DAILY NEWS, BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY Local • Nation/world MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2012 - PAGE 5A Norway killer admits massacre, claims self-defense By KARL RITTER land. before the attacks, Breivik wrote The Associated Press The anti-Muslim militant that “patriotic resistance fighters” OSLO, Norway — With a defi- described himself as a writer, cur- should use trials “as a platform to ant closed-fist salute, a right-wing rently working from prison, when further our cause.” fanatic admitted today to a bomb- asked by the judge for his After he surrendered, Breivik and-shooting massacre that killed employment status. had told investigators he is a 77 people in Norway, but pleaded He claims he targeted the gov- resistance fighter in a far-right not guilty to criminal charges, ernment headquarters in Oslo and militant group modeled after the saying he was acting in self- the youth camp to strike against Knights Templar – a Western defense. the left-leaning political forces he Christian order that fought during On the first day of his long- blames for allowing immigration the crusades. Police, however, awaited trial, Anders Behring in Norway. have found no trace of any orga- Breivik rejected the authority of If deemed mentally competent, nization and say he acted alone. the court as it sought to assign Breivik would face a maximum “In our opinion, such a net- responsibility for the July 22 prison sentence of 21 years or an work does not exist,” prosecutor attacks that shocked Norway and alternate custody arrangement Svein Holden told the court jolted the image of terrorism in under which the sentence is pro- today. Europe. longed for as long as an inmate is In his manifesto, Breivik Dressed in a dark suit and deemed a danger to society. described the supposed group’s sporting a thin beard, Breivik Breivik wants to be judged as a initiation rites, oaths and the smiled as a guard removed his sane person and will call radical “clenched fist salute” that he used handcuffs in the crowded court Islamists, and extremists on the in court, symbolizing “strength, room. The 33-year-old then right and left to testify to support honor and defiance against the flashed his salute before shaking “his perception that there is a war Marxist tyrants of Europe.” hands with prosecutors and court going on in Europe,” his defense After blowing up parts of the officials. lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told the government building and shoot- “I don’t recognize Norwegian court. Lippestad said Breivik ing dozens to death on Utoya courts because you get your man- wants to read a new document island, Breivik surrendered to date from the Norwegian political Hakon Mosvold Larsen/AP he’s written at the start of his tes- police 1 hour and 20 minutes Accused Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik gestures today as he arrives at a courtroom in Oslo, Norway. after he arrived on Utoya. The parties who support multicultural- After opening statements, Breivik is expected to testify for five days, explaining why he set off a bomb in timony Tuesday. ism,” Breivik said in his first com- While Norway has a legal prin- police response to his terror spree downtown Oslo, killing eight, and then shot to death 69 people, mostly teenagers, at a Labor Party youth was slowed by a series of ments to the court. camp on Utoya island, outside the Norwegian capital. ciple of preventive self-defense, Eight people were killed in that doesn’t apply to Breivik’s mishaps, including the lack of an Breivik’s bombing of Oslo’s gov- wing extremists and radical the killing spree, wiping away sure that there are many injured.” case, said Jarl Borgvin Doerre, a operating police helicopter and ernment district and 69 were slain Islamists to testify during the trial, tears on his cheek with trembling More than a dozen shots in legal expert who has written a the breakdown of an overloaded in his shooting massacre at the to show that others also share his hands. close succession could be heard book on the concept. “It is obvi- boat carrying a commando team left-leaning Labor Party’s youth view of clashing civilizations. After a lunch break, Breivik as Taarnes fell silent. ous that it has nothing to do with to the island. camp on Utoya island outside the Norway’s NRK television was was again expressionless as he “Are you still there?” the preventive self-defense,” Doerre Breivik called police twice, capital. Breivik has said the broadcasting parts of the trial live, watched prosecutors present sur- police officer asked. told The Associated Press. saying he wanted to turn himself attacks were necessary to protect but was not allowed to show veillance footage of the Oslo “Yes,” she whispered. She fell Police sealed off the streets in. In one of the calls, played in Norway from being taken over by Breivik’s testimony. explosion. The blast ripped silent again, breathing into the around the Oslo court building, court today, he identified himself Muslims. During today’s opening ses- through the high-rise building phone as more shots cracked in where journalists, survivors and as a commander of “the Norwe- “I admit to the acts, but not sion, he remained stone-faced and that housed government head- the background. relatives of victims watched the gian resistance movement” and criminal guilt,” he told the court, motionless as prosecutors read the quarters, blowing out windows Taarnes escaped the massacre proceedings today in a 200-seat said he had “just completed an insisting he had acted in self- indictment on the terror and mur- and filling surrounding streets unharmed and is scheduled to tes- courtroom built specifically for operation on behalf of Knights defense. der charges, with descriptions of with smoke and debris. tify later in the trial. this trial. Templar.” The key issue to be resolved how each victim died, and when He didn’t flinch as prosecutors Breivik also announced he Thick glass partitions were put When the operator asked him during the 10-week trial is the they explained how he prepared played a three-minute recording doesn’t recognize the authority of up to separate the defendant from to repeat himself, Breivik sound- state of Breivik’s mental health, for the attacks. of a young woman’s frantic Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen, victims and their families, many ed irritated and hung up. which will decide whether he is But Breivik suddenly became phone call to police from Utoya. because he said she is friends of whom are worried that Breivik — Associated Press writers sent to prison or into psychiatric emotional when prosecutors “Shots have been fired,” with the sister of former Norwe- will use the trial to promote his Bjoern H. Amland and Julia care. Anxious to prove he is not showed an anti-Muslim video that Renate Taarnes, 22, said with gian Prime Minister and Labor extremist political ideology. In a Gronnevet contributed to this insane, Breivik will call right- he had posted on YouTube before panic in her voice. “I’m pretty Party leader Gro Harlem Brundt- manifesto he published online report. U.N.’s ban: Syria must AFGHANISTAN allow observers full access Haqqani network blamed for attacks By ZEINA KARAM The Associated Press By RAHIM FAIEZ numbers showed that there was BEIRUT — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today and DEB RIECHMANN contact between a remote area in the Syrian government is responsible for guaranteeing U.N. The Associated Press Afghanistan and the Pakistani observers full freedom of movement to monitor the country’s ten- KABUL, Afghanistan — side of the border,” he said. “The uous cease-fire, which appeared to be unraveling as regime Afghan officials blamed a Haqqani network was behind the forces pounded the opposition stronghold of Homs, activists said. brazen series of weekend attacks attack.” Even though the overall level on the Haqqani militant network, Still Afghan officials may “It is the Syrian of violence across Syria has saying today that fighters cap- have political motivations for dropped significantly since the tured in the assault claimed they pointing the finger at Haqqani. government’s truce took effect Thursday, the were affiliated with the insurgent Afghan and U.S. officials are responsibility government’s shelling of Homs trying to coax the Taliban fight- over the weekend raised fresh faction tied to the Taliban and al- to guarantee Qaida. ers – who are not as closely doubts about President Bashar linked with al-Qaida as the Assad’s commitment to special The 18-hour offensive left 36 freedom of insurgents and 11 others dead Haqqanis – to negotiate a politi- envoy Kofi Annan’s plan to end cal resolution to the 10-year-old access, freedom 13 months of violence and and was the largest in Kabul since insurgents fired on the U.S. war. of movement launch talks on the country’s If the Haqqani faction is political future. Embassy and NATO headquar- within the ters last September. That attack behind the attacks, it could be An advance team of six easier to sell the idea of making country.” observers arrived in Damascus also was also blamed on the Haqqani network, which com- Ahmad Jamshid/AP peace with the Taliban to skep- Ban Ki-moon late Sunday and quickly set Afghan police officers walk past a building used by militants in a gun tics. about negotiating the mission’s mands the loyalties of an esti- battle today near the Afghan parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan. U.N. secretary-general mated 10,000 fighters and is President Hamid Karzai met ground rules with Syrian author- at the presidential palace with a ities.