Posted on 10/09/2005 11:22:54 AM PDT by JustaCowgirl
NORMAN - University of Oklahoma officials, the Muslim community, students and others are waiting for the FBI to connect the dots in last week's public suicide of an OU student.
Joel Henry Hinrichs III, 21, was killed Oct. 1 in an explosion that officials say he caused not far from a packed Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
But the dots cannot be connected, at least at this point, said Stephen Sloan, a former University of Oklahoma professor who is alarmed that far-right extremist groups have taken to the Internet with conspiracy theories attempting to link the actions of Hinrichs to the Muslim community of Norman and to the Middle East.
The FBI has provided little information about its investigation but said last week that there is no known link between Hinrichs and terrorist or extremist organizations. But questions linger as to Hinrichs' intent before he died in an explosion while sitting on a park bench in front of the George Lynn Cross microbiology building about 100 yards west of the stadium.
"No doubt there are a lot of questions to be answered," Sloan said. "But it is unfortunately logical to think that he was trying to get into the stadium."
The terrorism expert said the size of the explosion indicates that it was designed to hit more than Hinrichs. He said it seems more than coincidence that this occurred on the Saturday night of a football game.
A student, Adam Smith, related last week that he learned from a ticket taker at Gate 6 on the north side of the football field that a young man had tried to gain entrance. The ticket taker wanted to examine the man's backpack, which prompted the man to sprint away, Smith said he was told.
The FBI reportedly has confirmed that its review of surveillance cameras in the stadium did not reveal that Hinrichs tried to gain entrance. However, OU President David Boren declined at midweek to say whether cameras are mounted at all entrances.
The FBI has kept mum about the explosive that Hinrichs used and declined to comment on reports that large amounts of explosives were in his apartment.
The explosion that killed Hinrichs also burned a large area around the bench. If the explosion had occurred inside the stadium, it could have killed fans, prompting the question of whether that was Hinrichs' intent all along.
A suicide note apparently has not been found. Hinrichs' father, who had conversations with the FBI, told The Associated Press that his son did not leave a suicide note.
Joel Hinrichs Jr. told the Tulsa World that he knew his son was troubled, but he had no idea he wanted to die.
"I would have been there within whatever the speed limit would allow me to be if I had any inclination that he was this unhappy," the father said from his family's home in Colorado Springs the day after the explosion.
It remains unanswered as to whether Hinrichs could have concocted the explosive device on his own, although there are no indications he acted with others.
Those who knew of him -- from his high school teacher in Colorado Springs to fellow engineering students at OU -- said he was typically a loner who sat by himself in the classroom. He was among the National Merit Scholars whom Boren has attracted to the OU campus.
His father told the Colorado Springs Gazette that at an early age, Hinrichs was fascinated with science. At the time of his death, he was a third-year engineering student at OU.
Boren has said it appears this is an "individual suicide," noting that Hinrichs waited until people were inside the stadium before he took his life.
University officials say they have no record of Hinrichs having a season ticket or purchasing one for the OU-Kansas State game.
OU Vice President of Communications Catherine Bishop added, however, that the university has no way of knowing whether Hinrichs could have purchased a ticket from someone outside the stadium, where many people typ ically sell tickets on game day.
Sloan said the public should note the fact that if Hinrichs did try to get into the stadium, he was stopped.
"If Hinrichs was turned away, that is a positive mark in terms of security awareness," he said.
While Hinrichs' individual actions are still being probed, the Islamic community of Norman is on edge, fearful that this troubling event is somehow linked to Muslims.
"Haven't we learned from the bombing of the Murrah Building (in 1995) in Oklahoma City, when the first reports tried to tie the bombing to a foreigner from the Middle East?" Sloan said. "But that proved to be false.
"It is much too early to render a full judgment," said Sloan, who regrets that some people already are convinced this is a conspiracy.
Hinrichs lived at Parkview Apartments, just a few blocks from the mosque of the Islamic Society of Norman. Also fueling the link to some kind of Middle East terrorism is the fact that Hinrichs' roommate, Fazil Cheema, is from Pakistan. Acquaintances of Cheema's say he is not a practicing Muslim and never attends services at the mosque.
Muslims who attend the mosque also say they are not aware that Hinrichs ever set foot in the mosque.
The quest for the truth, however, has been hindered by the fact that Cheema himself has not made himself available to the media since the incident occurred. He has left the apartment where he lived with Hinrichs, although he is still believed to be in Norman.
Acquaintances say that Hinrichs and his roommate have in common the fact that both could be called loners, and possibly ended up as roommates at Parkview because neither of them had other friends, so they were assigned to live together.
Tariq Alzoubi, a Muslim who has been part of the Islamic community in Norman for several years, said when he found out that the individual who died was white and not Middle Eastern, "I was not happy, but I was relieved. Then the issue came up that his roommate might be Pakistani."
Originally from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, Alzoubi said Muslims have been on edge when something like this happens ever since Sept. 11, 2001.
"Before 9-11, I knew 30 Saudi students at OU; all but two of them left," he said.
"My only concern in all of this is that we stay away from collective punishment for something bad that happened here," he said.
Mick Hinton (405) 528-2465 mick.hinton@tulsaworld.com
Never heard anything about it -- I know they padlocked the gate -- will ask around because I know some folks that were down there at halftime but if you were just under the stadium looking for food, you might not notice.
bump
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Very interesting...you got good stuff. Thanks.
Wonder why, with a large ME and Muslim population, Pakistanis were the only ones mentioned for "safe houses" after 9/11.
Wonder why minute meetings would be scrubbed and website would be blocked...just wondering.
"Why is it that when I hear the word "Fulbright" I think of Bill Clinton? The knot gets tighter."
Indeed.
Thanks.
It made me wonder.
I posted this on another thread that fits in here perfectly -- my tin foil hat has now hardened:
Remember the FBI files of the Clintons -- raw data ones -- A-M?
I thought it was strange that Boren went out the first night of the Monica story and called for Clinton to resign -- made no sense why an OU President would be asked. Now I am beginning to think he was asked by the Clintons -- part of their strategy to get someone out there and then say not all of the facts are known because Boren stressed the sex with an intern and if that was the truth, he needed to resign. Were we being set up because he got Clinton to appoint Tenent with little background to speak of except from the Senate Committee he never should have been appointed to with NO experience. That got someone in CIA loyal to Boren and to the Clintons.
Is my tinfoil hat getting too tight?
"Is my tinfoil hat getting too tight?"
It certainly seems safe to say that Boren was and is a Clintonista, doesn't it?
"I wonder if the officer was tailing Hindrich."
I actually thought that for a day or two, and was relieved at the thought that our guys were not quite so clueless as it was beginning to appear at the time. Then, the Norman PD started issueing CYA press releases, talking about how he only ran the tags and didn't pursue the matter further because they came up clean, and that he INTENDED to file a written statement or report and didn't because Hinrichs was dead, only to revise this twice more, with hours of criticism here on FR. That's why I don't believe that this off-duty officer was doing anything at Ellison Feed & Seed other than shooting the breeze with the owner's son and general manager, Dustin Ellison, who was the one who spoke with Hinrichs and didn't do anything other than tell him they didn't sell ammonium nitrate anymore. This very prompt revision of the press release is also why I said that these threads are being monitored, in Norman and elsewhere.
It was my mistake, the author is Mark Hinton. We've asked the admin to fix it several times, but it hasn't been fixed.
Boren even sounds like one with all his parcing and spinning. Boy were we duped or I should say I was duped by the man! Should know better then to trust a Democrat!
Thanks.
Turn your thread in as an abuse.
In the remarks note the mistake and ask the admin moderator to make the changes.
I think they're talking about Buckhead.com? Its those same right wingers that had detailed analysis of Bush's National Guard documents before the CBS program was even finished.
So the roomie has NOT been questioned or took off before the warrant was served?
Too much of a smokescreen for there not to be something very interesting there, as far as the father is concerned, don't you think?
&&
You bring up some good points.
But I wonder if the guy is just strange. Maybe strange and liberal, but until I see him on tv, I don't suspect that he was involved. Admittedly, though, I certainly am not well-informed on this story.
"Maybe strange and liberal, but until I see him on tv, I don't suspect that he was involved."
I don't think he was involved, personally, but he's straining to sound mainstream conservative, which is strange in and of itself. His first statement, that his son's actions weren't "politically motivated" sound politcally motivated.
Okay, I understand you now.
Beth, I had no idea. I am so sorry.
Beth, I had no idea. I am so sorry.
He's a registered Republican in CO and has written some pretty conservative remarks in his alt-group postings we found (I haven't finished reading them--still working on the family timeline).
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