Florida man burns Marine van after being told son died in Iraq

(08-25) 14:23 PDT HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) --

A man set fire to a Marine Corps van and suffered severe burns Wednesday after he was told his Marine son had been killed in Iraq, police said.

Marines went to the house in Hollywood to tell the parents of a 20-year-old private first class that their son died Tuesday in Najaf, police said in a statement.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, then walked out of the house with a torch and what appeared to be a container of flammable liquid.

The Marines tried to stop him from starting the fire, but he set himself on fire in the process and was inside the burning van when the Marines pulled him out and put out the flames, police said.

The man was taken to a hospital but his condition was not immediately available.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/08/25/national1723EDT0718.DTL

i have two sons draft age. i can't imagine! lord, please let me never know what this is like.

:(

I have one, Juniper, and it's unthinkable. I'm so very sorry for this man and his family. Now they have two tragedies to deal with.
Back in the day when I was protesting Viet Nam I never dreamed I would someday face the same fight for my own son.

Horrible story. The death should never be forgotten, but I know of not one incident where a parent completely lost it like this after being told their son gave his life for our nation in Normandy.

This war is wrong. That death is wrong.

The Old America...the one truly worth defending, may it be restored to health and vigor in the 21st Century.

The men and women who die in Iraq have died for nothing. NOTHING. Amerika is much less safe, terrorism is on the rise, and al-Qaeda has a new nation to cull recruits from.

It is sad indeed. The whole thing is sad.

As bad as Vietnam, perhaps worse, because at least the Domino Theory had some modicum of credibility.

Unlike the Iraq Invasion which is for NONE of the reasons, least of all spreading "freedom" (what would a Dictator like Bunnypants who has overseen the greatest assualt on the constitution perhpas in American history).

Sad. Pathetic. Grotesque. Not just this grief-stricken father's lunatic act, but the whole sorry spectacle of Imperial Amerika in 2004.

Tom Paine...

That is why I brought it up, because that was a war completely justified. This war was not.

but the myth of the "old good" America is just another narrative of the same Empire whose nightmare got desublimated with Dubya's coronation.

I realize that Old America did some terrible things. Most every nation does.

You migth say the Empire simply got "desublimated", but I believe it also came in to full flower, i.e. the tendencies of the Old Republic faded and the Imperial characteristics became dominant DOMESTICALLY.

Understand I am not condoning nor mitigating many of the Old American foriegn policy atrocities, but with all the faults and flaws and warts, US Citizens were NOT, generally speaking, ebing treated like Chileans in 1972.

Now, we are, though of course the violence is not nearly as severe yet.

Different countries, different customs, different eras, different technology.

But the difference (and call me callous if you'd like) is that now the Imperial Subjects of Amerika (formerly the American People) are viewed by their (our) rulers as the same as the 1972 Chileans were viewed by ours and Pinochet.

To be lied to, defrauded...inferiro creatures who if we were deserving of being treated like superior humans (such as the Busheviks and their Stooges) then we would have been born into the Well-Bred Families.

For all it's faults and flaws and illusions and tendecies, Old America was NEVER the codified ariostocratic Medeval Third-World Nation that Imperial Amerika is rapidly transitioning to.

And THAT makes all the diffference, NOT the Old America was universally "good".

You make interesting points.

"You migth say the Empire simply got "desublimated", but I believe it also came in to full flower, i.e. the tendencies of the Old Republic faded and the Imperial characteristics became dominant DOMESTICALLY."

I think you are right about that; I am of two minds about the analogy with Chile, because strictly empirically it is accurate, but on the other hand by the time the US perpetrated the coup in Chile, for all intents and purposes it already viewed the global population as subjects of the Empire, and the US citizens were a slightly higher order of subjects, whose regulation was done through privileges presented as rights and who were controlled by normative ignorance, whereas the rest of the subjects were controlled by violence.

"For all it's faults and flaws and illusions and tendecies, Old America was NEVER the codified ariostocratic Medeval Third-World Nation that Imperial Amerika is rapidly transitioning to."

I guess I don't think of it as accurately described by those adjectives. Aristocratic? Okay, although I'd go with oligarchical. Medieval? While the growth of escatological fundamentalism solicits that as an analogy, subjects/citizens are conditioned through the myth of individuality and their own specialness far too much for the system to bear any structural resemblance to the Medieval. Third-World? Vis-a-vis whom? I think America has for a very long time been a fascistic empire, and I am using fascistic in the Benito Mussolini, who said that fascism would be more accurately defined as corporatism, fascism=the amalgam of governing institutions and corporations, and that is definitely a product of the modern era, no matter how great the temptation to describe what is going on as medieval or barbaric or any other category that would invoke long ago/far away. Fascism in its benevolent form isn't as noticeable as when it is the infrastructure of a country going to shit in terms of economics and morale. Then you get something similar to the extremism of the Third Reich in its manipulation of its subjects, who are really no longer "citizens" whatever that meant in the first place.
As Goering said at the Nurenberg Trials, "Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger."

That poor, poor man. I just can't even imagine his agony.:cry:

that poor man.
I feel sorry for the marines too.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Ever had to tell someone that their loved one is dead?

I have.

Shame on you.

and one american is umpteenth times more important than all those ungrateful iraqi scumbags they've killed at something like a 37:1 ratio.

:freak:

Fuck the war machines. Take all the equipment out and burn it. Best use of my tax dollars I have seen in quite some time.

I posted this exact same story and the same time from another source. I would've beat you to it but the board was busy when I first tried to post. Sad and tragic story. Welcome to DU.

Hey, stop thinking that! :-)

I almost wonder if this doesn't mark some sort of symbolic turning point in war.

And thanks for the welcome. I found out about DU with the Draft Clark campaign, and it's been a mental oasis for me ever since.

(or sister) I come here for all the latest updates on news. It's faster than the AP I have.

shit.

Bush regime might finally take notice when the relatives of his war sacrifices start burning Halliburton property.

:cry:

:cry:

will dust off the Mme. Ky 'monk barbeque' line from Vietnam?

delete

that almost 1000 service people have died in Iraq.

Not blitz, but to get coverage of the death? It would have taken me a while to get an idea like that formed....

God help this man in his suffering.

I just cannot get this out of my mind. That poor family must really be suffering. :cry:

this is so sad--families will never be the same becasue of this evil fascist George Bush and his disgusting wife and his two sluts who are sop party girls, who all are raising millions so he can continue killing our young people and destroying families. They party while their father is killing our soldiers, all for nothing and all on lies.

The poor man--his agony and his grief are so insurmountable that he became crazed enough to set himself on fire.

This is revolt.

The man had to fry himself alive to get the media to cover what they have been hiding on Bush's behalf - the greif of loss.

This is 100% the fault of Bush, his chicken hawks and the orchestrated corporate media. Wolf - you burned this man alive. Judy, you did it too. Candy - you are guilty of mass murder. Hannity, Orielly, Rush you all deserve the fate of this man and will receive such when you pass. You did for money.

The house of cards is collapsing.

as well as the liars, whose lies they promoted in the first place.

Don't blame the messenger. Blame that yo-yo posing as Commander-in-Chief.

our constitution and protect our nation. Our military is doing neither.

What you seem to be calling for is a military coup.

I am right there with you. This is one of those stories that reaches to the core. I feel physically ill. This needs to be on every channel. Let people see what has been done.

just yesterday. I was quite young. My brother in the Navy...

I went for a long walk by myself, I couldn't stand to hear my
mother crying. My dad, a WWII Navy vet, was a broken man after
that day.

My heart goes out to this poor man. And one has to ask Why?

:hug:

I'm sure it's just as painful for you to recall this now as it was the day it happened.

When you receive that kind of news, as I did, your very first reaction is to join your child. That's all you can think of, it's all that matters at that moment, you become totally obsessed. My heart goes out to that family; it's the most horrible thing that can happen to a parent.

I can't even begin to comprehend what it would be to lose a child. I'm sorry for your loss.

No parent can fully understand that feeling, I'm sure. Was your son or daughter in Iraq?

There is so much pain. I hope there is a strong support system for the families.

Take care.

who are mocking him and saying his son would be embarassed for him, then saying thanks to his son, as if he'd be on their side about this.

evil, no soul, war animals.

Unlike the evil, foul-smelling, and absolutely useless summer soldiers and sunshine patriots posting on Free Republic.

I'll be thinking about this poor man during my nightly meditations.

May the Light of the Universe bring him comfort someday...

Thing is, I can understand completely why he did this. I'd probably have a similar impulse, if faced with the same tragic news.

and eloquent.

/sarcasm

To: ambrose
Allot of young men go into the military because they come from looser parents who are abusive, drunk, drug using, unemployed and so forth. Usually these parents resent the military for the positive change in their sons and now even daughters.

Anyways, the Marine was a adult, a man, and a Marine. Frankly, only he can speak for himself. And he did.

Knowing what we know about the media we might be able to gleam something. Nothing positive was said about the man that would bolster the man's reputation. Hence the usual sin of omission because it is useful to the leftist narrative.

35 posted on 08/25/2004 3:37:24 PM PDT by Leisler (Kerry, release your Department of Defense SF 180)
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies >

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1199447/posts

How sad.

Too bad there were no Freepers in the van when it was burning. They deserve that kind of fate. Sorry if that's against DU rules but that's how I feel. THe black hearted, evil to the core fuckwads.

true, as Michael Moore showed a lot of poor kids go into the military because it is their only hope, but now the Freepers try to blame this man, as in he must have been a bad father who drove his son to Iraq. They assume since nothing positive was said the man must be a jerk. The Police Capt. said, "the father basically loses it...he snapped to say the least." and as for charges, "we'll see how he recovers..." Doesn't sound like he's talking about a known criminal or troublemaker

As for resenting the military - well, a lot of parents may be proud of their children in the service, but I don't know of any parent who gets the word their kid was killed in combat and their first feelings are pride. Maybe in time when the grief fades and healing begins, but right away? Just doesn't sound right.

I can't even make myself imagine that scenario at my house but if I was in that father's place, I don't think I'd burn the Marine van -- my hatred would be focused elsewhere!

that *, the chickenshit chickenhawk, won't attend.

How's your boy doing? My son, also a Marine, is home now! for two weeks. He was stationed out of Okinawa, also. He was in Iraq before getting leave (not the 30 days he expected...he has to report back by Sept. 6th). He's going back to Iraq.
My husband read this story earlier today and could imagine the intense grief and anger he'd feel. I just hope you and I never experience what this poor family has.

and also with his now departed son.
sad.

That is so sad! Don't we have a DUer whose husband is distraught because their son is in Iraq? I hope that wasn't him.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-825hwdfire,0,6128617.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

``We have not seen this type of reaction. Every reaction is negative, it's the loss of a loved one,'' said U.S. Marines Major Scott Mack. ``I don't think any of us are qualified to go into the depths of the mind and truly anticipate how somebody is going to react.''

Arredondo was initially taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, but then moved to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital's burn unit. He was listed in serious condition with severe burns to his arms and legs.

Rode said it was too early into the investigation to discuss possible charges.

``We'll see how he recovers before doing anything,'' Rode said.


I can think of a FEW PEOPLE I'd like to see charged first!



"A Hollywood crime scene technician photographs the charred van of Marines who earlier visited the home of Carlos Arredono to notify him that his son was killed in Iraq. Arredondo quickly became distraught, igniting the van and burning himself. Marines then assisted in pulling him out of the van before firefighters arrived. He suffered burns on 50 percent of his body."

This story is without question, in my mind, the biggest story of the day. This just rips my heart out completely.

Is the national media even touching this story? If not, why in the hell not?

This dad's heartache is just too much.

Bush's fucking war.

This is a horrible loss for this man, his family and our nation.

It's made worse because it comes at a time when the President is participating in and endorsing the slander and libel of American soldiers.

In our own family, we had a soldier come home from Iraq only to hear from a Republican that this returning soldier was not honorable, and was indeed a traitor, simply because this brave youn man was a "dim-o-crat."

We will never forget these hateful words, which have come from the Karl Rove recipe book and stirred up in the sludge pots of Fox news and hate radio.

So now we see that we are losing loved ones yet we are not allowed to find consolation in the fact that their deaths are honored. It is the President himself who dishoners the dead.

This is grave and wrong thing the President has done, and it is little wonder that people react so intensly.

This war is not why brave young men and women sign up to serve. And this newfound lack of gratitude is not why they are willing to die for their nation.

Harvey Briggs

Rode said it was too early into the investigation to discuss possible charges.

``We'll see how he recovers before doing anything,'' Rode said.


Fuck them and their charges. Dammit.

This is the level of pain and anguish this administration has caused for families in this country and abroad. It's astoundingly tragic.

I mean, why do we have to hear about things like this and bother our beautiful minds with that?

She certainly said it, what's to dispute?

I think that's why he pulled it. I watched the film the first weekend and it wasn't there.

I don't even know what to say. I'm not given to profanity much but lately I can't help myself. I won't even couch the words with blank spaces or the euphemism "Cheney". Here goes: FUCK YOU BUSH AND ALL YOUR NEOCON BUDDIES WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION." I HOPE YOU ALL BURN IN HELL!

nt

Personally, I have never sworn so much as I have during the last 3 years at this moron in the WH and the assholes in the media who have given him a free ride all along.
I salute your choice of words, I couldn't have put it better myself.

Look at the fruit of Bush's war.

Hey FoxNews! Is this the "postitive Iraqi news" that you are always talking about?

Folks, do not let this story die.

I agree, need to make this known to everyone and keep it alive.

:hi:

I stopped lurking when this story broke, it really got to me and I had to find somewhere with like minded souls. I've been keeping a Marine Corps Iraq Memorial on my site since 2003 and though it is always hard to update, this one was the worst, so far. I just hope his father is going to be ok.

<http://floridapatriots.com/semper_fi.htm>

And would it surprise you?

"Three uniformed marines had showed up at the Hollywood, Florida house of Carlos Arredondo, 44, to inform him his 20-year-old son had died in Najaf.

"The gentleman was extremely distraught ... basically he broke down," said police spokesman Tony Rode.

"At about 1.30, in the afternoon, three marines came to our door, and my husband immediately knew that his first-born had been killed. My husband did not take the news well," Arredondo's wife told television reporters.


http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_story_skin/444080%3fformat=html

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040825_2270.html

"The father was in disbelief, same as any of us would be after hearing this kind of news," Rode said. "But then the father basically loses it. You can only imagine what this father was going through. He snapped, to say the least."

Luz Marina Arredondo, Alexander's grandmother, felt the government was at fault for her grandson's death.

"I blame them a lot," she said. "They send them like guinea pigs over there."

Melida Arredondo said she and Carlos last talked to their son two weeks ago.

AND THE BEAT GOES ON!!!!

Nowhere.

and featured an interview with Carlos' wife and Alexander's step-mother. When she got to the part where she looked into the camera and said something to the effect that "We must stop the war", she was immediately cut off by the interviewer. FUCKERS!! They can't handle the TRUTH!!
:mad:

asking what it was they felt they needed to edit out.

I just don't know what I would do if I were in his shoes. God Bless this poor man. God damn George Bush and his whole band of bastards!

It's HIS fault for every single death and injury.

nt.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/9495925.htm?1c


"Police said Arredondo got a blow torch, a propane tank and a gasoline can. He then broke out the driver's window, opened the door and began pouring gasoline throughout the vehicle, Kerr said.
At some point, the van exploded.

``In the process, he was launched out of the van,'' Kerr said. ``The van went up in flames and he went shooting out of the van.''


The Grandmother and father are from Costa Rica originally, and this marine grew up in Maine and Massachusetts:

"...The dead Marine's grandmother, Luz Marina Arredondo Piedra, took a less charitable stance toward American involvement in Iraq.

``They should stop this now,'' she said, referring to the war. ``They send them like guinea pigs over there. They don't do this garbage in Costa Rica.''

when this report says he was ejected from the van when it exploded.

"he set himself on fire in the process and was inside the burning van when the Marines pulled him out and put out the flames, police said."

Contradicts this story:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/9495925.htm?1c

"Police said Arredondo got a blow torch, a propane tank and a gasoline can. He then broke out the driver's window, opened the door and began pouring gasoline throughout the vehicle, Kerr said.

At some point, the van exploded.

``In the process, he was launched out of the van,'' Kerr said. ``The van went up in flames and he went shooting out of the van.''

Marines extinguished the fire on Arredondo. No Marines were injured, but the van was gutted."

First she finds out her son (or step-son) was killed, then her husband goes insane with grief and gets seriously injured.

And, I can see this man being charged with a federal crime for destroying government property.

Seems like a story Aaron Brown would cover. We'll see.


BTW the police said it was too early in the investigation to discuss possible charges against Arredondo.

“We’ll see how he recovers before doing anything,”


Awfully nice of them...

According to icasualties.org which relies on CENTCOM and DOD For its facts, there have been no coalition fatalities in Najaf in the past week. The only US fatality reported on Tuesday was in a vehicle accident in Fallujah. How can it be that in the nastiest fighting of the war, only Iraqi civilians and "insurgents" are dying. Could it be that we are just too close to the Republican convention? Does this have something to do with journalists being shot at and today being rousted from a Najaf hotel?

That is VERY strange since this was a vehicle accident near Fallujah, and Arredondo was reported to have died near Najaf.

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Casualty_Report.asp?CasualtyReport=20040832.txt

August 24, 2004
Release Number: 04-08-32C

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ONE SOLDIER DEAD IN VEHICLE ROLLOVER

LSA ANACONDA, BALAD, Iraq – One 13th Corps Support Command Soldier is dead as the result of a vehicle accident near Fallujah at approximately 2 a.m. August 24.

The Soldier’s military vehicle rolled over causing fatal injuries and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The name of the Soldier is being withheld pending next-of-kin notification.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Here's the list of casulaties for August:

http://icasualties.org/oif/prdDetails.aspx?hndRef=8-2004

Does that mean the total is not 967 but 968, or is there a more widespread cover-up of US casulaties?

It may be revealing about the propaganda war, which is always ongoing as well.

Sadly it was not. Keith Olberman did a fine job covering it though.

RIP ... :(

i feel so bad for that poor man . and there are many others like him out there.

I am the same age as the father. My first-born (and only) son is about to turn 2. I truly cannot conceive of what that poor man must have felt when he saw the Marines at his door. His mental agony is almost unbearable to contemplate as a father or as a human being. My sympathy for him and for his wife and of course for their son is immense and it is matched equally by my fury at those that took us into this "war". This man's self-immolation was of course irrational, senseless and tragic--words that could not better fit our actions in Iraq. Please, people.. do whatever you can to insure a Kerry victory.

thinking about such things!! barbara bush 2003

Jeb probably sees it as a chance to add another "felon" and anti-Bush voter to extricate from the voter registration rolls.

It seems pretty obvious that he set himself on fire, along with the Marine van as a political protest. Imagine how this would have been covered if an Iraqi had done this while protesting Saddam Hussein a couple of years ago. Or if an Iranian did this today.

What a terrible thing, to have your son die in a war, especially an unnecessary criminal invasion like this one.

Bush will probably charge him for the van.

of anguish and then his son was sent back. It was all too much. I also heard on the news that he set it on fire, then got in and then came back out with help from the marines. I don't know what it all means in terms of what he actually did but the boys tried to help him. He was lying on a guerney shivering in shock and pain. I've never seen anyone burned who ever had the mercy of falling into unconsciousness.

Have you noticed that the world is so terrible now, everywhere, that it must reflect the interior of Bush's mind, his godless soul, his world vision. What a terrible, blank, devoid of humanity world view he must get every time he opens his eyes.

This is the worst thing I have heard of in days. Couple this with the LA times saying Bush is gaining on Kerry in polls due to SwiftBoat and I could get drunk right now, I am so saddened and depressed.

The world has been an increasingly grim place since Bush was elected. I think forums like this are important. They provide a counterweight, both in the public debate and in the collective unconscious. I am a bit of a Jungian on the latter point - some people think it doesn't matter what average people say, think, and feel but I think it does matter at some collective level.

The man's stepmother was on CBS early show this am; I only saw the last part. "She said 'this was his scream." (husband, son? Not sure). Then she started to say, "This war has to stop," and then she was clearly cutoff/edited. What did she say that they didn't want us to hear? Did she directly blame bush*?

All we get is the voice of the soulless, endlessly repeated.

They gladly show her grief, but won't let her share her wisdom.
Insult added to insult added to tragedy.

his father, too. I will find the luminaria with his name on it, and post it here at DU.

God rest the young man and heal the elder.

The grandmother said:

"I blame them a lot," she said. "They send them like guinea pigs over there."

For some reason Munch's "The Scream" being stolen and the quote from this woman connect up in my mind. Symbolic, I guess - his scream will probably be ignored by the media and power structure, the way Munch's "The Scream" went missing.

I mean, if my son were in Iraq and knowing full well that anyday Marines would show up on my door step one day with the ultimate bad news about my kid, I might do something like this as a form of protest and I'm not sure I'd want to live.