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| Oklahoma University's suicide bomber |
| 2005-10-06 |
| Even before we knew who Oklahoma University's suicide bomber was – we knew he "acted alone" and "did not pose a threat to anyone else." Hmmm ... I thought the facts came first, and after we had them in hand, then we drew our conclusions. But on the other hand, that hasn't happened in higher education since Lawrence Summers still had his male anatomy intact at Harvard, has it? It was only later that we learned the bomber was Joel Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student at the Norman, Okla., campus. His father assured us that his son had no political agenda. No word if the same is true of the two Pakistani students with whom he shared an apartment, which the police bomb squad cleared of surplus explosives in several trips. Of course, we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Lots of people commit suicide by strapping explosives around their waists and blowing themselves to bits outside crowded athletic stadiums during packed games at our nation's universities, right? And these same people always try to buy ammonium nitrate fertilizer, as Dustin Ellison, general manager of Ellison Feed & Seed on Porter Avenue, in Norman, says that Mr. Hinrichs did this past Tuesday. (When Hinrichs was unable to explain why he needed the fertilizer, Ellison declined to sell it to him.) So Mr. Hinrichs had to content himself with using TATP (triacetone triperoxide), a homemade explosive of dubious stability that was also employed by Richard Reid, the failed "airplane shoe bomber," as well as the recent London bombers. TATP, as we learned after the follow on London bombing, sometimes explodes early. The president of the University of Oklahoma is David Boren, a favorite son and resident of Norman. If the name sounds familiar, perhaps it is because you remember him as Sen. Boren, D-Okla., who – at the time he retired in 1994 – was chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence. Perhaps Mr. Boren still maintains his contacts, and some elbow twisting was applied in both directions to keep news of Mr. Hinrichs' early departure to claim his 72 virgins under wraps? Huuummmmmm..... If Norman, Okla., sounds familiar, perhaps it's because Zacarias Moussaoui (I don't need to learn how to take off or land) lived there for six months around the time he was taking flight lessons. Or maybe it's because that's where the FBI was frantically seeking Middle Eastern men following the 1995 Murrah building bombing – and then frantically denying they were frantically seeking Middle Eastern men from the scene of the bombing. (All of which is well covered and documented by Jayna Davis in her book, "The Third Terrorist." So go back to sleep, America. Suicide bombers in America are a different species. They want to kill only themselves. It's such a private, peaceful exit. It's only suicide bombers overseas who want to kill nightclubs full of innocent tourists, busloads of Jewish schoolchildren, barracks full of American Marines, and buildings full of stockbrokers. We're not really engaged in a war. Feel free to criticize and demoralize our troops in Iraq. We'd all be so much better off if the war was fought in American shopping malls and university athletic stadiums. World War IV is only a bad dream. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #10 It's Doogie Jihad! |
| Posted by: Mister Ghost 2005-10-06 21:10 |
| #9 It is a picture of a much younger and thinner Tom Hanks. |
| Posted by: The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen 2005-10-06 17:07 |
| #8 my thawts esaktly .com |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2005-10-06 13:57 |
| #7 Doogie Howser? |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-06 13:32 |
| #6 Amish. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-10-06 13:23 |
| #5 pic of the dude - draw your own conclusions.... |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2005-10-06 12:54 |
| #4 Lol, DoDo - nice one... |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-06 12:43 |
| #3 "... he acted alone." Think Oliver Stone would believe that? |
| Posted by: DoDo 2005-10-06 12:42 |
| #2 Yes, it has: NORMAN, Okla. -- The Pakistani roommate of a man authorities said died when he detonated an explosive device outside a crowded football stadium was led in handcuffs from a party shortly after Saturday's explosion, the head of an Islamic student group said. Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, shared a university-owned apartment with Joel Hinrichs III, 21, who died Saturday when a device attached to his body exploded as he sat on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall. Cheema and three other Muslim students were led in handcuffs from a party by police after the blast, Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association, said Tuesday. They later were released. Cheema is "a really, really nice guy," Hussein said. OU President David Boren said authorities continue to believe that Hinrichs did not try to get into the stadium and that he acted alone. He said Hinrichs' roommate, along with his acquaintances, were questioned by federal authorities. "All the people who lived in that building, all the people that lived in the building surrounding it, all the people who knew him well or were living in proximity to him ... have been questioned; none of those people have been held by law enforcement," Boren said. The FBI said in a statement Tuesday that there is no current threat posed by additional explosive materials, that there is no known threat from anyone else related to the incident and that there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization or activities. Hinrichs' father, Joel Hinrichs Jr., said the FBI re-interviewed him Tuesday at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo. The father told investigators his son was skeptical of ideology. "Joe would have become a Muslim fanatic when pigs fly," the father side. Meanwhile, Norman feed store operator Dustin Ellison said Hinrichs attempted to purchase ammonium nitrate a few days before the explosion. Ellison, whose family operates Ellison Feed and Seed, said the store no longer carries the product because of new federal guidelines regarding its sale. Ammonium nitrate can be used to build bombs and was a key ingredient in the 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Hinrichs' father said the FBI told him the bomb his son had was made of hydrogen peroxide. He said the FBI told him more high-density hydrogen peroxide was found in the apartment. You would think his room mate might have noticed him mixing it up. But then, he is Pakistani. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-10-06 10:28 |
| #1 Has the paki roomate angle been confirmed? |
| Posted by: MunkarKat 2005-10-06 10:09 |