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.
What radio station is he on? I probably cant pick him up down here in College Station.
Good. He brings up many of the salient points without making flat accusations, just reporting 'rumors'. Nicely done.
Today's Oklahoman newspaper reported that the FBI told Congressman Tom Cole that Hinrichs had no jihadist material in his apartment and no known connection with terrorists. They also said that there was nothing to indicate Hinrichs attended the mosque. I wonder if the FBI would be interested in some swampland in Florida I have for sale.
I just answered my own question, I clicked on the link - I see he is on WBAP
The question I have is whether Joel was a volunteer or a conscript. The month in Iraq has been at times to hold a family hostage to force the suicide run.
Oh, and don't forget them fringe benefits. Hopefully you ain't small in stature..
Cole's been studying Baghdad Bob.
While there is still not enough information to reach a firm conclusion, this incident is highly suspicious, and I believe the public has the right to be fully informed.
You're thinking of prison. Jail ain't so tough.
He is on WBAP which has a web site and broadcasts on the net. But..Davis is nationally syndicated on the radio...I just dont know what stations and where. Maybe the web site would tell you.
I meant to say the FBI, not Cole.
Great post. Thanks.
I do not believe this is a "Just a suicide".
I do believe this was designed to be a terrorist suicide mission.
I do believe the kid was a jihadist and was in the mosque as has been reported.
I do believe that he was mixing explosives in his room and there were other explosives materials in his room and had jihadist reading material, did the reading material belong to Hinnricks or Cheema or did Cheema use it to convert Hinnricks? If not why did the FBI say they had sealed indictments.
I do believe this Cheema character is involved up to his ears. I also believe that Cheemas's statements he is an athiest is BS and a smake screen.
I do believe the FBI and the local police are covering this up, I don't think they were fast enough to conceal all the information from the public.
Is it possible the next threat comes, not from ARAB terrorists, but from the twisted minds of members of ANSWR or fringe group ... from the American converts?
You can be sure that they are 'slow'.
I plead the fifth.
I am often fascinated at what the mainstream media choose to cover and to ignore. In 1997, for example, a baby died at the hands of a babysitter. One would think such a story would generate only local interest in the community where it happened, but the mainstream media picked up on it, and it remained at the top of the national news for weeks, becoming one of the biggest news stories of the year. On the other hand, they have virtually ignored the Oklahoma suicide bombing and the bomber's possible ties to Islamist terrorist networks.
bttt
Thanks for the ping. Maybe the rest of the MSM will start digging. It's about time.
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