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Oklahoma Islamist Terrorist Attack Fails, Darwin Award Pending
It all sounded innocent enough at first:
U. of Oklahoma Blast Is Apparent Suicide
NORMAN, Okla. - One person was killed in an explosion near a packed football stadium at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday night in what authorities said appeared to be a suicide.
The blast, in a traffic circle about 100 yards from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, could be heard by some in the crowd of 84,000, but university President David Boren said no one inside the stadium was ever in danger.
"We are apparently dealing with an individual suicide, which is under full investigation," Boren said in a statement. There was no information about the person who was killed, and no reports of any other injuries.
A police bomb squad detonated explosives found at the site of the blast. The area near the stadium was searched by bomb-sniffing dogs ...
[Source]
OK, just some stupid college kid whose girlfriend just dumped him or something, right? Then I started running across information like this:
I was at the game so I might as well post what a girl at my son's fraternity said. She is Iranian (Persian) and she said two dark Middle Eastern types came running into the stadium and separated several minutes after the bomb went off. She said since she was Middle Eastern she felt safe in saying they fit the profile. She made a point of saying they were much darker skinned then the Iranian people and when she heard the bomb blast, she was convinced at the time it was a suicide bomb and these two were part of what was happening.
Sorta have to wonder at that point what we're not being told, right? And if we're already wondering, what should we make of this?:
I'm a resident of Norman and, according to a friend inside local law enforcement, they definitely to NOT think it was just a suicide. IOW, the bomb was clearly not meant to go off where/when it did. There was at least one eyewitness to the explosion itself and the guy didn't do anything to cause the explosion. He walked up to a bench, took his backpack off, sat down w/ it on his lap and was "hugging" it . . . sort of like resting his head on it, if that makes sense. This was just minutes before halftime of the game (which I was at, btw), a time when thousands of people leave the stands and go under/outside the stadium and smoke, walk aroud, get concessions, mill around, etc. The bench the guy was sitting on is about 75-100 yards from the stadium. I think he was sitting & waiting for all the people to come out at halftime. He couldn't have gotten inside the stadium w/o a ticket, but could have quickly put himself in the position have been in a perfect location to hit others outside the stadium if the bomb had not gone off prematurely. Also, the bomb was made of some sort of highly volatile, home-cooked, liquid explosive, not a pipe bomb as has been reported in the local news.
Also, just to let you know that the guy does have islamic ties. A middle eastern roommate, for one. Other ME friends, associates, also. The more recent (i.e., more "muslim-looking") picture that has been posted here and elsewhere is accurate. They did find other explosives, etc. in his apartment. ...
Then today we learn (from tulsaworld.com):
OU blast victim had attempted to buy ammonium nitrate
By World staff
10/4/2005 4:57:00 PM
NORMAN -- A student who died Saturday in an apparent suicide explosion on the University of Oklahoma campus near Memorial Stadium had tried to purchase ammonium nitrate, a material used to make bombs, three days earlier, the owner of a longtime Norman feed store confirmed Tuesday.
Dustin Ellison, whose family operates Ellison Feed and Seed, said he identified Joel Henry Hinrichs III on Sunday when the FBI brought him pictures of the student.
Ellison said Hinrichs was acting weird when he asked the young man why he wanted the ammonium nitrate.
"He shrugged and I decided I wouldn't sell that man anything," he said.
Mark Tapscott has some very good questions I think the public deserves some answers to:
Why Aren't We Being Told More Facts About the Oklahoma Suicide Bomber? What are the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force Investigating?
[Read the missing part here.]
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 himself, why is the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force now the lead agency in the investigation?
OK, so what really did or didn't happen here? First, it's getting pretty clear this wasn't just some dumb kid upset about a fight with his girlfriend. On the other hand, I seriously doubt whether Osama or anyone else in Al Queda ever heard of Joel Hinrichs, although it sounds like he was a familiar face at the local mosque. What that leaves us with is a stupid kid who converts to Islam, gets anxious to meet his 72 virgin camels, mixes up some explosives he doesn't know how to handle in his kitchen sink, goes to an area that's going to be packed with people later, then screws around and sets the stuff off before he intends to. ("If I don't kill any Infidels, do I still get my camels?") One less idiot in the gene pool, a perfect candidate for a Darwin Award. Too bad it can't be that easy all the time. Does that count as a terrorist attack? Yes it does; he had the best worst of intentions, he just wasn't smart enough to get the job done. So why hasn't the MSM said anything about the Islam angle yet? Because it wouldn't be Politically Correct, pure and simple. I mean, Baptists and Mormons do that sort of thing every day, right?
Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit and Curt at Flopping Aces have been all over this story from the beginning. Go there and get educated.
Update: Don't miss Greyhawk's latest Open Post.
Update 2: Don't miss this at JunkYardBlog. There's also a wealth of information here; just keep scrolling.
10/5/2005 Update 1: Michelle Malkin has an excerpt from and a link to a very interesting Tapscott's Copy Desk post and LGF has some links here I hadn't seen. (Update to the update: Tapscott's Copy Desk is staying right on top of this. Go there and keep scrolling.)
10/5/2005 Update 2: Check out the Open Trackbacks parties at The Politcal Teen, Stop The ACLU, and California Conservative.
10/5/2005 Update 3: Eric at Myopic Zeal makes a pretty good case for this being a failed Islamic terrorist attack.
10/5/2005 Update 4: Someone, quite possibly Hinrichs, reportedly tried to get into the OU stadium shortly before before the "suicide" blast but changed his plans rather than allowing his backpack to be inspected. Jeez, people, how long are we going to keep pretending this wasn't an failed terrorist attack? (The Digital Brownshirt is another blog that's been staying right on top of this story. Go there often.)
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