Trump's remarks on terror baffle Swedes

President Donald Trump tucks away his notes near the conclusion of a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May in the East Room of the White House White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017.
President Donald Trump tucks away his notes near the conclusion of a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May in the East Room of the White House White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017.

LONDON -- Swedes have been scratching their heads in response to President Donald Trump's remarks Saturday that suggested a major event had occurred in the Scandinavian country. The president now says he was referring to something he saw on television.

During Trump's campaign-style rally that evening in Florida, Trump spoke about attacks on refugee policies in Europe, listing places that have been hit by terrorists.

"You look at what's happening," he told his supporters. "We've got to keep our country safe. You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?"

Nothing of particular note had happened in Sweden on Friday -- or Saturday, for that matter -- and Swedes were left baffled.

"Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister, wrote on Twitter.

In response to Trump's original remarks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Catarina Axelsson said the government wasn't aware of any "terror-linked major incidents." Sweden's Security Police said it had no reason to change the terror threat level.

"Nothing has occurred which would cause us to raise that level," agency spokesman Karl Melin said.

Addressing Trump in an article on Sunday, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet wrote, "This happened in Sweden Friday night, Mr President," and then listed in English some events that included a man being treated for severe burns, an avalanche warning and police chasing a drunken driver.

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One Twitter user said, "After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden, IKEA have sold out of this" and posted a mock Ikea instruction manual on how to build a "Border Wall."

Trump did not say a terrorist attack had taken place in Sweden, but the context of his remarks -- he mentioned Sweden right after he mentioned Germany, a destination for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing war and deprivation -- suggested that he thought it might have.

"Sweden," Trump said. "They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible."

He then referred to the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris in 2015 and in Brussels and Nice, France, last year, to make an argument for tightening scrutiny of travelers and asylum seekers. "We've allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country and there was no way to vet those people," he said. "There was no documentation. There was no nothing. So we're going to keep our country safe."

Sweden's most recent terrorist attack occurred in 2010 when a suicide bomber struck central Stockholm, injuring two people. The bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, 28, was an Iraqi-born Swede who had developed an affinity for al-Qaida. But that attack occurred long before the current wave of migrants fleeing war and deprivation.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokesman, tried to clarify the president's remarks Sunday, saying Trump did not mean to suggest that a particular attack had happened the night before, but rather was talking about crime in general in Sweden.

On Sunday, Trump offered his own clarification, writing on Twitter: "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden."

In that story, Fox News correspondent Tucker Carlson interviewed Ami Horowitz, a filmmaker who asserts that migrants in Sweden have been associated with a crime wave. "They often times try to cover up some of these crimes," Horowitz said, arguing that those who try to tell the truth about the situation are shouted down as racists and xenophobes.

Horowitz said, "Sweden had its first terrorist Islamic attack not that long ago, so they're now getting a taste of what we've been seeing across Europe already."

Henrik Selin, political scientist and deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a state agency dedicated to promoting Sweden globally, said he was puzzled by Trump's remarks.

"Obviously, this could be connected to the fact that there has been a lot of negative reporting about Sweden, since Sweden has taken in a lot of refugees," he said in a telephone interview.

Selin completed a study recently focusing on negative news reports about Sweden's intake of refugees. It found numerous exaggerations and distortions, including reports falsely claiming that Sharia law was predominant in parts of the country and that some immigrant-heavy neighborhoods were considered "no-go zones" by police.

Sweden has a long history of welcoming refugees -- Jews, Iranians, Eritreans, Somalis, Kurds and people from the former Yugoslavia, among others. In 2015 it had a record 163,000 asylum applications. The country has since cut back on the number it annually accepts.

The country processed 81,000 asylum seekers in 2014, 163,000 in 2015 and 29,000 last year, with another 25,000 to 45,000 expected this year, according to the Swedish Migration Agency.

In an essay in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, journalist Martin Gelin speculated that "Trump might have gotten his news from the countless right-wing media in the United States that have long been reporting that Sweden is heading for total collapse."

He added: "Among Trump supporters, there are common myths that Sweden is in a state of chaos after taking in refugees from the Middle East."

Bildt told Swedish Radio after his initial confounded tweet Sunday that he sees danger in how Trump relates to facts.

"If we are in a situation where there is tension in the world, we stand between war and peace," he said. "If we then have a president who spreads lots of false rumors, it can be truly dangerous."

Information for this article was contributed by Sewell Chan, Christina Anderson and Peter Baker of The New York Times, and by Matti Huuhtanen of The Associated Press.

A Section on 02/20/2017

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