres erklären. Angriffe, die für die meisten Zuhörer völlig unbegreiflich sind, von denen Breivik selbst aber sagt, sie seien "notwendig" gewesen.

Breivik erklärt sich deutlich: "Ich habe die raffiniertesten, spektakulärsten und brutalsten Attentate verübt, die seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg von einem militanten Nationalisten begangen wurden", sagte er am Dienstag vor Gericht. Danach las er eine 13-seitige Erklärung seiner Motive vor. Der Terror habe die norwegische und europäische Kulturelite erschreckt, stellt er fest. "Ich und meine revolutionären, nationalistischen Brüder und Schwestern stellen ihren schlimmsten Albtraum dar." » | Von Johan Falnes | Mittwoch, 18. April 2012

Verwandt »

Anders Behring Breivik Reflects Changing Face of Modern Far Right

THE GUARDIAN: Like many recent far-right activists, Breivik sees Islam as the main enemy and draws inspiration from the Serbian conflict

Anders Behring Breivik has no coherent ideology. Instead he appears to have picked bits of numerous rightwing philosophical strands and attempted to weave them together and present them as his own.

Breivik comes from a culturally conservative Christian background, and this has shaped much of his political outlook. Into this he has incorporated more traditional nationalist and racist ideologies and adopted the politics and language of the "counter-Jihad" movement which believes Islam is a major threat to western civilisation.

Immigration and multiculturalism are seen as the Trojan horses through which Islam is gaining a foothold in the west, and in targeting government buildings and the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour Party he was attacking those who he blamed for the rise of Islam. » | Nick Lowles | Wednesday, April 18, 2012

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Threat Of Islam In The West

Bill Warner Speech on Islam

Unemployment Soars in Paris banlieues
Immigration and the economy have become central issues in the French presidential election. For the youth in the largely immigrant poor neighbourhoods outside Paris, known as banlieues, an unemployment rate four times the national average has brought both issues to a head. Al Jazeera's Charlie Kaufman reports from Paris.

Breivik Says He Killed to 'Protect' Norway
Anders Behring Breivik has admitted he killed 77 people in bomb and shooting attacks in Norway last July, as he appeared for the second day of his trial in an Oslo court.

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Abu Qatada Allowed to Appeal Deportation as Home Office Accused of Arrest Blunder

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The deportation of Abu Qatada descended into chaos today as it emerged the Home Office may have ordered his arrest too early meaning he still has time to appeal.

The Home Office believed that the three month deadline for Qatada to appeal had run out at midnight on Monday, and arrested him at his home ahead of his deportation.

However today his lawyers launched an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights arguing he still had a further 24 hours in which to launch his bid.

It could pave the way for a lengthy legal dispute and allow Qatada's lawyers to argue for him to be released again on bail.

Qatada's legal team claims that judges at the European Court of Human Rights were wrong three months ago when they ruled that he would not be at risk of torture if returned to Jordan, a court spokeswoman said.

The court's Grand Chamber will decide whether to hear his appeal, but the radical cleric, once described by a judge as Osama bin Laden's right hand man in Europe, cannot be deported until the court has reached a decision. » | Tom Whitehead, Security Editor | Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Breivik Wants Death Penalty or Acquittal
ASSOCIATED PRESS: OSLO, Norway — Norway's prison terms are "pathetic," mass killer Anders Behring Breivik declared Wednesday in court, claiming the death penalty or a full acquittal were the "only logical outcomes" for his massacre of 77 people.

The right-wing fanatic said he doesn't fear death and that militant nationalists in Europe have a lot to learn from al-Qaida, including their methods and glorification of martyrdom.

"If I had feared death I would not have dared to carry out this operation," he said, referring to his July 22 attacks — a bombing in downtown Oslo that killed eight people and a shooting massacre at a youth camp outside the Norwegian capital that killed 69.

Breivik's comments, on the third day of his terror trial, came as he was pressed to give details on the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to but which prosecutors say doesn't exist as he describes. Several unrelated groups claim part of that "Knights Templar" name.

The 33-year-old Norwegian acknowledged that his supposed crusader network is "not an organization in a conventional sense" but insisted that it is for real.

"It is not in my interest to shed light on details that could lead to arrests," he said refusing to comment on the group's alleged other members.

The issue is of key importance in determining Breivik's sanity, and whether he's sent to prison or compulsory psychiatric care for the bomb-and-shooting massacre that shocked Norway.

If found sane, Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society. If declared insane he would be committed to psychiatric care for as long as he's considered ill.

"I view 21 years in prison as a pathetic sentence," Breivik said.

Asked by the prosecutor if he would rather have received a death penalty — which does not exist in current Norwegian law — he said that made sense. » | Karl Ritter, Associated Press | Wednesday, April 18, 2012


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Appell an syrische Diktatoren-Gattin: "Liebe Asma, stoppe Deinen Mann"
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Es ist eine dramatische Videobotschaft an die Frau des Tyrannen: Diplomaten-Gattinnen appellieren an Asma al-Assad, gegen das Morden in Syrien aufzubegehren. Die gebürtige Britin aber fiel bisher eher als schönes Gesicht der Diktatur auf.


Es beginnt mit einem Bild wie aus dem Modekatalog. Eine 36-Jährige, große Sonnenbrille, ebenmäßig gepudertes Gesicht, edle Klamotte. "Liebe Asma", steht darunter, "einigen Frauen geht es um Stil". Schnitt. Es folgt ein verwackeltes Handy-Video, eine Frau mit Baby auf dem Arm, Angst im Blick. "Und einigen Frauen geht es um ihr Volk." So lautet der Untertitel. Schnitt.

Dann wieder Asma, den Blick in die Ferne, weit unter ihr die Stadt. "Manche Frauen kämpfen um ihr Image." Schnitt. Wilde Szenerie, ein Mädchen läuft durchs Bild, sucht Deckung: "Und manche kämpfen um ihr Überleben." Es folgen Bilder blutverschmierter, verletzter, sterbender Kinder. Kontraste, die den Zuschauer erschaudern lassen: Hier die Hochglanzaufnahmen von Asma al-Assad, der Frau des Diktators. Und dort die verwackelten Bilder ihrer Landsleute, auf die Syriens Machthaber Baschar al-Assad schießen lässt. Seit nunmehr einem Jahr. » | Von Sebastian Fischer, Washington | Dienstag, 17. April 2012

Radical Islamists Taking Over French Suburbs, Le Pen Says
REUTERS.COM: Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen accused France's government on Thursday of surrendering poor suburbs to Islamic radicals and demanded more focus on the nation's security failings just weeks before a presidential election.

Le Pen, third in opinion polls, was speaking in the wake of the killing of three Jewish children, a rabbi and three soldiers in Toulouse. Their suspected killer, Mohamed Merah, a French citizen with Algerian origins, was killed in a hail of bullets on Thursday in a police siege.

"The government is scared," said Le Pen, who took the reins of France's anti-immigrant National Front party from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen last year.

"I've been saying this for 10 years. Entire districts are in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists and I say it again today the danger is underestimated," she told France Info radio.

"The reality dawning on the French people is that social and civil peace has been bought in a number of districts and that price is the development of (fundamentalist) networks," she said, estimating there were thousands of Islamic militants in France. » | Brian Love | Thursday, March 22, 2012