Alleged Norway Shooter Considered WMD Attack, Jihadi Alliance
Vocally anti-Muslim, Anders Breivik considered truce in order to obtain WMDs.
July 24, 2011 — -- The man suspected of killing more than 90 people in a bombing and separate shooting spree in Norway had considered a plan to obtain a weapon of mass destruction through a truce with extreme Islamists, despite his online anti-Muslim rants.
"We both share one common goal. They want control over their own countries in the Middle East and we want control of our own countries in Western Europe," reads part of a 1,500-page manifesto reportedly posted online by Anders Behring Breivik, apparently identifying himself with other right wing extremists. "An Islamic Caliphate is a useful enemy to all Europeans as it will ensure European unity under Christian cultural conservative leadership."
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The manifesto said it would be possible to obtain "one million USD worth of anthrax" and describes the necessary steps to convince Islamic terrorist groups to cooperate.
"Hamas and several Jihadi groups have labs and they have the potential to provide such substances. Their problem is finding suitable martyrs who can pass 'screenings' in Western Europe. This is where we come in," the manifesto says.
WATCH: Norway Terror Suspect's Video Manifesto
"Cultural conservatives" in Europe would carry out the attack, possibly in England, the manifesto says, claiming, "Both groups win if the attacks are successful."
However, Breivik eventually discounts the plan because he says the attacks would be extremely difficult and might be seen by Europeans as "traitorous and hypocritical," considering that cultural conservatives already criticize other groups for "cooperating with Muslims."
"An alliance with the Jihadists might prove beneficial to both parties but will simply be too dangerous (and might prove to be ideologically counter-productive)," the manifesto says.
National Security Director James Clapper told a Senate hearing in 2010 that at the time there was no information that any nations were providing assistance to terrorist groups in obtaining WMDs, but said "terrorists or insurgent organizations acting alone or through middlemen may acquire nuclear, chemical and/or biological weapons and may seek opportunistic networks as service providers."
According to the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, the U.S. intelligence community considers a chemical attack to be the most likely future "WMD scenario."
"Brevik's WMD idea is not realistic," former FBI agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said. "Plus it's not something that he can control. Obviously in his horrendous act on Friday, he acted alone. It's pretty easy for him to control when it's just him...Of course it would not work."
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