11/15/2004 02:42:54 PM|||Preston Taylor Holmes|||But I still do.

Man sets himself on fire outside White House.

Fortunately for a few bystanders, they had marshmallows on sticks at the ready.

4 PM UPDATE:

More details have emerged and I've learned that it's okay to laugh at this one. Apparently this bearded madman set himself on fire shouting "allah!". Why don't more radical islamists take this approach? See, islamofascists, you don't have to blow yourself up! If you just set yourself on fire, you'll still get some publicity and there's a lot less cleanup for the rest of us.

(White House-AP) Nov. 15, 2004 - A man set fire to himself outside the White House on Monday, suffering serious burns before Secret Service agents extinguished the flames.

The incident took place just after 2:00pm on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the mansion's northwest gate.

TV cameras captured the immediate aftermath with medics administering first aid and the man crying out in pain. He repeatedly included the word, "Allah!"

A Washington, DC, fire department spokesman says the man is 52 and suffered burns on his head, back, arms and face. But, he was reported conscious when he arrived at a local hospital.

The only question that remains is why did they bother putting him out?

11/16 UPDATE:

(via Digger's Realm) News this morning is that the man who turned himself into a personal tiki torch is actually Mohammed Alanssi, 52, a former FBI informant. He had warned the FBI that he was going to "burn himself" but failed to provide details. Apparently, the FBI said, "whatever".

JohnnyWalker Red has more from the UK's Guardian on the story. The charbroiled Alanssi was apparently upset because he wasn't allowed to go back to Yemen to visit his ailing wife. He claims that the FBI had promised to help him get back to Yemen, but reneged.|||110054783942854712|||I shouldn't laugh at stuff like this...