(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The city council must hurry Adopt the US Embassy to move out of the city center. No postponement is acceptable. Why this impatience? Because life and health are at stake. The embassy is the perfect terror target for those who want to kill and harm as much as possible. 1850 school children / adolescents (6-18 years) have school roads right at the embassy. Three schools are within a radius of 150 meters from the embassy. The west entrance to the Nationaltheatret station is ten meters away and is used by thousands of travelers every day. The station is Norway's second largest public transport hub (100.000 users / day). The embassy is located at one of the busiest crossings in the country. 60 buses and trams pass by the hour. In the immediate vicinity are many people, some of them less than ten meters from the embassy security zone. The neighborhood is a terror trap!
The car bomb attacks against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 provide a clue as to what we may have in store. In Nairobi: 213 people killed, 4000 injured. In Dar es Salaam: at least 12 killed, 85 injured. Almost everyone killed was passersby and people in buildings in the neighborhood, only a few were embassy staff. The car bomb scenario is also likely in the center of Oslo, say experts, such as Professor Tore Bjørgo. If the car is parked in a street along the embassy building and other buildings, it will do enormous damage due to the shock wave.
Relocating of the embassy will reduce the terror threat to the population in general, regardless of new location, according to a letter signed PST chief Jørn Holme earlier years. The relocation will "make the embassy less susceptible to any attempted actions than in its current unsheltered location in central Oslo". The decisive factor for the threat assessment is whether or not the location of the embassy building is attractive for car bombs. The method is alluring if the car (s) can be parked close to the embassy building, and there are buildings around the embassy that can concentrate and reinforce the pressure shock towards the target (embassy). As in the streets of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Or in Løkkeveien or Hansteensgate in Oslo. The method is not alluring where the terms mentioned do not exist.
Moving can potentially save a lot of lives. However, the majority of SV's city council will not adopt a move now. The City Council Group knows that if the embassy remains in Drammensveien for the foreseeable future, which is largely probable unless a decision to relocate is made now, the consequence is that further and more comprehensive security measures will be implemented. This will increase the threat to the lives and health of people in the area because the safety zone is being moved closer to these. The consequences will be dramatic. The street network around the embassy is narrowed, shortened or closed. Neighboring buildings are taken over or demolished. The embassy will be a solid fortress.
SV's policy in the matter means that the party puts protection of free land on the western edge over the protection of life and health of people in central Oslo. How does the majority in the City Council defend it? Have they understood the seriousness? Do they have a good conscience?
Jan Borgen writes on behalf of parents of students at Ruseløkka school
