Blogs that cried wolf on Hinrichs?
Cathy Young: The blogs that cried wolf?
Looks like Joel Hinrichs, the University of Oklahoma engineering student who committed suicide on October 1 by blowing himself up near the football stadium, didn’t have any Islamic terrorist connections:
As it turns out, the only truth in all this is that Hinrichs had, indeed, inquired about buying ammonium nitrate at a local store two days before his suicide, and had given evasive and suspect answers about why he needed it. Because of a tip about this attempted purchase, he had come to the attention of the FBI, which became involved in investigating the suicide. The other claims were a lot of rumor-mongering and speculation, all firmly denied by both the FBI and the university authorities and often based on laughably far-fetched “clues” (Hinrichs had a Pakistani roommate; he lived — gasp! — within a block of the mosque; he even — wait until you hear this one! — grew a beard!).
The blogosphere may have jumped the gun on this one.
via Instapundit
Update: j.d. disagrees here, and also recommends one of Eric Scheie’s posts on the two types of reporting that went on.
Totally pwned
How about those Wolf Brigades?
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