I assure you it wasn't me. From MSNBC, with thanks to Teri:
WASHINGTON - A bearded man shouting ”Allah” was injured when his belongings apparently erupted in flames outside the White House on Monday. He was quickly subdued by Secret Service guards.A Reuters reporter saw the man try to present a Manila envelope to guards near a Secret Service post on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House West Wing.
Moments later, a plume of smoke rose above the guard post while two guards wrestled the man to the ground and a third extinguished flames that engulfed the man's briefcase and overcoat a few feet away.
The man, clutched his right hand, groaned and repeatedly shouted “Allah,” as guards held him to the ground. The area was cordoned off and fire trucks and ambulances arrived on the scene.
A spokesman for the District of Columbia Fire Department said later that the man suffered burns over about 30-percent of his body.
"I assure you it wasn't me."
LOLOL
Maybe he was mad that he missed the dinner Bush had with stone age Muslims last week at the end of RUM a DUN DUN DUN.........Hell, these bigots have to angry about something, or else they're not happy bigots.......
Someday we'll learn.....
"A spokesman for the District of Columbia Fire Department said later that the man suffered burns over about 30-percent of his body".
Breaks my heart to see the hard working first responders and all of the taxpayers have to rush over to put this kook out......Where's congested traffic when you need it?
Boy, are those documents inflammatory!
Islam is inflammatory.....Now isn't it?
Good afternoon all.....I must depart for a few hours.....Since you're always in my thoughts, I thought I'd share a joke with you......I've attached it below:
CAIR in the News
Friday, November 12, 2004
CAIR: Muslims Committed to Peace, Respect
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Click here to view full text ...
[Omar Ahmad is the founder and chairman of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, the leading Muslim civil rights organization in the United States.]
It is with a combination of hope and fear that nearly 7 million Muslim
Americans are ending their celebration of Ramadan, a month of daylight
fasting, reflection and prayer that concludes with the "eid" feast Sunday.
During Ramadan, the world's 1.2 billion Muslims rededicate themselves to
two central Islamic values: sharing and tolerance.
So it was sobering for me to review a recent poll revealing disturbing
levels of intolerance toward Muslims among a random sample of 1,000
Americans. The poll was conducted by an independent firm at the request of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Some of the findings were chilling: 29 percent of Americans strongly or
somewhat agree that Muslims teach their children to hate; 27 percent
believe we value life less than other people; 29 percent believe in a kind
of world Muslim conspiracy "to change the American way of life."
With negative stereotypes prevailing among more than a quarter of the
American people, there is no wonder that reported hate crimes and
discrimination against Muslim Americans increased 70 percent from last year
alone.
More than 700 violent attacks, including several murders, against us, or
those mistaken for us, occurred in the first nine weeks following 9/11.
Scores of us were illegally removed from aircraft, sometimes because the
flight crew "did not feel comfortable flying with someone named Muhammad."
Public leaders made defamatory statements, including the Rev. Jerry Falwell
who said on "60 Minutes" that our prophet Muhammad was a "terrorist."
Louisiana's U.S. Rep. John Cooksey stated on radio that any "guy with a
diaper on his head, and a fan belt wrapped around it" should be pulled over
by police.
The silver lining to the survey was that those with Muslim friends or
colleagues had significantly more positive perceptions of Muslims.
For this reason, it is imperative for Muslim Americans to overcome our
fears and let our friends and colleagues know more about us. As Muslims, we
must be proud ambassadors of a faith committed to peace, justice and mutual
respect among peoples.
We also ask Muslims and people of other faiths to join more than 700,000
Muslims who have already signed the online petition "Not in the Name of
Islam," which rejects violence committed in the name of Islam and
unequivocally condemns those who perform un-Islamic acts of terror and cruelty.
This year, Muslim Americans launched a special "Sharing Ramadan"
initiative. Hundreds of mosques across the country opened their doors at
the end of the daily fast and invited neighbors to celebrate the evening
meal with delicious food from countries all across the globe.
However, we Muslims cannot fight anti-Muslim racism by ourselves…
Racial or religious discrimination hurts all Americans. Our nation
cherishes certain fundamental principles -- among them, the right to live
without fear of prejudice and with equal protection of the laws. Like Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., Muslim Americans also dream of the day when we are
judged by the content of our character and by our contributions to this
society, not by our race, religion or ethnic background.
By the way, the numbers posted in this column are nowhere near what the true figures are about how Islam is viewed in this country, and Muslims can only blame their throat slitting religious brothers for that......They shouldn't be trying to put Americans on a guilt trip......They can head out of the country for good anytime they want, I hearts won't be broken.....
"I assure you it wasn't me". LOL! You have a great sense of humour Mr. Spencer.
I listened to NPR on the way home from work. This story was mentioned, but what wasn't mentioned was this person shouting, "Allah!"
Why?
Only 30 percent burns? 100 percent burns would have been a more deserved outcome! Ashes to ashes
He was shouting "Allah"?
How gauche. I get so annoyed when those right-wing unwashed homophobes try to bring their god into everything.
Great. This is all we need now. A third-rate terrorist wannabe who can't even get the stupid catchall phrase "allahu akbar" right, can't blow himself up successfully and now, saddles the American taxpayer with his health care. You just know his employer--if he has one--isn't going to foot this bill.
Maybe he is the same scumbag that caught fire while burning the American flag. Anyway he got what he deserved.
Canadian news- at least the two channels I get- didn't even Mention this. But they spoke of several other things happening there.
Why did they extinguished the fire?
"Bearded man shouting "Allah" subdued at White House gate"
Seems that when he called out Allah he was asking for the President.
All joking aside, perhaps they shouldn't have removed those Washington D.C. barricades. After all, this is war and if a man come close enough to set himself on fire, he easily have dynamite or worse strapped on.
I'm glad the CAIR press release is posted above,this re-enforces my earlier claim that CAIR
doesn't speak for the professed 7 Million Muslims in America.
What may be really frightening is that while a survey showed that about 35 percent of Muslims saw Bush's war on terror as a war on Islam,so,when
you look at CAIR's online petition against terror in the name of Islam, the measly 700,000 signatures indicates that 90 percent of the 7 Million approve of terror to defend Islam.
There is a well founded fear of Muslims because of the lack of outrage when the "Bad" Muslims do acts of violence that harm the "Good" Muslims and CAIR's response is to condemn the violence and not the Muslim doing it.
I no longer believe the claims of CAIR and their ilk,the denial and paranoia make it tough for anyone to have a sane debate with Islamic leaders about Muhammed's real life works or the misunderstood verses in the Quran.
A bearded man carrying belongings! Not an early visit from Santa Claus then...?
Why did the have to find the extinguisher? Flames
Are just up their ally? Shoot why didn"t they just shoot out his kneecaps and let him Flame OUT?? Would have been good Film at 6 to show that they really do burn in Hell??
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her Give them Strength,Wisdom,Sight and Courage to stay the course to Victory to Defeat ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Open the Eyes of the World to their threat Amen
O.T
Breaking News
Osama Just Got Run Over by A Reindeer
http://www.funnybunch.com/cmas/osamareindeer.htm
Q: What was he doing outside the White House?
A: He came to talk about the Peace process.
Q: Why did the Manila envelope go up in flames?
A: That is a genuine mystery to the bearer as well. He is however deeply distressed by this, because the envelope contained important documents which talk about Peace.
Q: Why was he shouting "Allah" as he lay on the ground?
A: Because Allah is the Messenger of Peace.
Q: What sort of "Peace" does Islam offer us?
A: It is like the Peace that is also enjoyed by the Devils in Hell. Hence millions of faithful Muslims find life in an Islamic country to be a bloody nightmare, hence they flee to the West, and then transform their newly adopted country into one resembling the hell-hole they have just fled.
Um, at the risk of sounding a bit naieve here, I don't think this man was right in his head. The complete news report said he was an informant for the U.S. gov't from Yemen and was distraught over his wife's terminal illness. He wanted to go home and see her, but apparently he is unable.
While it may be true that many people who do self-destructive things are also trying to accomplish terror attacks, it can also be true that people who are desperate also do desperately stupid things. This, I believe, falls into the latter category. Right now, we don't have enough details to know for sure.
Um, at the risk of sounding a bit naieve here, I don't think this man was right in his head. The complete news report said he was an informant for the U.S. gov't from Yemen and was distraught over his wife's terminal illness. He wanted to go home and see her, but apparently he is unable.
While it may be true that many people who do self-destructive things are also trying to accomplish terror attacks, it can also be true that people who are desperate also do desperately stupid things. This, I believe, falls into the latter category. Right now, we don't have enough details to know for sure.
Sorry for the double post.
The lame FBI really need to learn to take better care of their informants...
washingtonpost.com
Terror Informant Ignites Himself Near White House
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.
In two telephone conversations yesterday, Alanssi told a Post reporter that he would provide 10 minutes' notice of his suicide attempt and that only then would he reveal the location. When he called a third time, Alanssi said he had poured gasoline and would be setting himself on fire in two minutes, not 10, and it would take place near the White House. The newspaper informed D.C. police, who notified the special operations unit and the U.S. Park Police, which has jurisdiction over Lafayette Square.
In the recent interviews, Alanssi expressed anguish over not being able to visit his family in Yemen. He said that he suffers from diabetes and heart problems and that his wife is seriously ill with stomach cancer. Alanssi said he could not travel to his native country because he has no money and because the FBI, which is expecting him to testify at a terrorism trial in New York, was keeping his Yemeni passport.
"I must travel to Yemen to see my sick wife (stomac cancer) and my family before I testify at the court or any other places," Alanssi wrote FBI agent Robert Fuller in New York, according to the copy he provided The Post yesterday. "Why you don't care about my life and my family's life? Once I testify my family will be killed in Yemen, me too I will be dead man."
The FBI declined to comment on Alanssi's identity or his claims of working with the bureau. "We don't have a policy on revealing who is a cooperator or informing witness," said Joe Valiquette, an FBI spokesman in New York. The U.S. attorney's office in the eastern district of New York, which is prosecuting the terrorism-related trial in January, also declined to comment.
Alanssi, who described himself as a once-successful businessman in Yemen, also was upset with the FBI because he said agents had not kept promises they made to secure his cooperation. Those promises included a large, but unspecified, amount of money, eventual U.S. citizenship and protection of his identity, he said.
Alanssi said that he went to the FBI in New York shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and offered information on alleged financers of al Qaeda working in Yemen. He said he quickly became a major informant for the FBI, on occasion traveling to Yemen to gather intelligence.
He volunteered that the FBI paid him $100,000 in 2003. But he said he had been expecting much more because he said some agents told him he would "be a millionaire." And although he was promised permanent residency in this country, he said, he has not received it.
Alanssi said he did not have enough money to pay his medical bills or buy his prescription drugs. He said he recently underwent an operation at a Fairfax hospital to unclog his arteries.
"It is my big mistake that I have cooperated with FBI," he said in a recent interview. "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 also alleged that the FBI had failed to adequately protect his role in a sting operation conducted in Germany in January 2003. That led to the arrest of Mohammed Ali Hassan Al Moayad, a Yemeni cleric who is slated to go on trial Jan. 10 in New York on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda.
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2003 that Moayad had "boasted jihad was his field and trumpeted his involvement in providing money, recruits and supplies to al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups."
Alanssi said he played an important role in the success of that sting operation by persuading Moayad to travel from Yemen to Frankfurt, where the undercover investigation was carried out. Moayad allegedly boasted -- while U.S. and German agents taped the encounter -- of sending money and recruits to al Qaeda.
In a Jan. 5, 2003, affidavit supporting Moayad's arrest warrant, Fuller said that he had been working with an informant since November 2001. He described him as a Yemeni citizen who had provided reliable information and who had "contributed, in part, to the arrests of 20 individuals and the seizure of over $1 million."
Alanssi's identity was leaked, along with details of his role, and the case was the subject of a Washington Post story in 2003 and accounts in the Yemeni press. As a result, Alanssi said, his family had been harassed and threatened in Yemen, where Moayad, 55, is a prominent leader in Islamist circles.
A short, stocky man, Alanssi said that he was in the United States on a visitor's visa seeking business opportunities when the 2001 terrorist attacks took place. He said that he worked for the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in the mid-1970s and that he was angered by the attacks because he likes Americans.
He also saw an opportunity, he said, to pursue his dream of making it in business in this country.
In recent interviews with The Post, Alanssi, who has six children, sometimes was visibly upset, once breaking down in sobs.
In the letter faxed to The Post, Alanssi wrote: "I would like to tell all American People that I love them and I am proud to be a good friend for all American People, and I am asking them: Do you think what FBI did to me is it FARE or UNFAIR."
The incident rattled police officers and passersby outside the White House, where Pennsylvania Avenue was reopened to pedestrians recently. John and Beverly Beers, both 48, had just arrived from DeLand, Fla., and were out for a walk.
"I heard someone screaming," Beverly Beers said. "I saw flames, really quick, because they put them out. And then he was laying on the ground. . . . I just figured it was a person trying to get attention."
Staff writers David Cho, Maureen Fan and Susan Schmidt contributed to this report.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
The lame FBI really need to learn to take better care of their informants...
washingtonpost.com
Terror Informant Ignites Himself Near White House
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.
In two telephone conversations yesterday, Alanssi told a Post reporter that he would provide 10 minutes' notice of his suicide attempt and that only then would he reveal the location. When he called a third time, Alanssi said he had poured gasoline and would be setting himself on fire in two minutes, not 10, and it would take place near the White House. The newspaper informed D.C. police, who notified the special operations unit and the U.S. Park Police, which has jurisdiction over Lafayette Square.
In the recent interviews, Alanssi expressed anguish over not being able to visit his family in Yemen. He said that he suffers from diabetes and heart problems and that his wife is seriously ill with stomach cancer. Alanssi said he could not travel to his native country because he has no money and because the FBI, which is expecting him to testify at a terrorism trial in New York, was keeping his Yemeni passport.
"I must travel to Yemen to see my sick wife (stomac cancer) and my family before I testify at the court or any other places," Alanssi wrote FBI agent Robert Fuller in New York, according to the copy he provided The Post yesterday. "Why you don't care about my life and my family's life? Once I testify my family will be killed in Yemen, me too I will be dead man."
The FBI declined to comment on Alanssi's identity or his claims of working with the bureau. "We don't have a policy on revealing who is a cooperator or informing witness," said Joe Valiquette, an FBI spokesman in New York. The U.S. attorney's office in the eastern district of New York, which is prosecuting the terrorism-related trial in January, also declined to comment.
Alanssi, who described himself as a once-successful businessman in Yemen, also was upset with the FBI because he said agents had not kept promises they made to secure his cooperation. Those promises included a large, but unspecified, amount of money, eventual U.S. citizenship and protection of his identity, he said.
Alanssi said that he went to the FBI in New York shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and offered information on alleged financers of al Qaeda working in Yemen. He said he quickly became a major informant for the FBI, on occasion traveling to Yemen to gather intelligence.
He volunteered that the FBI paid him $100,000 in 2003. But he said he had been expecting much more because he said some agents told him he would "be a millionaire." And although he was promised permanent residency in this country, he said, he has not received it.
Alanssi said he did not have enough money to pay his medical bills or buy his prescription drugs. He said he recently underwent an operation at a Fairfax hospital to unclog his arteries.
"It is my big mistake that I have cooperated with FBI," he said in a recent interview. "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 also alleged that the FBI had failed to adequately protect his role in a sting operation conducted in Germany in January 2003. That led to the arrest of Mohammed Ali Hassan Al Moayad, a Yemeni cleric who is slated to go on trial Jan. 10 in New York on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda.
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2003 that Moayad had "boasted jihad was his field and trumpeted his involvement in providing money, recruits and supplies to al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups."
Alanssi said he played an important role in the success of that sting operation by persuading Moayad to travel from Yemen to Frankfurt, where the undercover investigation was carried out. Moayad allegedly boasted -- while U.S. and German agents taped the encounter -- of sending money and recruits to al Qaeda.
In a Jan. 5, 2003, affidavit supporting Moayad's arrest warrant, Fuller said that he had been working with an informant since November 2001. He described him as a Yemeni citizen who had provided reliable information and who had "contributed, in part, to the arrests of 20 individuals and the seizure of over $1 million."
Alanssi's identity was leaked, along with details of his role, and the case was the subject of a Washington Post story in 2003 and accounts in the Yemeni press. As a result, Alanssi said, his family had been harassed and threatened in Yemen, where Moayad, 55, is a prominent leader in Islamist circles.
A short, stocky man, Alanssi said that he was in the United States on a visitor's visa seeking business opportunities when the 2001 terrorist attacks took place. He said that he worked for the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in the mid-1970s and that he was angered by the attacks because he likes Americans.
He also saw an opportunity, he said, to pursue his dream of making it in business in this country.
In recent interviews with The Post, Alanssi, who has six children, sometimes was visibly upset, once breaking down in sobs.
In the letter faxed to The Post, Alanssi wrote: "I would like to tell all American People that I love them and I am proud to be a good friend for all American People, and I am asking them: Do you think what FBI did to me is it FARE or UNFAIR."
The incident rattled police officers and passersby outside the White House, where Pennsylvania Avenue was reopened to pedestrians recently. John and Beverly Beers, both 48, had just arrived from DeLand, Fla., and were out for a walk.
"I heard someone screaming," Beverly Beers said. "I saw flames, really quick, because they put them out. And then he was laying on the ground. . . . I just figured it was a person trying to get attention."
Staff writers David Cho, Maureen Fan and Susan Schmidt contributed to this report.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
The lame FBI really need to learn to take better care of their informants...
washingtonpost.com
Terror Informant Ignites Himself Near White House
By Caryle Murphy and Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
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.
In two telephone conversations yesterday, Alanssi told a Post reporter that he would provide 10 minutes' notice of his suicide attempt and that only then would he reveal the location. When he called a third time, Alanssi said he had poured gasoline and would be setting himself on fire in two minutes, not 10, and it would take place near the White House. The newspaper informed D.C. police, who notified the special operations unit and the U.S. Park Police, which has jurisdiction over Lafayette Square.
In the recent interviews, Alanssi expressed anguish over not being able to visit his family in Yemen. He said that he suffers from diabetes and heart problems and that his wife is seriously ill with stomach cancer. Alanssi said he could not travel to his native country because he has no money and because the FBI, which is expecting him to testify at a terrorism trial in New York, was keeping his Yemeni passport.
"I must travel to Yemen to see my sick wife (stomac cancer) and my family before I testify at the court or any other places," Alanssi wrote FBI agent Robert Fuller in New York, according to the copy he provided The Post yesterday. "Why you don't care about my life and my family's life? Once I testify my family will be killed in Yemen, me too I will be dead man."
The FBI declined to comment on Alanssi's identity or his claims of working with the bureau. "We don't have a policy on revealing who is a cooperator or informing witness," said Joe Valiquette, an FBI spokesman in New York. The U.S. attorney's office in the eastern district of New York, which is prosecuting the terrorism-related trial in January, also declined to comment.
Alanssi, who described himself as a once-successful businessman in Yemen, also was upset with the FBI because he said agents had not kept promises they made to secure his cooperation. Those promises included a large, but unspecified, amount of money, eventual U.S. citizenship and protection of his identity, he said.
Alanssi said that he went to the FBI in New York shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and offered information on alleged financers of al Qaeda working in Yemen. He said he quickly became a major informant for the FBI, on occasion traveling to Yemen to gather intelligence.
He volunteered that the FBI paid him $100,000 in 2003. But he said he had been expecting much more because he said some agents told him he would "be a millionaire." And although he was promised permanent residency in this country, he said, he has not received it.
Alanssi said he did not have enough money to pay his medical bills or buy his prescription drugs. He said he recently underwent an operation at a Fairfax hospital to unclog his arteries.
"It is my big mistake that I have cooperated with FBI," he said in a recent interview. "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 also alleged that the FBI had failed to adequately protect his role in a sting operation conducted in Germany in January 2003. That led to the arrest of Mohammed Ali Hassan Al Moayad, a Yemeni cleric who is slated to go on trial Jan. 10 in New York on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda.
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2003 that Moayad had "boasted jihad was his field and trumpeted his involvement in providing money, recruits and supplies to al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups."
Alanssi said he played an important role in the success of that sting operation by persuading Moayad to travel from Yemen to Frankfurt, where the undercover investigation was carried out. Moayad allegedly boasted -- while U.S. and German agents taped the encounter -- of sending money and recruits to al Qaeda.
In a Jan. 5, 2003, affidavit supporting Moayad's arrest warrant, Fuller said that he had been working with an informant since November 2001. He described him as a Yemeni citizen who had provided reliable information and who had "contributed, in part, to the arrests of 20 individuals and the seizure of over $1 million."
Alanssi's identity was leaked, along with details of his role, and the case was the subject of a Washington Post story in 2003 and accounts in the Yemeni press. As a result, Alanssi said, his family had been harassed and threatened in Yemen, where Moayad, 55, is a prominent leader in Islamist circles.
A short, stocky man, Alanssi said that he was in the United States on a visitor's visa seeking business opportunities when the 2001 terrorist attacks took place. He said that he worked for the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in the mid-1970s and that he was angered by the attacks because he likes Americans.
He also saw an opportunity, he said, to pursue his dream of making it in business in this country.
In recent interviews with The Post, Alanssi, who has six children, sometimes was visibly upset, once breaking down in sobs.
In the letter faxed to The Post, Alanssi wrote: "I would like to tell all American People that I love them and I am proud to be a good friend for all American People, and I am asking them: Do you think what FBI did to me is it FARE or UNFAIR."
The incident rattled police officers and passersby outside the White House, where Pennsylvania Avenue was reopened to pedestrians recently. John and Beverly Beers, both 48, had just arrived from DeLand, Fla., and were out for a walk.
"I heard someone screaming," Beverly Beers said. "I saw flames, really quick, because they put them out. And then he was laying on the ground. . . . I just figured it was a person trying to get attention."
Staff writers David Cho, Maureen Fan and Susan Schmidt contributed to this report.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
This sort of thing happened recently outside the French Embassy in London with someone setting fire to himself. In that case it was an Iranian who was protesting against the French governments co-operation with the mullahs to clamp down on dissenters in France.
However whether the cause is justified or not this method of protest isn't.
Imagine what it must have been like for any young children who witnessed it, they must be having nightmares.
There are plenty of ways that people can get attention to their cause without violence, it's just a case of using one's imagination a bit.
From the CAIR article: "Like Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., Muslim Americans also dream of the day when we are
judged by the content of our character and by our contributions to this
society, not by our race, religion or ethnic background".
Dear Muslims: Look around you. Watch TV. Listen to the radio. Read the Blogs......You ARE being judged by the content of your character........I love this race card play they use.....They will never in a thousand lifetimes be able to change the image of Islam......It's been etched in the annals of time.......................Shit heels.
Oh by the way, I still have an open invitation on the table for this group to participate in a public forum debate. I called them out in the paper, but I've heard nothing from them.
The issues need to be discussed, and the invitation still stands, for those at CAIR that are trolling......C'mon boys, let's have us a chat.
We also ask Muslims and people of other faiths to join more than 700,000
It is with a combination of hope and fear that nearly 7 million Muslim
Posted by: DCWatson at November 15, 2004 04:40 PM
By my math that leaves 90% who agree with the CUTTING of of LIMBS and HEADS??
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom,Sight and Courage to stay the course to Victory to Destory ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Open the Worlds Eyes to their Threat give them Courage to Stand and Fight Amen
Just a thought: He was shouting 'allah' just before he lit himself up.
A cry of despair as he realized 'allah' was Never going to answer his prayers for help?