(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
In Ny Tid on October 7, Jan Borgen criticizes Oslo SV for wanting to stop the relocation of the US embassy to Huseby. The castle is afraid of life and health for people on Drammensveien. Borgen writes as if the choice between Huseby and Drammensveien is an ultimatum. This premise for Borgen's attack on Oslo SV is wrong. If the United States gets no on Huseby, they will find another plot.
The guarantor demands that the embassy is moved to the Huseby free area and refers to Jørn Holme, the commander of the Police Security Service, who says that moving the embassy from Drammensveien will reduce the terror threat regardless of location. That's good news from PST. If the threat is to be reduced wherever the embassy is relocated, then it must be possible to find a site that does not destroy a vast, valuable recreation area and that does not move the terror threat into a residential area, fifteen meters from one of Oslo's largest sports facilities, where 2000 Kids exercise every week.
The threat disappears namely not with moving. This winter, Terrorist researcher Signe Astrup Arnesen at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute told Ullern newspaper / Akersposten: "The fact that a new embassy is being built in accordance with current US regulations may make it less vulnerable, but it will still appear as an attractive symbolic target for potential terrorists. The temptation to hit the embassy is not necessarily diminished by the fact that it is less vulnerable. " An estimate that Borgen fears on Drammensveien will also have terrible consequences for Huseby.
And then to Borgens wrong premise: A no to Huseby does not mean that the embassy will be located on Drammensveien. The US itself wants away from Drammensveien and will look further if they have to. They are required by their own authorities. And now the United States needs real help to look, as in other European cities. In Bern, Switzerland, the embassy moves into an existing insurance building. There was no requirement for free areas. The mayor of Bern, like the majority in Oslo SV, has understood that he must both help the United States and represent the city's inhabitants. According to the city's website, the mayor says, "When it comes to our interests and our rights, we must not readily accept or fulfill all (US) wishes." Also in the Hague in the Netherlands have been negotiated without meeting all requirements. There, a new site has already been found for the US after the embassy in June refused to build in a park.
At Huseby we thank you the vast majority in Oslo SV who have had the backbone to represent us in this matter as well. That two of the city council representatives want time for reflection is reasonable in a difficult case like this. However, we hope that the pondering will be short-lived. In order for a constructive new process to start, the city council must reject the proposal to re-regulate the Habitat Forest. And if the embassy insists on moving to Huseby, then for the local community it is welcomed into the old building for the Defense Command. There is plenty of space and further away from the civilian population. But they don't get free areas. As SV stands firm in its party program: Free areas important to the community and the future. Also in Oslo West.
Margrethe Geelmuyden, Action Vern Husebyskogen
