Thursday, October 06, 2005
The "Sooner Boomer" crime scene, annotated
Separately, having slept on it and having read some through some of the other links, my current rank speculation (subject to change at any moment!) is that (i) Hinrichs was trying to commit an act of suicide terrorism, but killed himself prematurely through incompetence, (ii) he was probably acting as a "lone wolf," which is Stratfor's speculation as well (the incompetence is in itself evidence that he did not have access to any organization's training), and (iii) that the most that can be said for the Muslim connection is that perhaps his roommate or other Muslim friends exposed him to radical thinking, without necessarily encouraging or even suggesting terrorism. See this article in The Oklahoma Daily regarding Hinrichs' relationship, or lack thereof, with the local mosque.
Recognizing that not all suicide bombers are Muslim (Tamil Tigers, yada yada yada), they are in the consciousness of the typical American teenager. Hinrichs' chosen method of attack suggests that he at least identified in some sense with Islamic radicalism. It seems that while we cannot accuse or even suspect the Norman Muslim community of having encouraged these views, we would be very remiss if we let political correctness get in the way of investigating whether there are radical and especially foreign influences among Oklahoma's Muslims. It is not as though there haven't been at least hints that al Qaeda has been there.
3 Comments:
By 
Cardinalpark, at
Thu Oct 06, 11:02:00 AM:
Read point 3 -- it is critical - in the zombietime link.
In it, there is a comment referencing a guard turning a student away at Gate 6 for refusing a backpack search, etc. This has not been confirmed elsewhere, nor has Heinrichs been identified as the student -- if these facte are confirmed by the guard, this would clarify the bomber's malicious intent. In addition, people should not be so fast to dismiss the possibility of a conspiracy, even if it is simply local and confined to a small group. It seems to me highly unlikely this kid built a nailbomb for himself without his roommate and other associates knowing it.
By 
, at
Thu Oct 06, 11:30:00 AM:
I remain highly skeptical that he is a terrorist. I have been arguing (on a few other blogs) that depression caused his suicide. I do note the fact that there has been suicide by bombing before (very rare, CDC has 4 deaths due to suicide via bombing in 2001….note those 9-11 deaths counted by CDC as homicide), his attendance at the mosque not confirmed (unnamed local sources), unconfirmed for any extremist lit found in his apartment, Father’s comments that his son was not political at all, fact his roommate did not attempt to run away, was quickly found & released, his apartment complex is over 2/3 non-US students (all must be OU students)thus the background of his roommate is quite likely, he passed up several target-rich possibilities to get to the bench where he died, he was being treated for depression at OU campus hospital, males tend to use sure methods to kill themselves (true 80% white males use a gun but still a rare evetn like suicide by bombing does not mean impossible), Sat night football parties & general excess could have provided him with enough ‘energy’ (i.e. visually & audibly remind him of what a loser loner he was—heck even his roommate was at a party that night) to get him motivated just enough to kill himself with an already constructed bomb, lack of any arming/bomb setting at his apartment complex despite presence of other explosive materials (if reading extremist lit he must have known about use of multiple bombs), and his death spot was pretty much the closest place to kill himself without hurting others (via bomb method) except maybe the railroad tracks).
However, the fact that he tried to by the more powerful & stable fertilizer used in the OKC bombing (although the police ignored the off-duty cop’s phoning in of that fact—score one for local incompetence & the attempted buy of the more powerful stuff may have been an attempt to make sure his suicide was a sure thing and not a maiming event), and possible other unconfirmed events like attempted entry into the stadium, possible mosque attendance, etc. I am starting to have a few doubts.
Still, let us see if anything turns up that would clearly indicate he is a terrorist.
This&That
By , at
Fri Oct 07, 08:40:00 AM:
See blog link for another view of him not being a terrorist
http://www.caerdroia.org/blog/archives/2005/10/naming_things_l.html
but my response Point by point
1) agreed (80% white males suicides sho0t themselves) however it does happen: CDC reports 4 suicides by bomb in 2001. Rare does happen.
2) As pointed out before, that apartment complex is mostly non-US students. Roommates have to be OU students. That a person from pakastan is there is common and it is common that he would be muslim.
3) Vehicle did not have explosives. Apartment did have some (I heard the boom when they blew it up). No confirmation of any 'Jihadi' lit in apartment at all.
4) True. Again, maybe he wanted to make a bigger bomb to make sure that he killed himself instead of maiming.
5) Clerk is not clear on that point & it was not noted by the off duty cop who called in the bomber's tags.
6) That is uncomfirmed (only the one witness when multiple people work the gates) and that report does not claim it was the bomber. Could have been a drunken student who had beer/pot in his backpack. Could simply be wrong.
7) He did not head to Campus Corner. That is North of the Campus & he was south of it (as his apartment is). I live just a stones throw from his apartment. He was on the south oval & had to walk right by the big party bar to get to his spot where he died.
8) TATP is an easy to make explosive from common ingredients. He failed to get other ingredents so maybe fell back on the stuff he could get.
None of your points amount to anything more that taking a few facts and forcing a conculsion upon them.
You failed to address or counter any of the points I made about the depression speculation.
Try thinking critically.
This&That
