NORWAY – AT 10:17 A.M. ET:  The death toll continues to rise, with 84 now confirmed dead at the youth camp attacked by at least one gunman yesterday.  We say "at least" because eyewitnesses say they saw a second gunman.  His existence is unconfirmed.  Eyewitness reports can be notoriously inaccurate.  There may have been a second gunman, there may not have been.

It now appears the shooting at the camp went on for two hours.  Two hours in which children were sitting ducks.  It appears there was no security provided at all, with no one nearby trained in defense, no one with a weapon.  I don't wish to sound political, or to wave the National Rifle Association flag, but this is what happens when only the criminals have guns. 

I watched the Norwegian prime minister on TV in the middle of the night.  It was like watching a town official in the United States.  We reported yesterday that Norway drives American security people crazy because it doesn't take terrorism seriously, and never believed it could happen in Norway.  It can happen in Norway.

The alleged shooter had bought six tons of fertilizer, which is used to make explosives.  It was sold to him by a supply house, but the house did not feel the sale was suspicious because the purchaser, now the alleged gunman, was involved in agriculture.  Gee.  Six tons sounds like a lot for a small farming operation.

The alleged shooter, who also presumably set off the huge bomb in Oslo earlier in the day, is described as a "Christian conservative" with right-wing views, and was associated with extremist groups.  I'd be awfully careful about descriptions at this point.  The international left is going to have a field day with this one, and I can just hear the leftist commentators in the United States trying to link the horror in Norway to, say, the thinking of the Tea Party in America.  After all, that is exactly what they did after the Tucson shooting.  In Tucson, the alleged shooter turned out to be a mental case with no known politics.

It is remarkable to watch reporters contrast the violence in Norway to the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by that country.  The cynicism flows.  The Nobel Peace Prize has become a bad joke, but to some on the left it is still an iconic award.   I mean, they gave it to Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, didn't they?

Already the foreign minister of Norway, who reflects the naiveté of his society, is lecturing Norwegians about not jumping to conclusions after terror attacks.  Many did assume, in the first hours, that this assault was the work of Al Qaeda.  The foreign minister was quick to say that most political violence in Norway comes from the right.  He did not add that most terror violence in the world comes from jihadists, but he's a major-league appeaser, so why ruin the party line?

We'll keep you posted if anything is new. 

July 23,  2011