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Student recounts talk with worker (Norman Terrorist bombing; MUST READ)
Tulsa World ^ | 10/07/2005 | Mick Hinton

Posted on 10/07/2005 7:04:52 AM PDT by indcons

NORMAN -- An incident related by a ticket taker at Saturday's OU-Kansas State game raises questions about whether a student who died in a suicide explosion tried to gain entrance to Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

But University of Oklahoma officials continue to deny that Joel Henry Hinrichs III tried to enter the stadium before dying about 100 yards away.

OU student Adam Smith said Thursday that he was approached as he was leaving the stadium Saturday by a ticket taker from Gate 6 who wanted to know what had happened.

Smith said he told the gate worker that there had apparently been an explosion outside the stadium and someone had been blown up.

"He gave me a wide-eyed look, and said: 'Oh, that's really strange,' " Smith said. The ticket taker recounted that a young man who looked strange and was wearing a backpack that looked full tried to get into the stadium.

However, when he was asked to open his backpack, "the guy didn't say a word and sprinted away," Smith said he was told.

Vice President of Communications Catherine Bishop said OU officials have "been assured that there is no validity to the Gate 6 rumor." Bishop said the story has been checked out by the university's athletic department.

Meanwhile, the FBI continued to have no new comments on the case Thursday.

Hinrichs, a 21-year-old, third-year engineering student described by his father as a loner and a depressed and troubled son, died Saturday in what officials have called a suicide explosion that occurred during the second quarter of the OU-Kansas State football game. The explosion was sizeable enough to leave a large burned-out area surrounding a park bench in front of a campus building, prompting concern from the public about what would have happened if the blast had occurred inside the stadium amid a crowd of 84,000 fans.

Hinrichs' roommate was Fazil Cheema, a student from Pakistan. Law enforcement officials late Saturday came to the Parkview Apartments complex where the pair lived, located Cheema at a neighboring apartment, then interviewed him and about a half-dozen others, who are Muslims. However, spokesmen for the local Muslim community say Cheema himself is not a practicing Muslim.

An OU instructor in Arab languages whose native country is Egypt said Thursday that he was among the small group of Muslims handcuffed by Norman police and led to FBI agents, who questioned him for about two hours early Sunday morning.

Instructor Hossam Barakat said Norman police were "really aggressive," but FBI agents were polite and apologized for having to interview Barakat and the others gathered at one of the units of Parkview Apartments.

Hinrichs and Cheema lived in a nearby unit, and Cheema was at the neighboring apartment when police arrived. Cheema has moved from the Parkview Apartments to another apartment in Norman, acquaintances say, but Cheema cannot be reached.

Barakat and others are concerned that the OU explosion could be unfairly connected to the Muslim community. Barakat said he does not know Cheema very well. Members of the Islamic Society of Norman say that Cheema is not a Muslim and does not attend the mosque.

"Cheema was an atheist who was angry with God because he had lost much of his hearing," said Tariq Alzoubi, who noted many international students especially from the Mideast region are reluctant to talk about the case.

The Muslims who practice at the Islamic Society of Norman emphasize that they have never seen Hinrichs at the mosque.

In a letter being sent to students and parents, OU President David Boren said he has been "assured that law enforcement officials including federal officers have found no evidence of a conspiracy involving others which creates an ongoing threat to our community."

"We believe that we should not judge others or jump to conclusions about others on the basis of color, race, gender, economic status or freely exercised religious beliefs," Boren said in the letter made public Thursday.

Mick Hinton (405) 528-2465 mick.hinton@tulsaworld.com


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Colorado; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: hinrichs; joeljihad; normanbombing; ou; oubombing; suicidebomber
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To: PhiKapMom

That is complete BS. Got an email address for Boren?


81 posted on 10/07/2005 8:24:12 AM PDT by sarasota
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To: CedarDave

From the local cops who won't go on the record. Local media is sitting on things like that as they are having trouble getting people on the record.

BTW, it had a directional device and metal size of small nail heads have been found in trees surrounding the bench.


82 posted on 10/07/2005 8:24:29 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: indcons

BFLR


83 posted on 10/07/2005 8:24:38 AM PDT by cgk (Bennett: If we are surrounded by the trivial & vicious, it is all too easy to make our peace with it)
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To: CedarDave

"There must be a section in the FBI interrogation book that says you must always treat members of the ROP with great deference, politeness and courtesy, and never question them aggressively or speak harshly to them."

There was an article several months after 911 that said all FBI agents were now required to attend a 'sensitivity' class on Islam and Muslims. I remember reading it and thinking they really needed to have classes on the Islamic threat across the globe. Geez.....(rolling eyes)


84 posted on 10/07/2005 8:26:05 AM PDT by penelopesire
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To: semaj
For a student this guy demonstrates an ability to be mobile on very short notice.

Didn't you hear? He's in Philly now meeting his 18 pals. They're buying ski-parka's before they catch the Yankee game tonight.

85 posted on 10/07/2005 8:29:49 AM PDT by johnny7 (“Nah, I ain’t Jewish, I just don’t dig on swine, that’s all.”)
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To: Cicero
Note that Boren is now issuing a typically clintonoid statement: "OU President David Boren said he has been 'assured that law enforcement officials including federal officers have found no evidence of a conspiracy involving others which creates an ongoing threat to our community.' "

That's exactly what I thought too, Cicero. If you read that statement carefully, it has an 'out clause.' The out clause is 'which creates an ongoing threat to our community.' If backed into a corner by later revelations that reveal their lying coverup, Boren and OU officials can always say, 'In our judgment at that time, there was no ongoing threat to our community.'

86 posted on 10/07/2005 8:30:58 AM PDT by JustaCowgirl
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To: CedarDave

Got there after it was pulled.

BTW, the sealed warrant was reported on Tampa radio this morning. That sealed warrant is now starting to get people's interest in that this is not a depressed kid who blew himself up.


87 posted on 10/07/2005 8:31:57 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: JustaCowgirl

All of the recent statements have been parsed. Even some news articles that give the OU spin will have real news in them when you read closely.


88 posted on 10/07/2005 8:33:42 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
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Comment #89 Removed by Moderator

To: Gone GF

This was double sourced before The Oklahoman reported the story. They are not running with speculation but are having a hard time getting people to go on the record. The quotes are accurate and he is not the only one that has the same information. Local authorities do as well but FBI is in charge.


90 posted on 10/07/2005 8:37:36 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: PhiKapMom

Yes, I posted something from OU that showed Cheema worked for the athletic department.

I'm equally disgusted that in 2002 Boren disciplined white students while giving the foreign student a job at the university subsidized Parkview Apartments because of a trumped up hate crime charge. The foreign student was later charged with an anthrax threat.

Boren is a hypocrite.


91 posted on 10/07/2005 8:37:59 AM PDT by maggief
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To: BigBobber

Moussaoui attended the Mosque here in Norman near the OU campus.


92 posted on 10/07/2005 8:39:01 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: PhiKapMom; Congressman Billybob

I don't understand. Couldn't the warrant just as well be sealed to keep its contents from becoming public, which would be more consistent with the way it's been treated so far? How does the fact that it's been sealed (by the court?) mean that we can assume there's going to be more to it?


93 posted on 10/07/2005 8:39:56 AM PDT by OKSooner
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To: PhiKapMom
" My daughter couldn't get a job through work-study because of income but they allow foreign students to get jobs on campus?"

=============================================

Did not Boren make sure that the poor abused Mr Heider was given a job at OU owned Bombview Apartments? Saw that on another thread.

94 posted on 10/07/2005 8:40:19 AM PDT by Rockpile
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To: maggief

You have that right about Boren. I saw those trumped up charges and thought they were at the time. Boren needs to resign like yesterday.


95 posted on 10/07/2005 8:40:39 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: PhiKapMom

The LV thread is back up in Breaking now w/o the link. LOL


96 posted on 10/07/2005 8:41:00 AM PDT by CedarDave (OU Bombing -- now knowing more about what we didn't know)
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To: OKSooner

I heard it too through a source where I get most of my OU sooner sports info. :)


97 posted on 10/07/2005 8:42:16 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
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To: texianyankee
Is it likely that the reason the national media hasnt picked up on this story is the fact that the FBI & other authorities have asked this story to be quashed for now until all leads are fully investigated

I that that is whats going on

Wolf
98 posted on 10/07/2005 8:43:37 AM PDT by RunningWolf (U.S. Army Veteran.....75-78)
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To: PhiKapMom

Yanked again. Posted under topic Nevada and keyword Terror.


99 posted on 10/07/2005 8:44:04 AM PDT by CedarDave (OU Bombing -- now knowing more about what we didn't know)
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To: PhiKapMom

If the incident is double sourced the story should say so (or did I miss it somewhere). I wouldn't have been so skeptical. I was a newspaper and wire service reporter for 15 years, so when I see stuff like this alarm bells go off.


100 posted on 10/07/2005 8:47:09 AM PDT by Gone GF
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