Did Muslim 'Clock Boy' Perpetrate Hoax?

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09/22/2015 06:49 PM ET 

Security: After a Muslim teen was arrested for bringing what looked like a bomb to school, police were ripped for "overreacting." Supporters insisted he "invented" a clock for a "project." But his only invention was the story.

Turns out that 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed of Irving, Texas, never invented a clock, and had no reason to bring the suspicious-looking device to school. But everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to President Obama was fooled by what appears to have been a hoax designed to muster sympathy for Muslims accused of terrorism, while putting police on their heels and undermining the "see something, say something" directive for citizen vigilance. Here's the real story:

• There was no "school project" or science assignment to justify Mohamed bringing the device to school .

• Just three weeks into his freshman year, Mohamed was no "science whiz well-known by high school teachers for tinkering."

• The "clock" wasn't made from scratch but just the guts of a mass-manufactured digital clock, complete with AC cord and 9-volt backup battery connection.

• With its exposed wires and lack of a face, the gutted clock looked like a bomb. It also sounded like a bomb: The alarm was set to go off during English class; the beeping startled the teacher who called police.

• When police questioned Mohamed, he wasn't cooperative and was described as "disrespectful."

• The police chief said the device was "intended to create a level of alarm; in other words, a hoax bomb."

• Mohamed's Sudanese father — a Muslim political activist involved in previous Muslim grievances — reportedly asked the cops to re-handcuff his son — so his daughter could take the photo that went viral.

• Mohamed tweeted: "Thank you fellow supporters. We can ban together to stop this racial inequality."

• The family's spokesperson is the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a terror-tied group that in 2006 sued US Airways for kicking several Muslim activists off a flight for behaving suspiciously and rattling passengers — a stunt that looks eerily similar.

Still, the Mohamed family is headed not only to the White House, but also the United Nations, where Ahmed will be held up as the poster boy of "Islamophobia." A vacation in Saudi Arabia will follow after the family collects some $10,000 in crowdfunding.

Given Mohamed's suspicious behavior and his father's agenda, Obama's expression of support is premature and inappropriate.

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