Norway Leader Affirms Tolerance Despite Attacks

Source: The New York Times

OSLO — Norway’s prime minister acknowledged on Wednesday that his country had fundamentally changed as a result of the attacks on a youth camp and government complex last week, but vowed to protect the culture of openness that is a source of Norwegian pride.

The attacks have prompted officials to start reassessing Norway’s policy on public security, which seemed defined by the belief that bad things happen elsewhere. Andres Behring Breivik, a self-styled Christian crusader who has admitted to the attacks, appeared to face few obstacles when he detonated a car bomb on a busy government plaza last Friday, killing eight people, then traveled 19 miles and took a ferry to the island of Utoya, where he slaughtered at least 68 people, many of them young.

“It’s absolutely possible to have an open, democratic, inclusive society, and at the same time have security measures and not be naive,” the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, told reporters in Oslo. “I think what we have seen is that there is going to be one Norway before and one Norway after July 22,” he said. “But I hope and also believe that the Norway we will see after will be more open, a more tolerant society than what we had before.”

Mr. Stoltenberg announced that the government would create a commission independent of the police to investigate the attacks as well as law enforcement agencies’ response to them.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/world/europe/28norway.html