The man who ignited himself in front of the White House and incidentally in front of my hotel and within about 20 minutes of doing it in front of me, Mohamed Alanssi, turns out to be central to several anti-terrorism arrests in the US and in Europe. Newsday talks about at least three investigations that involve Alanssi none of them minor. The NYTimes and Washington Post have lengthy coverage of the involvements of Alanssi. The story doesn’t seem to be ending.
The story that ended and in fact completely vanished is any explaination of the other man who not long after Alanssi’s self-BBQing, climbed the White House fence. He remains a mystery. This man I did see only minutes or seconds before he went over.
eBayers in the meantime were given a chance to bid on a toasted cheese that reveals a Madonna!