Posted on 10/12/2005 4:45:14 AM PDT by texianyankee
Imagine a man with a bomb strapped to his body making his way into a packed football stadium, reaching his seat and blowing himself up. There would be a heavy death toll in what would be the first successful terrorist act on U.S. soil since 9-11.
Jolting us back to memories of the Oklahoma City bombing, this would obviously be a massive headline in our ongoing war on terror. One would think attention would be heightened even further if such a story were to occur again in Oklahoma.
Well, there's reason to believe it nearly happened, and it was indeed in Oklahoma, making the paltry coverage of the story unfathomable.
On Oct. 1, as the Oklahoma Sooners hosted Kansas State in front of 84,000 fans, University of Oklahoma student Joel Hinrichs III blew himself up outside the stadium.
There is evidence that he sought to enter the game and was turned away by security after refusing to allow his backpack to be searched. Some minutes later, that backpack, containing the chosen explosive of shoe bomber Richard Reid and the London subway bombers, exploded, killing Mr. Hinrichs as he sat on a bench.
There have been some dutiful print and broadcast accounts of this event, all leaning heavily on the favored establishment take – that this was a troubled young man who sought only to kill himself, simply doing so in an offbeat way.
Oh, really?
Well, what if the young man had a Pakistani roommate? What if he had been spending time at the Islamic Center of Norman, Okla., once frequented by "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui? What if the warrant used in the search of the bomber's apartment had been sealed by federal authorities?
What if explosives had been found in that apartment? What if the young man had tried to purchase ammonium nitrate, the chosen explosive of Tim McVeigh, at a Norman feed store days earlier?
That's a lot of what ifs, and they range from the confirmed to the unconfirmed. But the parts we do know – the Pakistani roommate, the attempted fertilizer purchase, the veil of secrecy around the investigation – should be enough to cast doubt on the simplistic "troubled young man" theory favored by, among others, OU's nervous president, David Boren.
Mr. Hinrichs' father told me his son was not the type to join radical causes and would not want to hurt anyone. But his son's chosen method – blowing himself up in a public place – would seem to cast doubt on his concern for his fellow man.
As for the terrorist angle, Mr. Hinrichs is now the subject of understandably intense scrutiny, virtually none of it from the mainstream media. You might think the story fizzled because there was, in fact, no death beyond the bomber. True enough, but I'd suggest that if a raid revealed some radical plan to bomb an abortion clinic anywhere in America, the suspects would be household names by nightfall without a single fuse lit.
Something about the nature of this event has swallowed almost whole the normal curiosity one would expect from the usual sources.
Is it political, because acknowledging a terror threat on our soil might bolster President Bush's war logic? Is it economic, out of fear of scaring people away from football games? Is it geographic snobbery because it didn't happen on either coast? Or is it a PC fear of seeming to lunge toward a jihadist angle?
Whatever the reason, hunting for details of this shocking story puts you in some offbeat company.
Jayna Davis is a writer who has spent years documenting what she asserts is an Islamic connection to the Oklahoma City bombing. She has a fan in Douglas Hagmann, director of an outfit called the Northeastern Intelligence Network, whose Web site (homelandsecurityus.com) has a conspiracy geek vibe that might spark scoffing.
But the fact of the matter is that these people are breaking fresh news on this story that only later winds up in more conventional news outlets.
I'm not calling for a leap to the conclusion that Mr. Hinrichs was another in a series of Caucasians pressed into service by terror cells for their undercover value. But it seems equally unwise to shrug dismissively at the possibility.
Ping. Some folks in the media are starting to get it.
FYI - I dont know who else to ping this to.....
Jayna Davis knows this too well.
bump
Good morning, TexasCajun. Something went terribly wrong with the FBI in Oklahoma; you're right about that.
Jayna Davis's book is one of the most eye opening books I've ever read. I've lent it to some democrats and it has changed their mind about Iraq and the war!
Mark Davis is a nationally-syndicated conservative radio talk-show host.
While he's not exactly part of the MSM, it's good to see the Dallas Morning News published his editorial.
That THIS is good summary reporting and analysis, although none of it "new" to those of us who have followed the OK bombing from day one here at FreeeRepublic:
Wonder when the mainstream news will "get it"?
(When the OK bombing will benefit Hillary? Or when it will harm Bush?)
I'm not holding my breath for CNN or even FNC to get it.
It's movement in the right direction at least. Good for him for writing that editorial.
This story and the Able Danger story are the two biggest "media" disappointments of the year, for me.
Often I find myself defending at least some journalists (in part because two of my best friends are journalists), but I can't defend journalists with a straight face any more. How many thousands of man-hours have been spent by journalists over the past five years trying to find cover-ups and scandals coming from the upper levels of government? Well, here's two cover-ups of seeming enormous implications that are begging to be reported, and America's journalists have shied away like frightened puppies.
But the laud a moron for going to jail for a couple of months "on principle" who had already been released from confidentiality by the source she was "protecting." Give me a break. For $1.2 million I'd spend a couple months in jail - there's no overhead and you get three meals a day.
Agreed - Mark Davis didnt tell us anything new, but at least it is out there.
I heard Mark Davis' interview with the bomber's father. The poor misguided dad is in total denial. But the point of this piece is how this has not really been 'national' news. Sure the kid was misguided....by jihdist influences. I think Davis is convinced there is a jihadist effort to enlist willing non-arab participants in their cause in the USA. I don't think Davis is off the mark.
It's about time that this story saw the light of day. Of course, the media is more concerned with Tom DeLay and the Republican infighting over Miers.
FNC did about three minutes on this around lunchtime on Friday. They called in two talking heads. One guy said it smelled like a terrorist hit to him, the second guy (who IIRC was law enforcement though not directly related to this case) said it was just a kid looking to go out with a bang ... so to speak.
Thanks for the link! You do those things quite well. Much appreciated.
What if he used the same brand of backpack used by thousands of peaceful students? Would that make him okay?
There's a lot that might indicate the possibility of an intentional attack, but to use the explosives information in this way is silly.
I wish more stations near Chicago carried him. I used to listen to Mark when we lived in Granbury, Tx before we moved to near Chicago. My wife in particular really liked him.
The mainstream press is actually TALKING about this..
Interesting stuff.
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