Early reports quote witnesses as describing the Oslo suspect who is in custody as “blond,” “Nordic-looking,” and “Norwegian.” Naturally, MSNBC is going up in a balloon over this, reporting that a “specialist in Islamic movements” is “caution[ing] that widespread assumptions that the attacks were connected to international terrorism could be wrong.” The expert, Magnus Ranstorp, concludes that the description of the suspect points “to an internal rather than an external extremist.”
Again, it is premature to draw conclusions at this stage. Still, having debated the subject of profiling for years, I am always amazed at how quickly the people who say we must not profile become committed profilers when it suits their purposes.
In point of fact, if one of what appears to be several conspirators is neither a Muslim nor from an Islamic country, that does cut against the likelihood that this is another episode of Islamic terrorism. On the other hand, there are facts and circumstances that cut in the other direction – including that a jihadist organization has already claimed responsibility; that most terrorism is carried out by Islamists; that al Qaeda and other jihadist groups have for years been seeking European and American recruits (precisely because such operatives would defy the profile, drawing less suspicion); that al Qaeda tried to attack Oslo last year; and that Mullah Krekar recently appeared to threaten attacks if legal action were taken against him, and now legal action has been taken against him.
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