Al-Qida called for an attck on Norway. Why?
This has effected many people in Norway.—LINK
And Some Norwegians respond with mistrust–LINK
But why Norway?
The Norwegian Press Doesn’t Know–LINK
Any Dopers have some ideas? 
I put this in IMHO, 'cause it’s gonna be guesswork.
EuroDopers especially welcome.
Norway supplied special forces troops to the war in Afghanistan. Why this only bothers them NOW is anyones guess. Maybe it’s super easy to infiltrate Norway? Silly terrorists.
Besides, one would think (if one was an American who’s never been to Norway) that someone of middle eastern dissent would rather stick out in a land of blonde haired blue eyed folk. None too sneaky.
Norway (like most European countries) has taken its fair share of refugees, among whom many (non-terrorist) people from Middle Eastern countries. You can’t filter terrorists only on looks (as much as some people would want to).
I laughed out loud when I first heard that. Tiny Norway, named side by side with USA, UK and Australia, it’s ridicules. Still my government seems to take the threat serious.
It might be possible that they named Norway by mistake, when they really meant to name Denmark, who if I’m not mistaken did support the war against Iraq. Remember, Norway didn’t.
The only reason I’ve heard that seemed to have any resonance was that a right-wing Norwegian politician nominated Dubya and Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Possible alternatives:
Whimsical al Qaeda spokesman has ex-girlfriend in Oslo
New al Qaeda strategy seeks to keep the west off-balance by picking a “wild card” target country out of a hat for each new press release. Next up: Slovenia!
Another possibility is Norway’s detention of the suspected terrorist leader Mullah Krekar, who is believed to have ties to Al-Quaida.
There was some speculation here that Al Quaida meant Denmark instead of Norway. I’ll go dig up some cites.
In hindsight it looks like a lot of handwaving from experts (they must’ve meant us) with no real evidence (and like Hüsker Düde mentioned this already).
We did participate actively in the war with a corvette and a sub, but I don’t know if that was enough to piss off al-Qaeda. (That’s the spelling I’m sticking to)
Another possibility is the fact that the last round of peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis was held in Oslo.
perhaps they could only find norway on the map.
aq.sw. :“okay, mo, you’ve got the us, the uk, and hhhmm, a scandinavian country… i think it’s denmark.”
mo: “where’s denmark?”
aq. sw : “somewhere over here…”
aq. t. 1 : “no, i think that’s iceland…”
aq. t2 : “i think it is somewhere near germany…”
aq sw : “no, it has snow and stuff it must be one of these.”
mo. : “well, there are three countries there, which is which.”
aq.t1 : “i think norway is on the outside…”
aq sw. : “okay, mo, say the us, uk, oz, and norway.”
Norway is just the first step as Al-Qaeda strives to throw the hated Icelandic yoke off the neck of the Middle East!
It’s the fjords. Terrorist hate fjords.*
I stole this from somewhere–maybe The Daily Show, but, strangely enough, it makes the most sense. Like the nooks and crannies of a true English muffin (also hated by terrorist everywhere), the unique land formation of the fjord strikes a relentless and unreasonalbe dislike in the hearts of those dedicated to evil. You’d think evil would like all those lovely inlets to hide in, but, plagued by paranoia and driven by the need for unobstructed views in all directions, to your average terrorist, the fjords represents a troubling and highly suspect landscape–just who’s hiding from them and how can they be found amid all these little firths and narrows? I’m telling you, Sweden should watch its back.
I think it’s got to do with Mullah Krekar - possibly in combination with the Oslo Accords, but that was a while ago. Krekar is fresh news. I also think they specifically named a small country that no one was expecting in the hopes that it would scare people silly by making them feel that no one was safe.
But it doesn’t seem to be working, at least not here. People seem more puzzled than frightened. The only visible change was that the American Embassy closed for a few days :rolleyes:
Heh, I’m not worried about al-Qaeda. But when news that an agressively nationalistic
anti-American (and oil-producing) theocracy with links to the former evil empire and a highly developed program for biological warfare is sheltering Saddam Hussein ends up on Bush’s desk, it’s time to dig bomb shelters in the garden. :eek:
Confusion with Denmark. You know those Scandinavians all look the same anyway.
This is the problem you run into when you try to live your life by the principle: “What would Hitler do?”
Probably because al-Qaeda doesn’t approve of Norway’s whaling habits.
One possibility that has been in the news here is that al-Qaida has singled out some Norwegian oil-industry in the Middle East. Statoil (an oil-company mostly owned by the Norwegian government) has a number of installations in the area.
Mullah Krekar apparently * has some ties to al-Qaida, so that may also be a factor, but I agree with flodnak, Norwegians are more puzzled than frightened. And as ** Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor* third link says, there’s always someone that reacts with fear and mistrust.
Hmm.
This is odd. Usually radical fundamental terrorists are such a reasonable, predictable bunch.