Norway's Breivik says he learned from al Qaeda

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 20, 2012 -- Updated 1117 GMT (1917 HKT)

Anders Behring Breivik speaks during his trial Friday at the central court in Oslo, Norway.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Anders Breivik says he had to use "asymmetric warfare" against a larger enemy
• He picked up tips from al Qaeda such as wearing a police uniform for his attack, he says
• Breivik says he taught himself to switch off his emotions
• He admits killing 77 people in a gun-and-bomb rampage, calling it "necessary"

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- Anders Behring Breivik, who admits killing 77 people in Norway last summer, told a court in Oslo on Friday that he learned lessons from al Qaeda in planning his attacks.

He followed al Qaeda closely from 2006 to 2011 and studied the terror network's "media effect, what they have done wrong, what they have done right ... what it takes," Breivik said.

Breivik is on trial on charges of voluntary homicide and committing acts of terror in the July 22 attacks. He admits carrying out the Oslo bombing that killed eight people and shooting 69 people dead on nearby Utoya Island.

He boasts of being an ultranationalist who killed his victims to fight multiculturalism in Norway.

Breivik told the court he picked up the idea of wearing a police uniform for the gun massacre on Utoya from reading al Qaeda's online "magazine" for followers.

 

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He also gained tips from watching documentaries on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"The most successful (terror organization) is al Qaeda. ... They connect their actions to becoming a martyr. That is the key to a successful resistance," he said.

Breivik described how he had taught himself to switch off his emotions as prosecutors quizzed him on whether he felt empathy for others.

"You ask if I have empathy and emotion. ... You could say I was pretty normal until 2006 when I started training ... desensitizing myself through meditation," Breivik said.

"It's about atrocity, barbaric acts. I cannot even fathom what it must sound to others. I have tried to distance myself from it," he said, speaking of his own actions.

Breivik told the court the issue at stake was freedom of speech, and how nationalists "have been excluded since the Second World War."

He was driven to violence after trying unsuccessfully to get his views on multiculturalism heard, he said.

"I had tried all peaceful means. I have personally found that this was futile. I tried to engage myself politically ... write essays and get through to the editors. ... Then there was only one possibility, that was violence," Breivik said.

Asked if he considered his terror attacks to be cowardly, Brevik said it would probably have been "most honorable" to challenge Norway's military to a duel.

"But when you are up against a massive strength, one is forced to do asymmetric warfare, and the only thing you have then is the element of surprise," he said.

Prosecutors sought to uncover the roots of Breivik's ideas in questioning Friday.

He cited the country's school system as an example of what he sees as wrong in Norway.

"You will get guys who are starting to crochet and cook, and girls have to learn carpentry. It is Marxism," he said.

"If you look closely at the Norwegian school system, we see that it is stripped of knowledge of codes of honor. It has been decided that codes of honor, which have been so important in Europe for thousands of years, shall cease," he said.

Asked if he is racist, Breivik answered: "I am anti-racist."

His attorney, Geir Lippestad, has warned that Friday's testimony will also focus on the killings of 69 young people on Utoya Island and that it is likely to be "the toughest day."

Breivik told the court Thursday that he decided to carry out the gun attack on a Labour Party youth camp on Utoya after his initial plan to target a journalists' conference did not work out.

He also hoped to kill former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and decapitate her with a knife or bayonet, he said. He planned to film the murder on his iPhone and upload the video to the Internet, he said.

He concentrated on killing people over the age of 18 on the island, he said, because he thought the killings of younger people would be harshly criticized.

Many of the victims were younger than 18, but he said he did not regret what he did.

"I would do it again," he said.

Breivik used the video game "Modern Warfare 2" as training for his shooting, he testified. Players of the game, one of the "Call of Duty" series, work together as soldiers to shoot opponents.

He also went through a period of playing the online fantasy game "World of Warcraft" up to 16 hours a day, he testified.

The trial is expected to last up to 10 weeks.

Breivik's testimony, which is not being broadcast due to a court ruling, follows his declaration Monday that he carried out the massacre but was not guilty because the killings had been "necessary."

Breivik said in court Wednesday that he should either get the death penalty or be acquitted, ridiculing the idea that he would be sent to prison or a mental hospital for his actions. Norway does not have the death penalty.

He boasted Tuesday that he had carried out "the most sophisticated and spectacular political attack in Europe since World War II" when he went on his gun-and-bomb rampage.

Lippestad said it was important to his client that people see him as sane.

Experts have given different opinions about Breivik's sanity, which will be a factor in determining what punishment he receives if convicted. Sentencing options could include imprisonment or confining him to a mental facility.

Most of the victims' relatives did not want Breivik's remarks televised, and presiding Judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen rejected Breivik's claim that airing it was a human right.

Court papers indicated the five judges hearing the case did not want the trial to become a platform for Breivik to air his political views, or for them to distract from the legal issues involved.

Breivik has said his rampage was meant to save Norway from being taken over by multicultural forces and to prevent ethnic cleansing of Norwegians.

In a 1,500-page manifesto attributed to him, Breivik railed against Muslim immigration and European liberalism -- including the ruling Labour Party, which he said was allowing the "Islamification of Europe."

Journalist Olav Mellingsaeter contributed to this report.