Authorities held, released Pakistani roommate of OU suicide bomber

Tulsa World/AP ^ | 10/5/2005 10:39:00 AM

[sully777]

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- The Pakistani roommate of a man authorities say died when he detonated an explosive device outside a crowded football stadium was led in handcuffs from a party shortly after Saturday's explosion, the head of an Islamic student group said.

Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, shared a university-owned apartment with Joel Hinrichs III, 21, who died Saturday when a device attached to his body exploded as he sat on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall.

Cheema and three other Muslim students were led in handcuffs from a party by police after the blast, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association, said Tuesday. They later were released...

...OU President David Boren said authorities continue to believe that Hinrichs... acted alone. He said Hinrichs' roommate, along with his acquaintances, were questioned by federal authorities...

The FBI said in a statement Tuesday that there is no current threat posed by additional explosive materials, that there is no known threat from anyone else related to the incident and that there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization or activities...

Meanwhile, Norman feed store operator Dustin Ellison said Hinrichs attempted to purchase ammonium nitrate a few days before the explosion...a key ingredient in the 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

The FBI told [Hinrich's father]...more high-density hydrogen peroxide was found in the apartment.

[Blogger]

As long as a Christian was the one attacking the clinic. If it is a Muslim, forget it. It's the religion of peace.

[Thumbellina]

http://newsbusters.org/node/1895

We Aren't Getting the Full Story on the OU Football "Suicide Bomber"
Posted by Mark Tapscott on October 4, 2005 - 06:01.
University of Oklahoma President David Boren seems determined to have everybody believe Joel Henry Hinrichs III was merely a disturbed young man who decided to commit suicide by blowing himself up within 100 yards of a stadium containing 84,000 screaming fans of Sooner football.

Sorry, I don't buy it, at least not yet. Here's why: First, The Daily Oklahoman is reporting authorities found a large cache of bomb-making materials in Hinrichs' apartment. The cache is so big that the Oklahoman quoted one of the officials on the scene as estimating a full 24 hours would be required to cart away all of the material.

Suicide victims don't normally accumulate a large amount of bomb-making material in their homes. People intent on blowing up other people do.

Second, the proximity to the stadium suggests Hinrichs' target was the crowd, perhaps as people were leaving the game. But being an OU student, he presumably would have access to the student seating section and could have gone from that area to anywhere else in the crowd he chose.

What better place to detonate a bomb guaranteed to both kill and maim many, as well as incite terror and possibly a stampede that would kill and injure more people? My guess is Hinrichs was kept from reaching his target by a premature detonation. Add the proximty of the Micro-Biology building and you may have the potential for a kind of bio-bomb that could have guaranteed utter chaos in and around the stadium.

Third, why was Boren sufficiently familiar with Hinrichs to so quickly issue an opinion about his motive in the bombing? When he resigned in November 1994 as a senator, Boren was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He left the Senate just as the Democrats lost their majority in the GOP sweep of 1994.

Add to his Senate years the presence of an active and long-established Muslim student presence on the OU campus stemming from the school's excellent Petroleum Engineering program, and it stands to reason that Boren has been privy to intelligence briefing as head of the school. Is that how he knew of Hinrichs?

Fourth, Hinrichs appears to have a fresh beard, which is characteristic of new Muslim male converts. His father told The Oklahoman his son was a quiet, intellectual type, but he had no idea what might have incited him to take his own life. We can only assume the father also didn't know of the bomb-making material in his son's apartment. Perhaps we are dealing with a recent or a secret convert?

Finally, if Hinrichs was just a disturbed guy who decided to kill himself with a bomb 100 yards from a crowd of 84,000 people instead of simply putting a bullet through his temple, slashing his wrists or some other traditional way of doing away with oneself, why is the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force now the lead agency in the investigation?

Go here to read the latest dispatch from The Oklahoman.

[adam_az]

"Something tells me that the FBI, if not involved yet, will be shortly. Just a hunch."

FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved - i posted the press release pdf url on the big thread yesterday

[LA Woman3]

"Joe would have become a Muslim fanatic when pigs fly," the father side.

Odd statement!

[Aquinasfan]

Meanwhile, Norman feed store operator Dustin Ellison said Hinrichs attempted to purchase ammonium nitrate a few days before the explosion...

That's a pretty big "meanwhile" to bury in the story.

[texasbluebell]

Luckily the pipe bomb was found before he boarded the plane, but interestingly, this was another student from Norman -- he says he built it for "fun" -- why would an aviation management student do that?

I might believe it was just a fun project if it was an engineering student, but aviation? And then just to forget it was in his baggage?

Color me skeptical.

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_230004903

[adam_az]

"Add the proximty of the Micro-Biology building and you may have the potential for a kind of bio-bomb that could have guaranteed utter chaos in and around the stadium."

That is just stupid given the small size of the bomb

[sully777]

I'm just a simple schmoe with a computer and a brain. I see no connections with anything. Grinning.

I read from KRMG last night that an engineer for the city's water supply has connections to the FBI watch list...oh, fiddle sticks, the story is not posted on http://www.krmg.com anymore. Must of been dreaming again.

[2Jedismom]

Oklahoma Ping!

If you want on
or off this list
Freepmail me.

[GOP_1900AD]

I have extensive direct experience with what I am about to write. In general, the Pakistani student communities at major US universities have very, very active social lives. They throw huge parties lasting until dawn with tons of booze and good food. Many non Pakistanis are invited. Some of the women are strikingly beautiful. For young Euro-Americans, there might be a certain allure that arises from this situation. Assuming that it was a goal for a subset of the Pakistani students (for example, Al Qaida or even ISI operatives embedded amongst them) to false flag or even direct recruit Americans, what I have just described would present a perfect opportunity.

[GOP_1900AD]

Sort of like, he was getting coached by the same folks who were probably coaching McVeigh and Nicols ...

[sully777]

I'll be damned. KRMG isn't posting the OU bombing story either. Must be small news compared to...the Tulsa State Fair. Wow, I'm gonna get me a funnel cake.

[ravingnutter]

I call BS...the story in post 22 states:

The cache is so big that the Oklahoman quoted one of the officials on the scene as estimating a full 24 hours would be required to cart away all of the material.

How could it be possible that the roommate did not know?

[OKSooner]

Tulsa World ping.

[Thumbellina]

Also check this site:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46640

Littlegreenfootballs is also following this with more links.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/

[OKSooner]

Thanks. Nice to see you doing the ping list again.

[Osage Orange]

Funny how this story and the story concerning the pipebomb found on an OK City plane has died quickly.

That story...and the explanation rang totally true to me.

But maybe I'm an idgit....been one a time or two before.....

[Americanexpat]

I think Joel's Dad is full of it.

[2Jedismom]

:-D

Thank you, sir!

[quack]

Not to mention this occured 10 years to the day(October 1st,1995) that Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and 9 others were convicted for their involvement in a conspiracy to plant bombs at New York landmarks like the United Nations building and FBI offices. These people were also accused (but not convicted) of being involved with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.