In Norway, a monster saw himself as a hero of his race

It would not be worth mentioning that there are people making excuses for Anders Behring Breivik’s barbarism except to provide a warning that even a homicidal maniac can find allies among the likewise twisted and fearful.

Breivik killed at least 76 people, most of them young campers, in viciously coordinated attacks Friday in Norway.

The first prong of the attack was a massive bomb planted in downtown Oslo outside government offices, including that of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Seven people died there.

The second and even more insidious prong stabbed at the heart of anyone who ever sent a child to camp. Posing as a police officer, Breivik went to Utoya, an island outside Oslo, and opened fire at the annual camp organized by the youth wing of Stoltenberg’s Labour Party. The death toll from that attack is now reported at 68.

There is irony in the fact that initial news reports of the bombing included background information about a terrorist plot in Norway by three foreign-born Norwegian residents suspected of being affiliated with al-Qaida and Islamist threats received by Norway in the past over its participation in the war in Afghanistan.

As it turns out, the attack was not planned by Islamists, it was aimed at anyone who didn’t hate Muslims with the same white-hot intensity as Breivik.

There is no understanding the workings of a mind such as Breivik’s or other terrorists foreign or domestic who choose innocent victims to make their political points.

Not understanding why someone does something unthinkable does not, however, excuse their doing it.

Knowing right from wrong

Breivik’s lawyer is already describing him as insane, which may carry more weight in a European court than one in the United States. Here, our definition of legal insanity hinges on the person’s ability or inability to know what they’re doing is illegal.

The cunning with which Breivik prepared for his murderous assaults, which could even include buying a farm so as to give him access to fertilizer for his bomb, precludes any claim that he didn’t understand what he was doing.

He saw immigrants to Norway, especially Muslim immigrants, as a threat to his way of life. He described himself as “a real European hero,” “the savior of Christianity” and “the greatest defender of cultural-conservatism in Europe since 1950.”

And to that end, he set out to kill innocent men, women and children. Alarmingly, Breivik has already found some defenders in ethnic purity movements in other countries, including Great Britain and Italy. These defenders say that while they don’t condone what he did, they understand his frustration.

To claim to understand Breivik is to understand Osama bin Laden, Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin and a far-too-long list of others who demanded allegiance or purity of one sort or another. In each case, their preferred method of responding to dissent was death.

Among decent human beings, there is no understanding for mass murderers, only pity, contempt and an overwhelming desire to see justice for their victims.