ThinkProgress filed this report from the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, CO.
Soon after the horrific terror act in Norway last month, it was revealed that the killer was neither a jihadist nor Muslim, but rather a right-wing Christian Norwegian named Anders Breivik.
Breivik’s 12-minute video manifesto outlined the killer’s conservative beliefs, including that President Obama is a Marxist and that “Christian soldiers” and “cultural conservatives” should rise up against “multiculturalism” and Muslims. ThinkProgress examined the sources Breivik used in his manifesto and found, unsurprisingly, a glut of Islamophobic bloggers and pundits among the citations.
ThinkProgress spoke with one of the conservative figures Breivik cited, Frank Gaffney, during the Western Conservative Summit last weekend. We asked Gaffney if it was concerning that his rhetoric was being used for violent ends.
Rather than reconsidering his outlandish views, Gaffney eschewed Occam’s Razor and took a far different view: Breivik’s manifesto may actually be a hoax planted by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Center for Security Policy president called for a “thorough investigation as to whether it was in fact an authentic piece of his own creation, whether it’s a false flag operation, whether it actually was meant to do anything other than to contribute to Sharia’s efforts to suppress criticism and awareness of its agenda.” He closed by noting he could “absolutely” see the Muslim Brotherhood perpetrating this kind of fraud.
THINKPROGRESS: Obviously we saw some horrific acts in Norway. I read in news reports that you yourself and the CSP had been mentioned seven separate times. Is that concerning that some people are using your rhetoric for violent ends?
GAFFNEY: I think there’s a lot yet to be determined about who this individual was and what exactly his agenda was. What’s very peculiar to me is the nature of this so-called manifesto, which seems about as unrelated to anything having to do with Norway or Norwegian nationalism as you can imagine. It’s basically entirely made up of, it’s a pastiche, a very eclectic pastiche at that, of American writers and some non-American writers but of a similar mind. It cries out for a thorough investigation as to whether it was in fact an authentic piece of his own creation, whether it’s a false flag operation, whether it actually was meant to do anything other than to contribute to Sharia’s efforts to suppress criticism and awareness of its agenda. Until we know the answers to some of those questions, I’m not going to go too far down the road of saying what its consequences might be.
Watch it:
For those keeping score at home, Gaffney’s list of those influenced or infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood now includes:
– Anders Breivik– Herman Cain– CPAC– Grover Norquist– David Petraeus– President Obama– The federal government– Elena Kagan– James Clapper– Janet Napolitano– The Pentagon’s missile defense logo– The conservative movement