With so much speculation surrounding the issue, what were the real motives behind Breivik's attacks?
By Mark Levine
A virtue of Anders Breivik’s 1,500 page opus is that, by so thoroughly and heavily citing the leaders of the anti-Islam creed, his arguments are inseparable from theirs. Indeed, the more honest anti-Islam crusaders have declared that while his actions are condemnable, his ideas deserve a fair hearing.
What Americans should take note of is the fact that so many of the voices that inspired Breivik’s murderous action come from these shores, not Europe. Not merely cable personalities like Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck but former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, current and former military leaders and wealthy businessmen have all signed onto the Islamophobia bandwagon driven by the so-called experts like Daniel Pipes or Robert Spencer, whose primary target besides Muslims is, like Breivik, progressive intellectual, cultural and political voices.
“We think the price was worth it.”
These words were uttered by then Secretary of State Madeline Albright during a May 1996 60 Minutes interview with Leslie Stahl. She was not talking about the cost of renovating the the Harry S. Truman building that serves as the headquarters for the State Department, or even the price of a new fleet of custom jets to shuttle senior officials between various Middle Eastern hotspots.
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