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CCI Conference on Corporate Communication 2012
Edited by Dr Michael Goodman
On 22 July 2011, a car bomb explodes at 15:25 within Regeringskvartalet , the center of the Norwegian national government in Oslo. The bomb exploded next to the Prime Minister's office and other government buildings, killing eight persons and wounding several others. Two hours later another attack was launched on the island of Utøya, where the Workers Youth League (Norwegian Labor Party) had organized an annual youth camp. A man disguised as a policeman fired at the participants and killed 69, mainly very young, persons. Anders Behring Breivik (from now on referred to as "the perpetrator") was arrested by the police at Utøya at 18:35 h. and taken into custody.
In August, 2012, he was found guilty of perpetrating the mass killing and the attacks. The perpetrator had political motives, is a right-wing extremist and has communicated his beliefs and plans through different channels. He posted a 1,518 page, 2083 - A European Declaration of Independence, just before he committed the attacks. This manifesto is filled with extremist political critique as well as terrorism instructions. In the introduction, the perpetrator writes that he sends the manifesto to "one of my former 7,000 patriotic Facebook friends or you are the friend of one of my FB friends". He attacks persons with different political opinions as well as the mass media for "not telling us the full truth about the scale and consequences of Muslim immigration" ([16] Manifesto, 2011, p. 698). In another section, the perpetrator meticulously describes the most effective means for achieving one's goals. As an example, the perpetrator recommends his companions appear moderate, dress normally and sound and act like well-educated European senior conservatives. Using Lacoste shirts is preferred ([16] Manifesto, 2011, p. 842)
Right after the attacks, rumors about who was responsible were spread in several news media, which is typical after terror attacks ([9] Canel, 2012). Some news media and experts concluded that an Islamic terrorist group was probably responsible. In the Washington Post a reporter first quoted another news outlet, Weekly Standard:
We don't know if al Qaeda was directly responsible for today's events, but in all likelihood the attack was launched by part of the jihadist hydra. Prominent jihadists...