MSNBC Breaking: Man sets himself on fire outside White House

WARNING - GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW

Breaking on MSNBC now.

Secret Service is keeping the media away from the entrance to the White House; fire truck is outside the White House, black smoke was seen but has now dissipated.

Will update with link as details emerge

ON EDIT:
Link and photo (WARNING - GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW):

Man sets himself on fire outside White House - AP

By Associated Press
Monday, November 15, 2004

WHITE HOUSE - A man has apparently tried to set himself on fire outside the White House fence.

Witnesses say the incident took place outside the Northwest gate. Uniformed Secret Service agents were seen rushing to surround the man, who had graying hair and glasses. He was heard screaming in pain.

TV cameras captured the aftermath. Smoke hung in the air around the man as paramedics rushed to provide aid. The man appeared to be clutching his hand in pain, but it's unclear how serious his burns are.

A suicide at Ground Zero....now this

The Self-Immolation
On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon, Vietnam.. Eye witness accounts state that Thich Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes. David Halberstam, a reporter for the New York Times covering the war in Vietnam, gave the following account:

I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think…. As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him.

History repeating itself... right before my lyin' eyes.

An undergraduate immolated himself on the Revelle Commons, next to the fountain, to protest the war in Vietnam.

It turns out he had chronic depression and personal problems, but the incident is widely remembered as an anti-war protest. There is a small memorial to him near the Geisel Library. It's hard to find.

never thought it would be happening again.

Looks like we're going to have to go through the whole routine, eh?

For example, is Fallujah a little too like the movie Apocolpyse Now for anyone else's taste? (I've also seen it compared to Hue, but I'm not familiar with that part of Vietnam War history.)

I was thinking of the Apocalypse Now comparison myself this morning.

:(

I was amazed to hear on National Petroleum Radio a few days ago a documentary called 'Red Runs the Vistula' on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as the seige of Fallujah was happening.

It made me think there were some humane producers still at NPR doing a little stealth programming, just the opposite of Sinclair avoiding 'Saving Pvt. Ryan.'

This immolation thing makes my point that our Fallow Merkins can only wrap their minds around the suffering of one person at a time, not thousands.

Photos humanize suffering and must be put on every public surface to bring the war home through the suppression and denial.

Their protest was against Diem and his outlawing of Buddhism. Diem was a complete jackass and got his just desserts.

Thich Quang Duc had prepared himself for his self-immolation through several weeks of meditation and had explained his motivation in letters to members of his Buddhist community as well as to the government of South Vietnam in the weeks prior to his self-immolation. In these letters he described his desire to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Prior to the self-immolation, the South Vietnamese Buddhists had made the following requests to the Diem regime, asking it to:

Lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag;

Grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism;

Stop detaining Buddhists;

Give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion; and

Pay fair compensations to the victim’s families and punish those responsible for their deaths.

When these requests were not addressed by the Deim regime, Thich Quang Duc carried out his self-immolation. Following his death, Thich Quang Duc was cremated and legend has it that his heart would not burn. As a result, his heart is considered Holy and is in the custody of the Reserve Bank of Vietnam

I remember a famous or should I say infamous photograph of a monk in Vietnam who set himself on fire. He was protesting the war. I remember seeing the picture in Life magazine when I was a kid.

Not that I like those kinds of photos, but it's too bad the media we have today doesn't, can't or won't put pictures like that out in the main stream and let the country see the real goings on in Iraq.

I think it might shift the feeling of some people in this country and make them think.

:eyes:

:cry:

I feel so terrible for people who just can't stand it anymore. I hope he survives and that his pain can be reduced in every way.

Granted, I wasn't there, but there are definintely parallels...

:scared:

All we need is the draft and some CSN and its back in time we go...
Hang on.

can we at least do it without the bell-bottoms, tie-dyed and batik t-shirts, and love beads? If you lived through it, as I did, that stuff got tired a long time ago.

Now sit-ins, teach-ins, and a little hemp here and there on the other hand... :hippie:

for all the dreadfulness of Vietnam there was also a sense of optimism. The world could be changed for the better - it could be a more open fair society.

I still remember the images of the Buddhist monk engulfed in flames back during the Nam days.

It may have been one of my first awakenings to a world beyond my neighborhood...

I missed the MSNBC report, but I wonder why it's not on the other cable newschannels yet?

(Sorry, dumb question, we're talking about MSM here).

Maybe because Secret Service seems to have the area under lockdown, keeping media away, as the MSNBC reporter said?

Vietnam Redux

Can you imagine KKKarl Rove, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, et. al., watching this poor man from the WH windows and cacklingly dismissing him as "just another flaming faggot".

In the summer of 1963, Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in Vietnam to protest the Diem regime.

John must be beside himself since being forced to exit stage right.

"will I ever find a place where Eagles soar? Sure didn't find it here."

it did.

Poor man, what a way to go.

LBN == ??

Haven't been able make an intelligent guess yet ...

Welcome to DU.:hi:

Thank you. Love your avatar pic, BTW ... Paul, we could really use your help!!

...from the shed?

Have any of your recent postings been done from this so-called 'shed' of yours?

Thanks, I was wondering the same thing!!

It's the name of the forum that you're in now.

LBN = latest breaking news. This forum.

others to keep in mind,

BFEE, Bush family evil empire
TPTB, the powers that be
MSM, main stream media

You'll figure it all out in time.

welcome back to the 60's.

Jeez. Never thought I'd be so right.

I'm concerned for the safety of guys like Michael Moore...

outside McNamara's Pentagon office.

Here's a page I found just now on him:

http://www.angelfire.com/nb/protest/morr.html

From your link (and thanks for it):

Instead of seeing Morrison's immolation as an act of sacrifice and an act of witness against an unjust war, alot of Americans just seem to have missed the point. Luckily, there were a few who understood the power of Morrison's message - the people of Vietnam. The Vietnamese, especially in the North, revered Morrison for his act of sacrifice. The list of honors is rather surprising: a street named for him near Hanoi, a postage stamp displaying his image, and several poems dedicated to him. In one poem, North Vietnamese poet To Huu writes from the perspective of Norman Morrison. The poem presents the juxtaposition of anger towards the American government and the love Norman Morrison had for his daughter. The third stanza reads

McNamara!
Where are you hiding? In the graveyard
Of your five-cornered house
Each corner an continent.
You hide yourself
From the flaming world
As an ostrich hides it head in the
burning sand.

I've been meaning to see Fog of War for sometime. I think I'd better do it now.

Watching it was, well, upsetting. Watching McNamara's face contort with what some might call guilt, and the lessons he had learned, and realizing that history was repeating itself... just upsetting.

Excellent viewing though, and every American should watch it. I doubt we'll ever see this kind of humility from Rumsfeld.

Great documentary - mostly a long interview with Mc Namara. He comes off as an (almost) sadly sympathetic figure. Maybe it was a whitewash since Mc Namara was doing the talking and most people that could refute him are dead, but he did seem like he spent alot of his time (they had tape recordings) trying to talk LBJ out of escalating the war and trying to find a way out.

I haven't seen Fog of War but I think I'll rent it this weekend.

I remembered it from the movie Nixon.

Tune in, if you can handle it. :-(

Jeannie Ohm reports that all reporters are standing in the driveway, and that just before 2:00 pm a man outside the security gate on Pennsylvania Avenue set himself on fire.

According to a DCFD spokesman, the man is burned over 30% of his body. No motivation has yet been reported.

According to the AP article, the first to emerge, camera crews captured the aftermath.

:-(

But odds are it won't.

If he left no statement, the Repugs will try to spin it as a non-political statement by a disturbed individual. The media, of course, will play along.

- B

So at the very least he'll likely linger long enough to leave a statement.

But since the first official step taken after the flames subsided was to ban all cameras and media, I think I see where this is going.

- B

It's a horrible way to die, lingering like that. Third degree burns over a substantial amount of the body usually lead to an agonizing death over 24 hours or so, regardless of medical treatment. Reports say the burns were over only 30% of his body, so there's a decent chance he could pull through, although the reports are conflicting.

Recovery from a non-trivial burn is horrible, and I only speak from the experience of something much, MUCH less severe than this man's situation. I hope his recover is quick, or at least that his suffering doesn't linger. Ack.

Thanks, BTW, for the welcomes. I've been lurking a while ... it's comforting to be among the politically like-minded.

he did not know what to do anymore.....

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=331631

Updated: Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 - 2:32 PM

WHITE HOUSE - A man has apparently tried to set himself on fire on the north side of the northwest gate of the White House around 2 p.m. Monday.

Uniformed Secret Service personnel ripped off his burning clothes and extinguished the fire, but the protestor sustained burns and appeared to be writhing in pain on the ground.

D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter tells The Associated Press the man, believed to be about 60, suffered burns over about 30-percent of his body.

WTOP Listener Jim Clarke of Burke was walking his dog on the newly opened portion of Pennsylvania Avenue when it happened.

"We just got in front of the White House when I heard the Secret Service radio go ... 'a guy sent himself on fire outside the White House' ... and you could see the guy totally engulfed in flames."

That poor man. I hope he finds some peace from his pain but I fear he will be living in physical and mental hell from now on.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1280529/posts

Ugh, these guys are making me sick...read at your own risk!

Now this pisses me off:

To: Dog

Excellent. Only 1.5 billion to go.

WTF?

n/t

when this kind of thing makes freepers happy?
wtf has gone wrong with this country?

That's the hellish discomfort of shrunken souls who know that absolutely nothing they believe in is worth dying for.

Ah, those kind, thoughtful freeps, and their compassionate Christian ways...

Is is possible to be any more hypocritical than those people?

Oh well, but since he forgot to get any of us infidels, no virgins for him :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess it would be crass to ask if anyone has marshmallows, huh?
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I'd like to throw hot bacon grease on him.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope there is no second hand smoke, otherwise he's in real trouble.
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And there's another 600 and counting that are similar to the above. These people should be sent to fight in Mosul.

They are white Guy's and Christians

That's why the CHIMP flattened Fallujah.

to be despised, pitied, and looked down upon.

They have no humanity, conscience or soul.

Whatever befalls them they deserve, and right now I have given up all hope of rational thought appealing to them.

Perhaps evil cannot be converted, just destroyed

What a bunch of Nazis. There's the proof.

:puke: :puke: :puke:

He could care less.

do you mean he couldn't care less? That's more like it.

But, your way is more precise, so I concur.

But more than anything, I hope there isn't a movement of copycats who hope that this is both an answer and an effective statement. It's an awful way to die, and possibly a more awful thing to survive after.

No matter what's happening in the world, it's still better to die fighting actively than to die symbolically alone.

No special treat.

:argh:

It does bring up memories of Vietnam. I did not mean to be flip about that but Why does the people like Bush walk around with blood dripping from them and not just burst into spontaneous combustion !

Yeah, I'm sure. He couldn't have just been in a shitload of pain and been screaming "AAAAaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH", right? He must be some sort of terraist :eyes:

It's odd that his coat and briefcase were also on fire. Must have been doused with gasoline or other flammable. How tragic. They must feel so powerless that all they have to fight with is their burning flesh.It is so foreign to us but probably so meaningful to them.
Did the man in NYC do the same at the towers site? I heard someone also killed them selves there about a week ago.

This kind of crap makes my stomach churn.

Why take out the abuses of the silent coup on yourselves?

What good does it do, it makes a 24 hour sound byte on the news
and quickly fades with the rest of the horror.

I wish this wouldn't happen. It's discouraging, not encouraging.

I would not be a 'refugee' by moving to Canada

I also refuse to be a 'victim' - I'd rather take retribution!

Terra-ists outside the Presidential residence combusting? TSK TSK TSK...time to roll Tom Ridge out again to scare the populace.

Bush Plan for the people who are too poor to afford heat this fall/winter. Just light yourself on fire.

Tomorrows special: Flame broiled Iraqi.

This is a heartbreaking story :cry:

while he was on fire. Other than what the freepers have said, which I don't believe for a minute, has anyone else heard this on any legitimate news source?

When I heard the news reporter say this, my first thought was 'that came out of KKKarl's mouth, not the man on fire.' I mean, it wouldn't LOOK good if American's were setting themselves on fire to protest * and his horrid policies, now would it? But to put words in this man's mouth that would imply he's a terra rist, just sounds like KKKarlspeak to me.

well, he was clutching his hand...

report doesn't say how serious and doesn't give a statement about why this happened.

Terror Informant Ignites Himself Near White House
Yemeni Was Upset at Treatment by FBI

By Caryle Murphy and Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 16, 2004; Page A01

A Falls Church man who worked as a federal informant on terrorism set himself on fire in front of the White House yesterday, hours after announcing his suicide attempt and citing his growing despondency over how the FBI managed his case.

Mohamed Alanssi, 52, approached the northwest guardhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue about 2:05 p.m. and asked the security detail to deliver a note to President Bush. When uniformed Secret Service officers turned him away, he stepped about 15 feet from the guard post and used a lighter to ignite his jacket, according to the U.S. Park Police.

Secret Service officers wrestled him to the ground and doused the flames with fire extinguishers. Alanssi was taken to Washington Hospital Center, where he was listed in critical condition with burns over about 30 percent of his body, authorities said.

Alanssi, who is from Yemen and also uses the name Mohamed Alhadrami, recently discussed his work as a federal informant in a series of interviews with The Washington Post. Yesterday morning, he informed the newspaper by faxed letter and by telephone that he was going to "burn my body at unexpected place." He also sent a copy of a letter he said he had faxed to the FBI agent in New York who is handling his case. The Post alerted the agent and provided a copy of the letter.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51575-2004Nov15.html?nav=rss_world
(Free registration is required)

Pardon if this has been mentioned already. I scanned the posts very quickly and didn't see anything similar.

Whatever this story really is, it IS sad, and he must have had very intense feelings about it to do this painful thing to get attention for the story he believed had to be heard.

dear god :(

Man Who Set Self On Fire Near White House Was Informant

POSTED: 6:44 am EST November 16, 2004

WASHINGTON -- A man who set himself afire just outside a White House gate had reportedly worked for the FBI as an informant.

The Washington Post is reporting that the man, Mohamed Alanssi, was distraught over his inability to return to Yemen to visit his critically ill wife.

The Post reports it had been informed by the man of his plans early Monday.

He told the paper, by phone and fax -- that he was going to burn his body at an "unexpected place." He also faxed a letter to a FBI contact. Secret Service personnel used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. The incident was videotaped by a tourist.
(snip/...)

http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/news/3921537/detail.html

to the press.