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Actually, Norway has been a comparatively active participant in the War on Terror. Norwegian special forces have been operating in Afghanistan since the get-go (as one might imagine, they are good at high-altitude, cold-weather warfare). Hence, Norway has been specifically cited as a target in a number of al-Qaeda ramblings. Likewise, Norway has been restructuring its armed forces to act in concert with US forces overseas. They've scrapped their coastal fleet for large, long-range warships. They've also scaled back the army to make it a more professional force with increased SpecOps capabilities.

The problem with Norwegians is two-fold: (1) They don't understand what it is like to live in a heterogenous society, so they assume that any problems in America are the result of our racism; and (2) like most Europeans, they don't like Jews. Between these two things, the average Norwegian is ready to believe that Israel and America are to blame for the problems in the Middle East. However, the Norwegian military is pro-US, and various Norwegian governments prefer to work with the US, if only behind closed doors. After all, they're not in the EU, so they like the US as a counter-balance to the Eurocrats.

"The average Norwegian is ready to believe that Israel and America are to blame for the problems in the Middle East. "

Interesting analysis. Thank you.
You bring up some things that should cause me to take pause, however, I still wonder about the "average Norwegian".

(1) is greatly exaggerated, I think. But (2) is just wrong. The liberal media is pounding on Israel all the time, so there is (or was, until this week...) a certain popular support for the Pals. However, dislike of Jews as such is rarely heard of. In all my life I have met one true-blue anti-semite in Norway.

Unlike many other places in Europe, there were never a lot of Jews here and such hostility as existed against them was mostly religiously based rather than racialist. With the securalization of both Christians and Jews, most of this has evaporated, and the sympathy for Jews after World War did away with the rest. Norway was actually a closer friend of Israel than the US until 1967, having her embassy in Jerusalem and supplying Israel with heavy water and equipment for her nukes. This support has slowly dwindled thereafter with the perception that Israel is clinging on to her spoils of war.

Norway was occupied for five years and DID NOT LIKE IT, so there's part of the explanation; certainly more important than antipathy toward Jews. There is more of that in some other European countries that shall go unnamed.

I have several friends in Norway who I have known since the early 80's.

Their disdain for USA is palpable. I recall a whole story from a guy named TOM about America's "pigs in the forest" referring to slavery as he sat and sucked bone marrow out of chicken bones.

On the day of 911 I got a phone call from them. Nervous they were and ready to condemn President Bush to which I had a fruity reply of I trust my President he is a good and he will lead my country right in its defense of this terrorism. I got a gasp. I guess they wished Al Gore was in charge???

You are a little bit of the truth. Most people have nothing against the Jews. One thing is sure though. We are not hot heads like the Muslims. We are stable people that likes to build and not tear down. The burn flags, buildings, throw stones. We work and build.
This whole thing will stick to the back of our head for a long time.