I watched NBC's "The Wanted" yesterday. Today, I commented on an article by David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun. I'm crossposting those comments here, somewhat edited.
I’m Norwegian and I live a short distance away from Krekar's appartment. I could go on and on about this "documentary," but in the end, words almost fail me. Suffices to say it's probably the worst piece of trash I've ever seen, and I watch quite a bit of American and Norwegian television.
A couple of points though: Besides the fact that the program's format should leave little doubt as to the authority of this "elite team", it was interesting to note such details as the situation room with the screen showing: "[Name:] KREKAR, Mullah" (which makes about as much sense as "Name: DAVE, Pastor") – with the obligatory bleeps and bloops to accompany the scrolling letters (it seems that R2-D2 is not only creatively involved in many of today's Hollywood blockbusters, but also in their docudrama equivalents). While they were at it, they should have added canned laughter.
Later, the elite team’s own War Crimes prosecutor David Crane refers to the Norwegian government (cabinet) as "the federal government." Norway is, of course, a unitary state, but I suppose the "expert in international law and diplomacy" with "30 years as a special operations officer and a senior US intelligence official" behind him wouldn’t know the difference.
The whole surveillance stunt was a complete joke and totally unnecessary. The claim that hiding behind a shrubbery at Tøyen is somehow associated with the increased risk of an untimely death is credible only to the extent that you consider the documented presence of borrelia-infected ticks this summer. And the confrontational and heavily edited interviews with Krekar and with the Norwegian immigration official, none of whom has English as their first language of course, were downright pathetic. The elite team was shocked and outraged that the official would not start handling Krekar’s case in front of NBC's cameras and Team America. Well, luckily, that’s not how things work in this country.
Of course, the essential issue was missed entirely by the NBC team. This is not about a piece of paper -- which incidentally was not a proper diplomatic guarantee in this case -- but rather about the Norwegian government’s treaty obligation to refrain from extraditing people to countries where they may risk torture or death (yes, some countries find the death penalty to be uncivilized) , and the Norwegian government cannot hand over Krekar until they are sufficiently convinced that any guarantees given will indeed be kept. Politically, there is also the question of whether or not expelling/extraditing Krekar -- and thus potentially antagonizing militants who may or may not have a direct connection to Krekar -- will pose a greater risk to Norwegian and Western interests than letting him stay in his Oslo apartment, where the police know his every move.
Also, one does not need to support Krekar’s political agenda to recognize that the interview with him was so heavily edited that it made little sense. F.i: Regardless of what he may and may not have done, he has at least stated very clearly that he does not want to target civilians, and used the example that any bomb in Oslo could just as well kill his own children, and yet, when the "elite team" asks him if American civilians are legitimate targets, the camera cuts to Krekar saying "What’s the difference between American civilians and Norwegian civilians – no different," giving the impression that Krekar would like to kill anyone and anything that’s American or Western. It’s not hard to see that this is the kind of interview that the target audience probably wanted.
I don’t want to defend Krekar’s views in any way. I will bluntly admit that I loathe Islamic extremism as much as I do American or Russian or Chinese imperialism or any philosophy that aims to justify one state or nation dominating another. My point is that the fact that this piece of crap passes for journalism is, frankly, a bit disturbing.
It’s interesting that the "elite team" includes a former Navy SEAL. People may remember that Newsweek reported in 2003 on how the US considered having Navy SEALs descend on Krekar’s apartment and kidnap him, but ultimately discarded the plans because the risk of a gun battle with Norwegian police was deemed too high. It’s almost a shame the "elite team" didn’t give it a shot this time. I would have loved to see their arrogance land them in jail.