As Bush claims success for Homeland Security's efforts in preventing terrorism and NYC with threats grabbing the headlines a suspicious suicide bomb that exploded outside a crowded Oklahoma stadium goes unnoticed. Perhaps the administration is screaming "Look, over there terra in New York!" to distract from real terrorism in the heartland. It would be more bad press for there to have been an attack our protectors knew nothing about in advance, what's worse it was prevented by local authorities.
Bush and rest in the administration must believe white guys in Oklahoma can't be terrorists.
Joel Henry Hinrichs III
Why would a suicidal student have a signifgant quantity of explosives in the apartment he shares with a roommate? Is it just a coincidence that the bomber attended same Norman, Oklahoma mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui? Why did he try to buy Ammonium Nitrate in the days prior to his death?
Questions surround OU bomb
NORMAN - Days after Joel Henry "Joe" Hinrichs III was believed to have blown himself up near a packed football stadium, investigators, relatives and neighbors are left with more questions than answers about his death.
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Hinrichs' building and three others were evacuated early Sunday because explosives were found inside the student's apartment.
Norman police Sgt. George Mauldin, head of the department's bomb squad, said his team removed a "significant quantity of highly explosive material" from Apt. 506B.
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username: pos@pos.com
password: pospos
No terror ties found so far in bomb case
NORMAN - The FBI has found no evidence so far that a University of Oklahoma student who died in a bombing Saturday night tried to get inside the football stadium or had ties to any terrorist organization, officials said Tuesday.
The FBI also has found no evidence anyone else was involved, officials said.
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OU was playing Kansas State before more than 80,000 fans. The game was in the second quarter. The blast could be heard inside the stadium. Explosives later were removed from the student's university-owned apartment.
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The FBI also looked at possible ties to Islamic groups after learning Hinrichs' roommate is from Pakistan, attended a nearby mosque and worked for the OU athletics department, The Oklahoman has learned.
Hinrichs and the roommate, Fazal M. Cheema, a finance major, lived together only a few months at Parkview Apartments. Cheema and three other Muslim students were led, handcuffed, from a party by police after the blast, said Ashraf Hussein, president of the Muslim Student Association. They later were released.
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"Up to this point in time, no one has seen him trying to get into the game," Boren said.
One OU senior, Adam Smith, of Oklahoma City, however, said a stadium guard Saturday night told him "a guy had sprinted off" outside Gate 6 after refusing to let his backpack be searched.
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This would be good news if there were some explanation of the stories that follow.
Hinrichs Tried To Buy Ammonium Nitrate
NORMAN, Okla. -- The general manager of a Norman feed store said Tuesday that Joel Henry Hinrichs III had inquired about purchasing ammonium nitrate fertilizer, the primary ingredient used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
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To this point, authorities still suggest Hinrichs' only motive for blowing himself up was suicide. The FBI released a statement Tuesday evening saying that "there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization(s) or activities."
The release also indicated that the FBI believes there is "no known current threat posed by any additional explosive materials."
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What does this story have to do with the official statements?
Officer had clue before OU blast
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Joel "Joe" Henry Hinrichs III raised the suspicions of a Norman feed store manager and an off-duty Norman police officer Sept. 28 when he tried to buy the type of fertilizer used in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
The off-duty officer, who just happened to be in the store, was concerned enough about Hinrichs' demeanor that he jotted down his license tag number and called the police department to check his identity, officials said.
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Dustin Ellison, general manager of Ellison Feed & Seed, said Hinrichs came to his store about 4 p.m. Sept. 28 and said he was looking for a particular kind of fertilizer called ammonium nitrate. "I told him I didn't have that," said Ellison, 25.
Ellison said he became suspicious when the young man couldn't answer the most simple questions, such as how much he wanted or what he planned to do with it.
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Easley, the Norman police spokesman, said he is skeptical police could have stopped the bombing, even if they immediately had begun investigating when the officer first called in the license number. "Seventy-two hours on a piece of intelligence like that, I don't know what we could have done anyway," he said.
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The FBI apparently collected 13 plastic bottles, one car title and one insurance form from the car, according to paperwork on the front seat. There also was a large atlas and several road maps on the front seat.
Cesar Robledo, Hinrichs' next-door neighbor, said FBI agents questioned him about Hinrichs' personality and habits, but didn't ask about his religion or any materials he may have taken into the house.
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There is an interesting mystery in Oklahoma.
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Joel Hinrichs III, a 21-year-old engineering student at OU, was killed when the explosive device detonated outside the stadium. Authorities immediately labeled it a suicide.
OU President David Boren has reportedly tried to calm the university community by claiming it was simply a troubled young man taking his own life. But the truth is no one knows whether Hinrichs deliberately detonated the bomb or it went off accidentally.
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At the university-owned apartment Hinrichs shared with a student from Pakistan, police found a large cache of explosive materials.
A news report in Oklahoma said Hinrichs' apartment building and three adjoining buildings were cordoned off with police tape, and on Sunday night FBI and ATF agents and the Norman police bomb squad were removing the materials. A later report claimed the material in the exploded bomb was TATP, said to be the same material used by the London bombers in July. It also was alleged that a few days before his death, Hinrichs tried to buy a large amount of aluminum nitrate.
An Associated Press report quoted the president of OU's Muslim Student Association as saying Hinrichs' roommate, Fazal M. Cheema, and three other Muslim men were taken into custody immediately after the bombing, led in handcuffs from a party they were attending. All were later released. The Tulsa World reported October 6 that authorities were questioning Muslin students.
According to Oklahoma News 9, Hinrichs had been attending "the same Norman mosque once attended by convicted 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui."
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link to video of mosque story