Man sets himself on fire outside the White House

[BrewMaster]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041115.wfire1115/BNStory/International/

Let's just say that he is probably a bit disturbed...

[hapoo]

Dumbass.
If this was at all religiously related, the guy should know better since suicide is a HUGE sin in islam.

[BrewMaster]

although if I was on fire, I might start screaming out the names of all kinds of deities...

[nickel]

although if I was on fire, I might start screaming out the names of all kinds of deities...
he was screaming alright... in pain! :dead:

i second hapoo's "Dumbass" sentiments for this guy.

[whitak24]

yeah, what a nut.

i mean, you can't be all there and set yourself on fire.

[welfareloser]

isn't self-immolation sort of the secular indian version of suicide bombers? meaning, if someone really, really cares about a cause and wants to draw attention to it, they set themselves on fire? seems i read about some activist in india doing it several times a year...

it certainly gets em more press than waving a dippy sign around, i'll give em that much...

[Airencracken]

This guy wasn't too bright.

[Jcranmer]

Some people will do anything for their 15 mins of flame...er fame. :rolleyes:

[Merlin]

Why put him out? I mean if the guy wants to kill himself in the most painful way possible why not let him? Call it the gene pool's natural filtration.

[bachviet]

Wacko at work!

[Nija]

i don't think they would have liked the stain his body left, merlin

[brainsmile]

uh... nice... he needs help big time.

[BrewMaster]

that gets a lot of attention, but it sure doesn't make any point. i wonder if we'll ever know what the guy was thinking...

[kimchicowboy]

Why put him out? I mean if the guy wants to kill himself in the most painful way possible why not let him? Call it the gene pool's natural filtration.
from what i read elsewhere, he gave the washington post and some FBI guy in NY advanced notice. that makes me think he didn't want to die.

[zenbooty]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=6&u=/ap/20041117/ap_on_re_us/white_house_man_on_fire


Post: Man Who Ignited Self at White House an Informant

Tue Nov 16, 1:08 AM ET Top Stories - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A man who set himself on fire outside the White House on Monday was a Yemeni federal informant on terrorism upset over how the FBI (news - web sites) had managed his case, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Mohamed Alanssi, who had recently discussed his work as an informant in interviews with The Washington Post, told the newspaper by faxed letter and telephone on Monday he intended to "burn my body at unexpected place," the newspaper reported.

The U.S. Park Police said in a statement that a Middle Eastern male in his early 50's approached the northwest gate of the White House around 2 p.m. with a letter for the president. After a brief conversation with Secret Service officers, the man pulled a lighter from his pocket and ignited his jacket, the statement said.

The Washington Post said Alanssi, 52, was taken to Washington Hospital Center, where he was listed in critical condition with burns over about 30 percent of his body.

Neither the Secret Service nor White House had immediate comment on the incident. The man's name was being withheld pending notification of his family, the Park Police said.

A spokesman for the FBI in Washington was not immediately available for comment on the Post report early on Tuesday.

In interviews with the newspaper, Alanssi, who is from Yemen and also uses the name Mohamed Alhadrami, expressed anguish over not being able to visit his family in Yemen.

He told the newspaper that he suffers from diabetes and heart problems and that his wife suffers from stomach cancer. Alanssi said he could not travel to Yemen because he has no money and because the FBI, which expects him to testify at a terrorism trial in New York, was keeping his Yemeni passport.

"It is my big mistake that I have cooperated with FBI," Alanssi was quoted as saying.

"The FBI have already destroyed my life and my family's life and made us in a very danger position . . . I am not crazy to destroy my life and my family's life to get $100,000," he said.

Alanssi said he became a major informant for the FBI after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States. He said he was paid $100,000 in 2003 but had expected much more and had not received the permanent residency status he was promised, the newspaper reported.

"We don't have a policy on revealing who is a cooperator or informing witness," Joe Valiquette, an FBI spokesman in New York, told the Post. The U.S. attorney's office in the eastern district of New York, which is prosecuting the terrorism-related trial in January, also declined comment, the newspaper said.

[BrewMaster]

you can listen to an NPR story on the subject from a Washington Post reporter who had been in contact with him before the incident.

Click here. (http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=16-Nov-2004&prgId=2) Scroll down to "Yemeni Protester Claimed to Be FBI Informant."