I watched the disgraceful Islamophobic rantings on the BBC and Sky News last night in mounting disbelief. Security correspondent and security expert vied with each other to tell us that the dreadful attacks in Norway were the work of al-Qaida. One extraordinary American, introduced as from a Centre for Combating Extremism, explained that these Norwegian jihadists had international links and plans to attack London and the New York subway. Norway was a target, we were repeatedly told, because of its NATO membership.
There was at least six solid hours of this poisonous bullshit. I did not pick up on one single person who said that this probably was not Islamic terrorism – despite the glaringly obvious fact that the atrocity had a Norwegian domestic political agenda, being an attack on the Prime Minister’s office, and on a youth camp of the governing party. The internet was buzzing for hours with the news that the attacker on Utoya Island was blonde, without the broadcast media mentioning it. The American security expert I mention above had that base covered – he had obviously seen those reports, but did not mention them. However he said that jihadist groups had probably recruited European looking operatives to carry out the attacks, because they were aware that security services “consciously or unconsciously operated racial profiling.”
This morning Al Jazeera and Russia Today were carrying the news that the attacker was Anders Breivik – and even a picture of him – while the BBC and Sky still were not, and while they had stopped the blatant Islamophobic ranting, had still not admitted it was not an Islamic militant attack.
I would love to believe that this incident would cause the media to reassess the value of the numerous “security experts” whose companies, institutes, funding, profile and standards of living have been spectacularly boosted by the “War on Terror”. But I doubt it.
All terrorism is terrible. Islamic extremist terrorism is terrible. But not all terrorism is Islamic extremist. To presume it is, is just as valid as to assume that any shooting in the UK is carried out by a black person. If the BBC reacted to the next news of a shooting or stabbing, by six hours about crime in the black community, when it turned out the perpetrators are white, there would rightly be outrage. This is no different.
UPDATE
The mainstream media and those “Security experts” are now struggling to cover up and justify their blatant Islamophobia. The New York Times was right at the forefront of the Islamophobic ranting, attributing the bombing to a non-existent Jihadist group and then being quoted all across the airwaves as the authority for that attribution. It has now published this amazing self-justificatory bullshit:
Norway has about 550 soldiers and three medevac helicopters in northern Afghanistan, a Norwegian defense official said. The government has indicated that it will continue to support the operations as long as the alliance needs partners on the ground.
Terrorism specialists said that even if the authorities ultimately ruled out Islamic terrorism as the cause of Friday’s assaults, other kinds of groups or individuals were mimicking Al Qaeda’s brutality and multiple attacks.
“If it does turn out to be someone with more political motivations, it shows these groups are learning from what they see from Al Qaeda,” said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington. “One lesson I take away from this is that attacks, especially in the West, are going to move to automatic weapons.”
All the mainstream media are rushing to take down their crazed Islamophobic rantings from their websites this morning – the BBC did it just twenty minutes ago, and had a short period in consequence when they had nothing up on Norway. I expect newspaper sites will be doing the same. Print editions, of course, do not have that ability.
Mainstream media – all the hate and lies they can peddle. What would really be an interesting public inquiry, would be the links between “security” and “defence” correspondents and the security services whose propaganda they spread. I should love to know what security service briefings were behind yesterday’s Islamophobic lies.
But you are missing the fact that an extremist websites claimed responsibility for the attack.
With very little evidence and a claim 10min after the attack, surely 24hr news will quickly latch itself to the claim and run with it! A little harsh to call it islamophobia!
from the observer, great analysis:
Friday 4.25pm: Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor at the Observer, says a jihadist group is most likely to be behind the blast:
Peter Beaumont, foreign correspondent for The Observer. Photo: AP/Richard Lewis
It has been known for some time that al-Qaida core and other related “franchises” – including in the most active in Yemen – have been attempting to develop operations. Which leads to a second question: why Norway?…
The answer to that is three fold. In then first instance, with the increased levels of security and surveillance in the UK and the US as well as other European capitals, Norway might have been seen as a softer target despite the recent breaking up of an al-Qaida cell in Norway.
A more detailed explanation of the problems that Norway has had with Al Qaeda were supplied a year ago by the Atlantic magazine in an article by Thomas Hegghammer, a senior fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in Oslo, and Dominic Tierney.
That piece followed the arrest of three men in Norway and Germany for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack involving peroxide explosives. All of those arrested were were Muslim immigrants to Norway.
The first explanation,” wrote Hegghammer and Tierney, “is Afghanistan. Norway has been part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from its foundation in late 2001…. In late 2007, for example, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s
second-in-command, said that the group had previously threatened Norway because it “participated in the war against the Muslims…
A second contributory factor for why Norway may have been eyed in the past for potential jihadi terrorist attack is the fact that in 2006, a Norwegian newspaper reprinted a series of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad which prompted threats against the country. A third potential explanation is the recent decision last week by a Norwegian prosecutor filed terror charges against an Iraqi-born cleric for threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he’s deported from the Nordic country. The indictment centered on statements that Mullah Krekar – the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam – made to various media, including American network NBC.
Jack,
You are missing the fact that nobody had ever heard of either the group or the website involved before. In fact there is now doubt that either exist.
A terrible slaughter of young people and destruction. The BBC, the state broadcaster, in spite of having reported on the 7am news bulletin on Radio 4 that the perpetrator was most likely an ultra right wing nationalist, I heard the word ‘Islamist’ used about a dozen times in the following hour.
On another topic, the Torygraph no less is reporting that Judge Leveson is a friend of Matthew Freud the PR guru who is married to Elisabeth Murdoch and has been to their parties. Also that Geo Osborne was in NY recently and had dinner with Rupert Murdoch.. Note his other contacts whilst there. Bloomberg, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley etc etc
On the stricken island, the day before –
BREAKING: CAMP IN NORWAY WHERE SHOOTING OCCURRED HAD JUST CONCLUDED PRO-PALESTINIAN RALLY THE DAY BEFORE!
http://tiny.cc/9wr6i
Any connection?
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Norway are also leaving the outrageous coalition bombing of Libya at the end of August.
Stephen,
Thank you, that is hilarious.
No, Stephen, that is not a ‘great analysis’. It is still connected with the subject of this particular blog. Try http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/22/anders-behring-breivik-id_n_907513.html for less conjecture & more actuality.
Norway has issues for some time with the amount of foreigners moving there owing to Norway’s very liberal social system and relative wealth, and what’s just happened is a severely extreme protest to the left wing labour government there. It’s of course an appalling reaction but not without some foundation.
What’s most worrying is the possible future of two extreme sides of a growing reactionary terrorism, with everyone else caught in the middle.
That’s what needs evaluating in depth. Where it came from, what to do to resolve it. At least Murdoch’s empire is waning – we may yet stand a chance of achieving this.
Stephen,
Can you source that Peter Beaumont comment for me? He now has a column up saying the precise opposite!
Richo,
A different and interesting debate and I would take issue with you there. From the experience of Uzbek refugees there, Norway is an extremely unwelcoming state where racism is pretty pervasive and the state very unhelpful to foreigners. Norway actually has very low immigration for a Western European nation. What it does indeed have is lots of racist nutters who dislike what little immigration there is.
Stephen’s “Great analysis” was sarcastic, incidentally.
I hadn’t a clue what had happened until just half an hour ago.
I switched on the TV BBC news just before reading this and it was reported Anders Breivik had links to the far right and acted alone but they had know idea what his motives might be.
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First thing I thought was,…. that’s the sort of thing people on the far right sometimes do and they never act alone.
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But if you strip away Anders Breivik’s blond hair, pale skin, Nordic looks, and no doubt Christian upbringing you have a typical brown skinned middle-eastern crazy Muslim coming over here hell bent on destroying our way of life.
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You couldn’t make it up … the media did. And just as the media was telling us Murdoch’s tabloid shit was on the wane.
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Absolutely agree with you Craig, listening to Frank Gardener on the 10pm news was gut wrenching, despite his knowledge of it being ‘most likely an internal affair’, showing that he full well knew that this was not an attack by so called islamic fighters, but a Timothy Mc veigh type attack, almost copied, bar the shooting at the youth camp, despite all this he still had to mention that one ‘can’t rulle ouit the possibility of Al Quaeda links blah blah blah, equally some other commentator on Newsnight.
This si a clear manifestation that the BBC is part and parcel of a conspiracy to misinform, distort and lie in order to support a geostrategic effort to gain control over the worlds dwindling resources, another indication of fundamentalist radical capitalism at work.
Not a word of an organised European rightwing movements linking together, not a word of Timothy Mc Veigh, not a word of the close links these groups keep with a certain middle east usurping power.
Sadly this action will rejuvenate the terror crap we are going to hear from our Leviathan.
My condolences to all families who have lost a child, it must have been a horrifying moment when it turned out that a figure of trust in a police uniform, so they thought, instantly turned on them.
There is some running commentary on the medialens message board on this starting
Yesterday, 7:33 pm http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/
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A link from the message board. *Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont
guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 July 2011 20.57*
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”There was speculation that yesterday’s attacks could be linked to Norway’s military involvement in Nato operations in Afghanistan, where it has 500 soldiers, or Libya, where Norwegian jet fighters are flying sorties.
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”Norwegian television reported that a previously unknown group called “Helpers of the Global Jihad” had posted a message online claiming the attacks were “only the beginning” of a response to the decision by Norwegian periodicals, like other Scandinavian media, to publish cartoons portraying the prophet Muhammad.
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”Last week a Norwegian prosecutor charged an Iraqi Kurdish cleric, Mullah Krekar, the founder of the Ansar al-Islam militant group, with making death threats against Norwegian politicians.”
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/22/norway-attacks-oslo-bomb-explosion
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You couldn’t make it up! But they did… who bloody needs Murdoch!
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Daily Telegraph – midnight last night.
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‘A spokesman for Executive Analysis, a London-based risk consultancy, said last night: “It is likely that [the suspect] was ethnically Norwegian. This could indicate the involvement of a far-Right group rather than an Islamist group, though it is also the case that the Labour Party would be a favourable target for Islamist groups due to its role in authorising Norwegian military deployment in Afghanistan.”
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However, al-Qaeda has also been known to recruit local extremists and converts. A report earlier this year by Norway’s intelligence service noted the domestic terrorist threat posed by Norwegian citizens trained in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen or Afghanistan.’
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Norway: was far-Right group behind attacks?
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Investigators are trying to establish if the captured suspect in the Oslo terrorist attacks operated alone.
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At least one Islamic terror group quickly claimed the attacks were “revenge” for Norway’s engagement in Afghanistan Photo: AFP
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By Duncan Gardham, and Martin Evans
11:57PM BST 22 Jul 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8655979/Norway-was-far-Right-group-behind-attacks.html
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The MSM cannot help themselves in putting out this junk.
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Death toll now reported as 91. 9.00 am on Sky News who have just had two ‘security experts’ on.
According to Norwegian sources on twitter last night, this guy is ‘anti-multiculturalism’, ‘anti-internationalism’, and seriously anti-Islam.
And Sky News have just had a tw*t on who was asked about Christian fundamentalism and talked about ‘anti-Jewish’ groups. He slipped in anti-Islam in the middle.
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This business of waffling by “terror experts” during 24-hour news coverage of such events – allowing for ridiculous speculation and bullshit – is the pits. And of course they went to town on “Al Quaeda” when they got the chance. Even this morning, someone has suggested “Al Quaeda inspired”.
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Meanwhile, the death toll is now 91. What a horrific day for Norway.
I missed the sarcasm, Stephen & Craig. Sorry about that 😉 I lived in Oslo for years until a decade ago so this event had really gotten to me.
Norway has indeed drawn a tight circle around itself the last few years owing to having been too generous before that. Unfortunately it’s now too late. 2 years ago while visiting my daughter there many Norwegians agreed it seems like Oslo now has 40 to 50% foreigners living there. There are now less safe inner city neighbourhoods too. And yes, that’s related.
To be honest I’m not entirely surprised this has happened. The right wingers weren’t going to sit still forever. I just hope it galvanises a real international debate. Seems like we’ve all got to get involved now eh?
Beaumont’s piece was on a blog on the Guardian.
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4.25pm: Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor at the Observer, says a jihadist group is most likely to be behind the blast:
Photo: AP/Richard Lewis It has been known for some time that al-Qaida core and other related “franchises” – including in the most active in Yemen – have been attempting to develop operations. Which leads to a second question: why Norway?…
The answer to that is three fold. In then first instance, with the increased levels of security and surveillance in the UK and the US as well as other European capitals, Norway might have been seen as a softer target despite the recent breaking up of an al-Qaida cell in Norway.
A more detailed explanation of the problems that Norway has had with Al Qaeda were supplied a year ago by the Atlantic magazine in an article by Thomas Hegghammer, a senior fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in Oslo, and Dominic Tierney.
That piece followed the arrest of three men in Norway and Germany for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack involving peroxide explosives. All of those arrested were were Muslim immigrants to Norway.
The first explanation,” wrote Hegghammer and Tierney, “is Afghanistan. Norway has been part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from its foundation in late 2001…. In late 2007, for example, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s
second-in-command, said that the group had previously threatened Norway because it “participated in the war against the Muslims…
A second contributory factor for why Norway may have been eyed in the past for potential jihadi terrorist attack is the fact that in 2006, a Norwegian newspaper reprinted a series of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad which prompted threats against the country. A third potential explanation is the recent decision last week by a Norwegian prosecutor filed terror charges against an Iraqi-born cleric for threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he’s deported from the Nordic country. The indictment centered on statements that Mullah Krekar – the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam – made to various media, including American network NBC.
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http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GQmMq_UKdxIJ:www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jul/22/oslo-explosion-live-coverage+peter+beaumont+observer+norway&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&source=www.google.co.uk
Beaumont had some guidance to revise later.
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http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1311407278.html
I think Stephen’s right Craig. The ‘revised’ article appears to be much different from the heading linked to it. I’ve just copied this, but I guess the heading will be taken down next.
‘Oslo bomb: suspicion falls on Islamist militants | World news …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/…/oslo-bomb-suspicion-islamist-militantsPeter Beaumont · guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 July 2011 16.38 BST … A more detailed explanation of Norway’s problems with al-Qaida were supplied a year ago …
Get more results from the past 24 hours’
The tragedy and grief caused by such mindless acts of terrorism should be handled responsibly. Peter Beaumont should apologise, if not resign, for his blatant Islamophobia. So should all the other reporters who have been irresponsible.
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“BBC and Sky News”
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They are one and the same. No view but the far and extreme right will be allowed. The people working for both these organisations must constantly live in fear of losing their employment if they don`t toe the line!. There is no “mainstream media”, what we have is the most sophisticated propaganda machine the world has ever seen, a propaganda machine that can convince others to buy into any untruth that will serve the purpose of accumulating power and money for the few at the expense of the many. The motto of the “propaganda machine” amounts to just one sentence….Keep the masses dumbed down.
“Europol Report: All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 99.6% that Aren’t
Perception is not reality. Due to the right wing’s influence and propaganda, people mistakenly think that Islamic terrorism is the greatest threat to the Western world. It is even a commonly held belief that Islamic terrorism poses an existential threat–that the very survival of the Western world is at stake. Of course, the reality is that there are other groups that engage in terrorism on a much larger scale, yet these terrorist incidents are minimized. Acts of terrorism committed by Muslims are purposefully sensationalized and focused upon, culminating in the idea that “(nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.”
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/terrorism-in-europe/
An ‘ex’ CIA PR stooge was on CNN last night saying the same thing i.e that we shouldn’t put too much store by the nationality of the suspect because Al Qaida were recruiting foreign nationals to do their work for them, all this without any shred of evidence of course. Interesting how this line synchronised between News organisations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jul/22/oslo-explosion-live-coverage
This gives Guardian reporting minute by minute including Peter Beaumont’s rash piece.
Unfortunately it ain’t just the media going wild with the Islamophobia. I think Obama’s initial response to the tragedy also implied that the attack was carried out by international players and therefore most likely Al Qaeda.
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“It’s a reminder that the entire international community holds a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring. We have to work cooperatively together both on intelligence and in terms of prevention of these kinds of horrible attacks.”
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The New Zealand PM then got in on the action (I miss Helen Clark);
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“If it is an act of global terrorism, then I think that what it shows is no country, large or small, is immune from that risk,” Key said.
“And that’s why New Zealand plays its part in Afghanistan as we try and join others like the United States in making the world a safer place,”
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Even the Norwegian PM’s statements imply the attacker/s are external to Norway, although far more subtle (I’m not 100% on this interpretation, it could go either way);
“No one will bomb us to silence. No one will shoot us to silence. No one will ever scare us away from being Norway,” the prime minister said. “You will not destroy us. You will not destroy our democracy and our ideals for a better world.”
Wasn’t entirely baseless though, given recent events such as:
http://bit.ly/qoapPs and
http://bbc.in/o04kEb
It’s all very well blogging in hindsight but these news organisations will speculate in real-time based on such past events
OldTrot
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”An ‘ex’ CIA PR stooge was on CNN last night saying the same thing i.e that we shouldn’t put too much store by the nationality of the suspect because Al Qaida were recruiting foreign nationals to do their work for them, all this without any shred of evidence of course. Interesting how this line synchronised between News organisations.”
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They all know the script off by heart.
This morning’s Guardian, Kindle edition: http://twitpic.com/5ugfpv – emulating slow print media.
The captured man in this shooting belongs to the same organisation that the Dunblane killer belonged to. Many saw Dunblane as being set up to strengthen gun control in the UK, thereby lessening the chances of a citizens revolt.
I think the object of this massacre is more to do with terrorising Norway to stay in line with the West’s policies.
The people that are likely behind it owe their place in the world to terrorism and are probably the people that the Norwegian PM was addressing last night.
Remember when this news broke? … ”Report: ‘Dirty bomb’ parts found in slain man’s home” By Walter Griffin Posted Feb. 10, 2009, at 10:22 p.m
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”According to an FBI field intelligence report from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center posted online by WikiLeaks, an organization that posts leaked documents, an investigation into the case revealed that radioactive materials were removed from Cummings’ home after his shooting death on Dec. 9.
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”The report posted on the WikiLeaks Web site states that “On 9 December 2008, radiological dispersal device components and literature, and radioactive materials, were discovered at the Maine residence of an identified deceased [person] James Cummings.”
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”It says that four 1-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide and magnesium ribbon were found in the home.
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”Also found was literature on how to build “dirty bombs” and information about cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60, radioactive materials. The FBI report also stated there was evidence linking James Cummings to white supremacist
groups.”
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http://bangordailynews.com/2009/02/10/politics/report-dirty-bomb-parts-found-in-slain-mans-home/
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The only person to have attempted to make a dirty bomb, any where in the world, is only newsworthy in a local paper.
Apologies for reposting Mary’s link to the Guardian blog. I missed it somehow.
How much of this Islamophobia stems from the Russian Federation’s independence? ‘The Cold War’ enabled western ‘democracies’ to detract attention from domestic problems by concentrating on an idealogical enemy. Ever since that enemy disappeared our governments have been looking for another enemy. As western oil reserves deplete the easy enemy has become oil-rich Islamic states. Our foreign policy stinks.
Shaun
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”It’s all very well blogging in hindsight but these news organisations will speculate in real-time based on such past events”
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Here is an idea, how about news organisations reporting the facts as they are known instead of just making stuff up.
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I wouldn’t say speculating based on past events is making stuff up. Given the events such as those I put in those links I believe media organisations are justified in speculating, so long as they acknowledge that they are speculating – I was under know illusion watching Sky and BBC News coverage yesterday that they were discussing possible (key word) motives for the attacks.
I don’t know if this ( http://t.co/tGpHkdZ ) actually is the front page of the Sun today for example, but if it is then it is obviously out of order.