The bombing and shootings in Norway overshadowed Key’s meeting with Obama. But he was quick to exploit Norway’s tragedy for political gain saying: “I think what it shows is no country large or small is immune from risk [of ‘global’ terrorism] and that’s why New Zealand plays its part in Afghanistan.”
In reality, the gunman, who also appears to have been the bomber, was a Norwegian connected to rightwing groups. He was attacking the country’s Labour government and the youth wing of the Labour party. Quite how being in Afghanistan protects us from violent rightwingers, I don’t know.
Just to make that clear:
A Norwegian police official says the man suspected of the Oslo bombing and a shooting at a youth camp does not appear to be linked to Islamist terrorism.
The official says the attacks probably have more in common with the 1995 attack on a US federal building in Oklahoma City than the September 11, 2001 attacks.
He says the suspect appears to have acted alone, and “it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organisations at all”.
“It seems it’s not Islamic-terror related,” the official said. “This seems like a madman’s work.”
After the Madrid bombings, Spain’s rightwing government tried to hide the truth of who was behind the attacks. They blamed the Basque to justify a campaign against ETA. That opportunism led to the downfall of the government.
Key, of course, has been sickeningly opportunistic, but not that bad. He just jumped on an opportunity to justify continuing the military deployments in Afghanistan. He still needs to apologise to the people of Norway for crassly using their hour of pain for his domestic political purposes.
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