Vikings No More

Norway continues the struggle to deport Mullah Krekar, founder of Ansar Al-Islam, a key terrorist group in Iraq also associated with Zarqawi.

OSLO, June 9 (AFP) Mullah Krekar . . . on Thursday reiterated his praise for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, calling him "a jewel" of Islam, media reported.

"I do not deny that I have said that Osama bin Laden is a jewel among the imams of Islam. He is faithful to the religion," Krekar told an Oslo court, Norwegian news agency NTB reported, as he tries to prove that he presents no threat to Norway.

Norwegian authorities decided in February 2003 to expel Krekar, whose real name is Fateh Najmeddin Faraj, due to national security concerns, but his deportation was suspended until the situation in Iraq improves.

That doesn't mean Norway is keeping him corralled to prevent him from assisting jihadis in Iraq -- it means they're protecting him:

"An agreement with the Iraqi authorities to return Krekar can not be reckoned as in agreement with the European Human Rights Convention before the new constitution is in place there," [Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Erna] Solberg told a press conference [last month].

The Iraqi government has reinstated the death penalty. And the EHRC forbids signatories from deporting or extraditing bad guys to jurisdictions in which they might be subject to it. (See an excellent explanation here.)

So what's he up to in Norway? Robert Spencer elaborates:

Mullah Krekar, who has admitted that he is the "former" leader of Ansar al-Islam, has been living for years in Oslo, Norway, spending Norwegian welfare money and occasionally suing people for suggesting that he is a terrorist, of course using welfare money to hire his lawyer.

In other words, Norway has effectively given asylum to a key terrorist leader.
This isn't an accident, or an isolated instance of bureaucratic fumbling; this is de facto policy.

Meanwhile, Norway and Sweden celebrate the opening of a new bridge between the two countries. They ought to be building moats rather than bridges, but in this case, it probably wouldn't matter; Sweden has already capitulated. Denmark, however, isn't so keen to roll over.