Doug Ross @ Journal

Francisco Franco still dead: MSM ignores Suicide Bomber

There are more startling and credible stories circulating around the death of bomber Joel Henry Hinrichs III, the Oklahoma U. student who blew himself into smithereens just outside a packed stadium last weekend.

One commentator on OU's FanBlogs notes:

Some local speculation that I consider reliable after I've sorted through rumors and media reports. Bomber attempted to enter the stadium and was turned away when he refused to allow his backpack to be searched. He then went to an area where charter buses park. A bus driver had a conversation with him while driver smoked cigarette, driver was returning to his bus when the explosion occurred, knocking driver off his feet. Evidently, bomber was transferring explosive from a backpack to a vest when they exploded. The explosives in backpack failed to ignite and then were subsequenlty detonated by police later that evening ( which accounts for second blast heard nd reported Saturday night ) . Hinrich visiting the Mosque or any Muslim connections are not established. I've seen reliable reports that conflict as to Hinrich's involvement at the Mosque. Respected Muslim OU professor says no, some media reports say yes. One thing for sure, there's still more to come out about this and I'm puzzled by the national media ignoring this story.

Indeed.

And Tap Scott's CopyDesk claims to have that very same eye-witness account, abridged here for readability:

"...Saturday night I walked out of the OU stadium with about three minutes left on the clock bringing the game to the half. I am a part-time driver for a bus company and decided to go back to the bus... Prior to leaving the game, I sat on a cart and chatted with one of the security guards and would catch a glimpse of the game on the Big screen at the South end of the field. When I decided to leave, I stopped and talked to a very tall gate keeper and another young lady who was also a security officer... From there, I proceeded to the Bus parking area. As I walked up to the buses, I stopped behind a gentleman sitting on the bench at the end of the last bus. I was looking for someone to talk to because that is just who I am. He appeared to me to be asleep, so I decided not to share with him about the beautiful new bus I was driving. It was then I made my way toward my bus. While walking, I heard another bus with its engine running and so I decided to see if I could find another driver. After taking just a few more steps, I was hit from behind with a huge concussion. It didn't knock me down but it did push me forward. When I turned around, I saw a huge plume of smoke rising from what seemed to me to be coming from the back of the last bus, so I immediately ran to see if there was any danger of a fire. When I got to the bus, I found nothing that indicated the bus had exploded. It was only after I turned around that I saw what had really happened. I have been instructed by the FBI not to give out any details of what I saw..."

Just a suicide? Do you really need ammonium nitrate fertilizer... just to off yourself? A car idling in a garage or a .38 special would seem to be sufficient. Channel 9 News reports that Police have confirmed Hinrichs attempted to buy quantities of the fertilizer:

Norman police confirmed Thursday that they ran a routine investigation of a 21-year-old University of Oklahoma student who blew himself up on campus Saturday night. [...Officials said...] an off-duty, plainclothes officer overheard a conversation Joel Henry Hinrichs III had with the proprietor of a Norman feed store last Thursday at 4 p.m. The conversation centered on a purchase of ammonium nitrate fertilizer... the off-duty officer reported that Hinrichs asked about different types of fertilizer and the concentration of ammonium nitrate in each. Ammonium nitrate was the primary ingredient in the bomb that killed 168 people in the explosion that brought down the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Okay, so he couldn't build a McVeigh-style bomb and raised some suspicions in doing so. And to reiterate the fact that it wasn't just a suicide, OU President David Boren stated:

"Passouts were suspended during halftime for security reasons in order to enhance safety for the fans. A second device which was found during the initial search has been detonated."

Two devices.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, writing on the Counterterrorism Blog wonders aloud:

Perhaps Hinrichs's attendance of the mosque that Moussaoui attended and his attempt to purchase ammonium nitrate have reasonable explanations unrelated to terrorism. (Or perhaps the sources are wrong about this information; one hesitation I have about drawing conclusions in this case is that many of the reported facts are based on fairly sketchy sourcing.) However, there's enough to this story that it deserves more attention. It would be significant if Hinrichs had been motivated by radical Islam...

The Enid (OK) News & Eagle boils it down to some critical questions for OU President David Boren:

...the information that is being ferreted out by the media is starting to paint a disturbing picture. Why would Hinrichs try to buy large quantities of a known explosive material? What was his motive for committing the suicide in such a public and dramatic way? What kinds of associations has he been involved with recently and what were his political views?

If a suicide bomber detonates himself in the midwest, far, far away from New York, did it really happen?

I hear crickets chirping.