JINSA Report #522 The Characteristics of a Terrorist

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October 14, 2005

JINSA Report #522

The Characteristics of a Terrorist

The University of Oklahoma stadium holds 84,000 people and when the
Sooners play there it is full. It was full on 1 October when a student
detonated an explosive device outside the stadium, killing himself. The
game was not interrupted. (Stadium police did find and detonate a
suspicious backpack, but said it was harmless.) News reports called
bomber Joel Hinrichs "troubled." His father said, "He... somehow lost
the confidence that his life would be a good one." A joint statement
from the FBI, the U.S. Attorney and OU Police Chief said, "At this
point, we have no information that suggests that there is any additional
threat posed by others related to this incident." Just a sad story?

Reminder: On 4 July 2002, a man opened fire on the El Al check-in
counter at LAX. Within 30 minutes, the FBI and the mayor of LA announced
that it was not a terrorist incident. After a few days, however, it
became clear that the shooter, if not a terrorist, certainly had the
characteristics of one. (JINSA Report 267)

Odd information: OU President David Boren wrote in a statement, "Prior
to the game, the entire stadium was swept by the expert bomb teams with
the help of dogs," leaving us to ask if this is normal procedure or
whether there had been a specific threat. Even if it is routine,
students at the game said security was tighter than in previous weeks
with more people frisked. There are reports that Hinrichs was prevented
from entering the stadium when he refused to have his bag checked, but
an OU VP said officials have "been assured that there is no validity to
the... rumor," leaving us to ask how they know. Hinrichs's roommate was
Pakistani and local television reports Hinrichs spent time in the Norman
mosque – the one to which a 2002 AP story links Zacarias Moussawi.
Having first acknowledged that Hinrichs had visited, mosque authorities
now say he never did. Local news also reported that Hinrichs tried to
buy ammonium nitrate (the primary ingredient in the 1995 Oklahoma City
bombing, now requiring federal paperwork for purchase) from a local
store. Authorities have confirmed that the substance TATP, used by "shoe
bomber" Richard Reid, was in the bomb. Authorities removed what they
called a "huge cache" of explosives from Hinrichs's apartment after his
death.

Law enforcement authorities are loath to call it terrorism – as they
were for LAX – and require evidence of organizational backing to use the
word. We don't know more than the FBI about the specifics, but we are
concerned by what appears to be an institutional bias in favor of
starting with the "lone bomber" premise for people who exhibit the
characteristics of a terrorist. If authorities begin at the beginning
each time terrorists will have more time to plan and carry out their
parts in this war. And this IS a war, albeit a nebulous one. There are
no armies in uniform and no battles on battlefields. Their soldiers may
be anyone and the battlefield anywhere, including Norman, OK.
Note: Three explosive devices were found in a courtyard between two
Georgia Tech dormitories last Monday. One exploded, injuring the
custodian who found them; two others were detonated by a bomb squad. "It
is a terrorist act at this point and depending on the outcome of the
investigation it potentially could become a federal violation as well,"
said Major C.W. Moss of the Atlanta Police Department. Good thinking.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3176

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