Rep. Johnson signs letter Opposing Judiciary Chair’s Bill to Limit President’s Immigration Enforcement Powers
Democratic Members of Congress held a press conference to release a letter to President Obama expressing their support for him and opposition to the HALT Act (H.R. 2497), a bill authored by Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) that will be the focus of a Judiciary Committee hearing on July 26.
“Not only does the legislation Mr. Smith introduced do nothing to reform our immigration system, but it is a blatant attack on President Obama’s use of executive power.
Why create such a blatantly partisan bill that expires at the end of his current term? Why does the bill single out this President? This is nothing more than an attack on the President’s integrity that should not go unnoticed or unopposed.
“First the Republicans denied our promising young students a path to citizenship by rejecting the DREAM Act and now they give us this cynical bill designed only to derail the progress made by the President and this country on this critical issue?
“The United States of America is a nation built by immigrants. We stand on the side of law-abiding immigrants and must have comprehensive immigration reform. We will not be distracted by this purposeless bill. It’s pure politics at its worst.”
Somewhere, Lady Gaga is celebrating. President Obama has certified the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military’s ban on openly gay soldiers. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen also signed off on the repeal, starting the clock on a 60-day waiting period until it is fully eliminated. “As of September 20,” Obama said, “service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country.”
Erica Berube holds a sign at a rally in Portland, Maine on Sep. 20, 2010. (Photo: Gregory Rec, EPA / Landov)
Update at 4:27 p.m. ET: "As of Sept. 20, servicemembers will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country," Obama said in a statement.
He was joined by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen.
Original post: President Obama has certified the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," clearing the way for gays to serve openly in military, the Associated Press reports.
Norway is reeling from two deadly attacks on Friday that have left at least 17 people dead, many of whom are teenagers at a summer youth camp. NBC’s Martin Fletcher reports.
Amateur video shows the destruction in the streets of Oslo, Norway, following a bombing at a government building.
A bomb blast has ripped through the government headquarters in Oslo, Norway, leaving multiple people dead and many injured. A gunman is also reportedly in custody after a deadly shooting rampage occured at a Norway youth camp. NBC's Martin Fletcher has the details.
A person wounded in the shooting at the Labour Youth League summer camp in Utoya is stretchered off a helicopter at an Oslo hospital Friday. By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com reporter
By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com reporter UPDATE 8:35 p.m. ET: Dagbladet has more details on Anders Behring Breivik, 32, who has been identified as the suspect in Friday's attacks:
Neighbors tell Dagbladet that they have seen the 32-year-old in what looked like a military uniform several times. ... Late last night, he was still being questioned. It was not known what might have been the motive behind the attacks. "We have not formulated a basis for charges so far. We will formulate a charge during the night when we see what comes out of the interrogation," said prosecutor Trine Dingelan to Dagbladet at 1 a.m. Behring Breivik for a time lived in the same street as a number of prominent white politicians on the west side of Oslo. In spring 2009 he established a sole proprietorship in Hedmark with the purpose to cultivate various vegetables and fruit products. Investigators were examining whether the company could have had access to ingredients for explosives. He has tried to establish a number of companies in recent years, but they all have been dissolved. One of the companies pursued the development of sales services on the Internet, while another imported goods from abroad.
UPDATE 8:13 p.m. ET: Norwegian television is reporting the identity of the suspect in the Norwegian attacks.
TV2, the country's largest broadcaster, identified him as Anders Behring Breivik, 32, describing him as a member of "right-wing extremist groups in eastern Norway." Shortly thereafter, The Telegraph newspaper of London reported the same information, quoting Norwegian Justice Minister Knut Storberget.
A man of the same name and age is identified in government business records as sole director of a company called Breivik Geofarm. In the records, the company says its business is the "growing of vegetables, melons, roots and tubers" and reports that it has 790 employees.
UPDATE 7:38 p.m. ET: Norwegian authorities are tightening security at the nation's borders and airports, Dagbladet reports. Citing police, it says Norwegians are asked to limit their use of mobile phones and have ramped up security for the royal family. It quotes a new government statement:
"Norway is characterized by an uncertain and difficult situation in connection with explosions in the city center and the shooting of young people. It is important that the citizens of Norway, to the greatest extent possible, preserve the peace in spite of the tragedies. It is important that people also follow instructions from police and other authorities."
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UPDATE 7:25 p.m. ET: Complete with pictures, the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reports police are storming the home of the 32-year-old suspect in today's Norwegian attacks:
"Police officers in protective gear armed with machine guns arrived at 23:45 p.m. at a residential building in Oslo," the newspaper says. "A 32-year-old man has been arrested after two terrorist attacks today in Oslo and Utoya. Dagbladet has learned that the man has been living at that address."
Some media outlets are reporting a name for the suspect, but NBC News has not been able to confirm it. We'll report it here if and when we do.
UPDATE 6:55 p.m. ET: More is now coming in from people close to the investigation raising the likelihood that the attacks were home-grown and not the work of Islamic militants.
Addressing whether the 32-year-old Norwegian suspect might be affiliated with al-Qaida or another group, Oslo's acting police acting chief said at a late-night news conference: "We do not know if he was involved in an extremist environment."
And Tore Bjorgo, a professor at Norwegian Police University College — which state broadcaster NRK reported is working with police on the investigation — said the fact that the second attack was directed at a political youth organization suggested the involvement of local or European right-wing extremists.
NRK reports:
"I have consistently kept the possibility open that this might be the extreme right," Bjorgo said.
Bjorgo said the action is reminiscent of the bomb attack in Oklahoma City in 1995, where the right-wing extremist Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a powerful car bomb.
"It reminds me of the Oklahoma City bombing. The scenarios we have seen today are described in right-wing literature" like "The Turner Diaries" and "Hunter."
The first book deals with a bloody race war during which, among other things, the FBI's headquarters are bombed. McVeigh was carrying a copy of "The Turner Diaries" when he was arrested.
• Friday's attacks in Olso and Buskerud could simply be the actions of a disturbed individual with no connection to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist groups, a prominent authority on Islamic militant groups said.
• Witnesses said they saw as many as 20 bodies on the island or in the water, but police said they could confirm only nine deaths for now.
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• Police say the suspected gunman is a 32-year-old Norwegian man who posed as a police officer.
• Undetonated explosives also were found at the island.
UPDATE 5:22 p.m.: Police say the gunman is a 32-year-old Norwegian.
Witnesses described the suspect as "blond" and "Nordic-looking." Late Friday, Knut Storberegt, Norway's royal minister of justice and the police, confirmed that he is a Norwegian; the BBC, citing police, said he was from Utoya. Police said he is also believed to have been involved in the bombing that killed seven people earlier in the day in Oslo, about 25 miles away.
Magnus Ranstorp, a specialist in militant Islamic movements and research director at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College, cautioned that widespread assumptions that the attacks were connected to international terrorism could be wrong.
The description of the suspect and his possible involvement in bombing national government offices "point to an internal rather than external extremist," Ranstorp told Nettavisen.
"Intuitively, the bombing is al-Qaida-related, but with this attack on Utoya, this could just be a crazy person," Ranstorp said.
UPDATE 4:07 p.m. ET: Oslo police say that with the gunman in custody, Utoya island is now safe.
Inspector Bjorn Erik Sem-Jacobsen of the Buskerud police district told state broadcaster NRK that the investigation was difficult because witnesses and others who were on the island when the gunman opened fire had good reason to be suspicious of anyone in a police uniform.
"We are working to ensure that the young people out there have confidence that we are real police," Sem-Jacobsen said.
UPDATE 3:50 p.m. ET: Police said they could confirm only nine deaths in the shooting at Utoya. A police spokesman said a 10th person might may have been killed, but that was "uncertain."
Previous reports quoted multiple witnesses as saying as many as 20 people may have been killed.
Norwegian authorities said at a news conference that the gunman was not connected to the police and "has no relation to us."
UPDATE 3:35 p.m. ET: Police said they were confident they had been able to identify the gunman, whom they had in custody. They did not release his identity, but they said they had confirmed that they had "reason to believe" he was connected to the Oslo bombing.
NRK reporter Astrid Randen quoted witnesses as saying the man — described as "tall, blond and Nordic-looking" and speaking Norwegian — wore a police uniform and summoned youth campers to gather around him before he "just executed them."
People in at least 20 pleasure boats converged on the island to help with the rescue operation. One of them, André Skeie, told NRK that he saw at least a dozen "lifeless bodies" floating in the water.
Skeie said he helped remove more than 15 injured people from the island. Many of them were shot in the stomach, he said.
"It's absolutely awful. It looks like a war zone," Skeie said by phone.
UPDATE 3:12 p.m. ET: NRK is quoting witnesses as saying at least five and perhaps 20 or more people may have been killed at Utoya, some of them shot as they tried to swim to safety from the island. It stressed that police had not confirmed the accounts.
UPDATE 2:53 p.m. ET: NRK quotes police as saying they now suspect one or more bombs may be at the scene at Utoya.
UPDATE 2:51 p.m. ET: The Norwegian news agency NTB quotes witnesses describing a scene of "complete panic."
A witness said in a text message that "we are very afraid," the agency reported. "We do not know what to do. Many people are injured. We are afraid. We are waiting for help. Some are seriously injured. We cannot do anything."
Posted 2:45 p.m. ET: As speculation raged that the bombing of government buildings in Oslo, Norway, could be Islamist terrorism, a "tall, blond and Nordic-looking" man dressed as a police officer opened fire with a machine gun on a political youth conference 25 miles away, police and eyewitnesses said.
Police told NRK television that preliminary reports were least five people were injured in the shooting on the island of Utoya, which they said they believed was linked to the bombing earlier in the day.
NRK and other Norwegian media said the government had sent an anti-terrorism unit to evacuate the island, where the scene was described as chaotic. NRK reported that some terrified campers were trying to swim back to the mainland from the summer gathering, which was organized by the country's Labour Party.
"The situation's gone from bad to worse," said Runar Kvernen, a spokesman for the national police.
Smoke pours from a building in the center of Oslo, Norway, on Friday, July 22, after an explosion that damaged several buildings, including the prime minister's office, shattering windows and covering the street with documents. The bombing was linked to a nearly simultaneous attack on a youth camp northwest of Olso in which a man dressed as a policeman opened fire on young people.
A man tends to a wounded woman after an explosion near government buildings in Oslo.
An injured woman is helped by a man at the scene of the explosion. The blast damaged government buildings in central Oslo, including Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's office.
A young victim is helped in the center of Oslo, following an explosion that tore open several buildings.
An aerial view of Utoya Island taken July 21. A gunman opened fire on youths at a camp on the island, killing at least nine. Police arrested a suspect, a Norwegian, and said he was linked to the bomb blast in Oslo.
A swat team aim their weapons while people take cover during a shoot out at Utoeya island, some 40 km south west of the capital Oslo on Friday.
A wounded woman is brought ashore opposite Utaoya island after being rescued from a gunman who went on a killing rampage targeting participants in a Norwegian Labour Party youth organisation event on the island on Friday.
A damaged building is seen after the bomb blast.
Rescue officials help a wounded man.
The wreckage of a vehicle lies outside government buildings after the blast.
An injured man is treated at the scene in Oslo.
Multiple deaths at scene of Oslo explosion; many casualties reported on island
Police arrested a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island, linked him to both assaults and said they did not know the motive.
Norwegian media identified him as Anders Behring Breivik and said authorities searched his home.
At least seven people were killed when the bomb exploded in the Norwegian capital in mid-afternoon, blowing out the windows of the prime minister's building and damaging the finance and oil ministry building. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was not in the building at the time. The blast scattered glass, shattered masonry and twisted steel across the streets.
Hours later, a gunman opened fire at the youth camp on Utoya island, about 25 miles northwest of Oslo. Police said at least nine were shot dead. The small wooded island was evacuated, and police found undetonated explosives. Authorities feared the death toll would rise.
The twin assaults were the biggest attack in western Europe since the 2005 London transport bombings that killed 52.
"You will not destroy us," Stoltenberg, who had been scheduled to appear at an event on the island, said at an emotional press conference. "You will not destroy our democracy or our ideals for a better world."
An aerial view of Utoya Island, Norway, taken Thursday
Island terrorThe camp on the small, wooded island in Tyrifjord lake was full of youngsters 14 to 18 years old, attending an event run by the Labor Party.
Witnesses said they saw as many as 20 bodies on the island or in the water. But police said they could confirm only nine deaths. A police spokesman said a 10th person might may have been killed, but that was "uncertain."
NRK reporter Astrid Randen quoted witnesses as saying the man — described as "tall, blond and Nordic-looking" and speaking Norwegian — wore a police uniform and summoned youth at the political gathering to gather around him before he "just executed them."
Jorgen Benone recounted a terrifying ordeal toSky News. He said he was about to sit down with others to eat when they heard a loud commotion by the water.
"People were wondering, what's happening?... Then people began understanding that people had been shot," he said. "People started jumping out of windows, running everywhere, all directions — they were terrified for their life.
"Most people ran toward the water, hiding behind stones... The guy was dressed like a policeman. It was total chaos, people were jumping into the water trying to swim to the other side."
He told the British media outlet he saw the shooter about 60 feet away and didn't dare make a move. "I thought, I'm terrified for my life," he said. "I thought about all the people I love and I just wanted to go home."
Another survivor, Emilie Bersaas,told Sky Newsshe heard gunshots, fled to nearby building and hid under a bed.
"The shooting came from all different directions," she said. "It was very terrifying. At one point the shooting was very, very close to the building — I think it actually hit the building one time."
The Norwegian news agency NTB quoted witnesses describing a scene of "complete panic."
A witness said in a text message that "we are very afraid," the agency reported. "We do not know what to do. Many people are injured. We are afraid. We are waiting for help. Some are seriously injured. We cannot do anything."
The island is in Tyrifjord lake, about one-third of a mile from the mainland at its closest point, with no bridge. Anita Lien, who lives on the lake near the island, described a terrifying scene.
"I just saw people jumping into the water, about 50 people swimming toward the shore. People were crying, shaking, they were terrified," Lien said,
Under arrest
The suspect was arrested on the island, but the circumstances were not clear. Police said a man of similar description had been seen earlier in Oslo before the explosion there.
A camp guard, Simen Braenden Mortensen, said that the gunman had tricked his way onto the island by posing as a policeman driving a silver grey car.
"He gets out of the car and shows ID, says he's sent there to check security, that that is purely routine in connection with the terror attack (in Oslo)," Mortensen told the daily Verdens Gang.
"It all looks fine, and a boat is called and it carries him over to Utoya. A few minutes passed, then we heard shots," he said.
Bjorn Jarle Rodberg Larsen, a member of the Hedmark County Council of Labor, told Nettavisen that colleagues on the scene said the man walked in Friday afternoon shortly after the bombing.
"He was in a police uniform and said he was part of the increased security," Larsen said, quoting the eyewitnesses. "A little after he arrived, he took out a gun and began shooting."
Several prominent politicians made appearances at the island event this week. Former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland gave a speech earlier Friday, and Stoltenberg had been scheduled to speak Saturday.
At a news conference Friday night, police said the gunman was not connected to the police and "has no relation to us."
People in at least 20 pleasure boats converged on the island to help with the rescue operation. One of them, André Skeie, told NRK that he saw at least a dozen "lifeless bodies" floating in the water.
Skeie said he helped remove more than 15 injured people from the island. Many of them were shot in the stomach, he said.
"It's absolutely awful. It looks like a war zone," Skeie said by phone.
Ulleval hospital said it was treating 10 people, some of them seriously injured, from the conference.
Bombing in Oslo
In Oslo, police confirmed at least seven dead in the bomb blast. At least 10 injured people were admitted to Oslo University Hospital, a hospital spokesman told Reuters.
The blast blew out most windows on the 17-story building housing Stoltenberg's office, as well as nearby ministries including the oil ministry, which caught fire.
"People ran in panic," bystander Kjersti Vedun said. "I counted at least 10 injured people."
Heavy debris littered the streets and a tall plume of brown smoke rose over the city center. The tangled wreckage of a vehicle could be seen near the blast site.
The Reuters correspondent said the streets had been fairly quiet in mid-afternoon on a Friday in high summer, when many Oslo residents take vacation or leave for weekend breaks. Video: Norway reels after blast, camp attack (on this page)
Sulfur in the air
Olaf Furniss, a freelance journalist in Oslo, told the BBC that he was in a cafe when the blast went off, but he had not realized how big it was until he went outside. Residents reported the smell of sulfur in the air.
One witness in Oslo, who spoke to the BBC and was identified only as Ella, said, "We are the good guys; stuff like this doesn't happen to us."Story: Norway attack: Likely suspected groups
However, political violence is virtually unknown in the country.
"There certainly aren't any domestic Norwegian terrorist groups although there have been some al-Qaida-linked arrests from time to time," David Lea, Western Europe analyst at Control Risks, said. "They are in Afghanistan and were involved in Libya, but it's far too soon to draw any conclusions."
"Our windows shook, and we could actually feel the shake," she added. "The whole area is evacuated. Sirens everywhere."
Craig Barnes, a British man who was in the center of Oslo when the blast happened, told the Sky News that he had "put my foot down" on the accelerator of the car and got to a friend's house.
"It's absolute chaos, there are many people injured," he told Sky.
"There's debris over at least half a kilometer (546 yards) ... total chaos," Barnes added. "It's absolutely mad."
Rep. Johnson signs letter Opposing Judiciary Chair’s Bill to Limit President’s Immigration Enforcement Powers
