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Suspicious fires on the Hill; Update on Vietnam Veterans Memorial vandalism

By Michelle Malkin  •  October 3, 2007 03:59 PM

Four “suspicious” fires were set in women’s bathrooms in two Senate buildings in D.C. today. Three in Dirksen, one in Hart, according to WaPo:

Four “suspicious” small fires broke out in bathroom trash cans in two Senate office buildings today, said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the U.S. Capitol Police…”They are suspicious in nature,” Schneider said. “We are working to see if these are all connected.

***

By the way, there’s still no word on who vandalized the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

AMVETS is offering a $5,000 reward for info:

AMVETS National Commander John P. “J.P.” Brown III announced today that AMVETS is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and successful
prosecution of those responsible for the Sept. 7 vandalism of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial.

“The domestic terrorists responsible for defacing ‘The Wall’ must be brought to justice,” Commander Brown said today. “The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the most meaningful sites in the nation. Those responsible for this despicable action are cowards. To these vandals I say, ‘While you hide in your dark corner giggling to yourself, what point have
you made? You have done nothing but destroy private property and hurt innocent people. This is nothing more than childish vandalism with no explanation. Real activists would have claimed responsibility. They apparently fail to understand what this wall means to millions of Americans, that this is a place to honor those who have given their lives to preserve our freedoms.’”

According to the National Park Service, 14 of the memorial’s 140 panels were stained by an unidentified substance. The Wall holds the names of 58,256 casualties and service members still missing in action during the Vietnam War.

“I can not fathom how anyone could justify such a heinous act against our veterans and their families,” said Commander Brown, himself a Vietnam War veteran. “From media reports, I gather this may have been seen by the perpetrators as a protest against the government and current military operations. If that is the case, these criminals are as uneducated as they
are unpatriotic. This wall belongs to the people - not the government.”

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Comments

  1. #1
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    …these criminals are as uneducated as they
    are unpatriotic. This wall belongs to the people - not the government.

    Exactly Commander Brown.

  2. #2
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:04 pm, feebiebabe said:

    $10 bucks says it Cindy and the Code Pinkos Brigade!

  3. #3
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:06 pm, gippergirl said:

    at what time were which senators on potty breaks?…who knows what reid/pelosi et al will are willing to resort to…

  4. #4
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:10 pm, meatpieandtatters said:

    When can we expect Harry Reid to the Senate floor to declare that none other than Rush Limbaugh set the fires?

  5. #5
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:12 pm, almeehan said:

    After all Reid, Harkin and ilk have created a firestorm with their kindergarten rants. If they don’t straighten up and fly right the American people will bring a whole lot more heat on them.

  6. #6
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:32 pm, Tennessee Dave said:

    I’m betting Hillary was letting go of some hot air and it torched some paper towels.

  7. #7
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:32 pm, rw said:

    I’d look at Billy Joel. He’s just a little too quick with that denial. Yeah, sure, the fires were always burning since the world’s been turning.

  8. #8
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:44 pm, twoninerkilo said:

    I’d love to get my hands on those punks.

  9. #9
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:56 pm, harryo said:


    A suggestion from a conservative,,,

    let the senate vote on a million dollar reward to go to the person who turns this dirtbag in.. money talks and BS
    walks

  10. #10
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 4:58 pm, DesertLover said:

    I am sure they have hallway cameras monitoring all of these areas in these office buildings … I can easily understand the impulse to say code pink … they are unhappy with the Congress in both houses … and this was in women’s bathrooms … but we’ll wait and see what they figure out … perhaps there was some of the Larry Craig foot-tapping going on and someone got rejected … or is that signal only for males? …

    As for the VN Memorial … they sure are dragging their feet on getting that vandalism investigation moving forward with anything substantial …

  11. #11
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:00 pm, PowWow said:

    According to the National Park Service, 14 of the memorial’s 140 panels were stained by an unidentified substance. The Wall holds the

    Why is it always the pacifists/progressives, the “peace” brigade that resorts to this? They call conservatives hateful and vile. Then they’re the ones damaging a memorial and burning flags, effigies, etc. I’ve no problem if someone wants to have an honest open debate. But resorting to this kind of garbage and the name calling is just out of hand. Sorry for the rant.

  12. #12
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:01 pm, eforhan said:

    Ugh. Did he really have to call them “domestic terrorists”?

  13. #13
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm, dannavy85 said:

    Hey eforhan, truth hurts.

  14. #14
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:14 pm, 2manybooks2littletime said:

    My question is this:

    What kind of of point do they think they are making by defacing a war memorial?

    All it says to me is that they are immature and moronic.

  15. #15
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:20 pm, tgillian said:

    Re: Fires in the Ladies Room
    Somebody tell Nancy that after she lights a match to eliminate the odor, ya gots ta put it out before you throw it away.

  16. #16
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:21 pm, tarpon said:

    You would think they would have security cameras.

  17. #17
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:41 pm, feebiebabe said:

    our politicians are becoming increasingly fond of bathrooms lately….

  18. #18
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:46 pm, eforhan said:

    Vandalism is not – I repeat — not terrorism.

    Should they be strung up by their fingernails? Absolutely. But by overusing the word, we numb everyone to it and some begin to forget the real meaning.

  19. #19
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 5:53 pm, AlohaGuy said:

    Vandalism is not – I repeat — not terrorism.

    How about “desecration”?

  20. #20
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 6:03 pm, eforhan said:

    AlohaGuy: Yeah, that’s much more appropriate than “vandalism” (mea culpa) or “terrorism”.

  21. #21
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 6:31 pm, Boomer said:

    The moonbats are confining their hate for this country to random acts of vandalism instead of trying to rack up a body count of those that disagree with them so far. Thank God none of them know how to use a firearm. The attack on the Vietnam memorial really has me extremely angry and would love to spend some quality time getting to know the perpetrators of this little stunt in a secluded spot in the Owyhee Mountains demonstrating the old Apache way to convince trespassers they have made a mistake in trying to settle on their land. I bet it would take about 2 weeks of leave to give an effective demonstration. I am in a real evil mood right now about this.

  22. #22
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 7:17 pm, Speakup said:

    Where’s the resolution condemning this very real despicable act.

    If Democrats can condemn something imaginary surely they can condemn something that actually occurred.

    That is if they really are as Patriotic as they claim to be.

    Or are the Soldiers who died in that war undeserving of Democrat respect?

    Well…

  23. #23
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 7:37 pm, Wise Old Do0d said:

    I was googling News to see if anything else had been announced about the substance and I found this:

    [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137411-c,hackers/article.html"]http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137411-c,hackers/article.html[/URL]

    [QUOTE]A Vietnam War memorial Web site run by veterans was defaced in recent days by a “hacker” who left messages attacking the U.S., Israel, Armenia and the Kurds, the Washington Post reported in Thursday’s issue.

    According to the Post, visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial site who searched for casualties by date were redirected to a page that displayed the Turkish flag, a short video, and messages in both Turkish and English. One of the messages in Turkish read in translation: “Is there any equal or likeness to our martyrs at Gallipoli?”

    The newspaper assumed the message referred to the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. In 1915, an Allied attempt to force passage through the Dardanelles to supply Russia was defeated by the Turks, whose Ottoman Empire had sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary against Britain, France, Russia and others.

    Both Kurds and Armenians were targeted by Turks for genocide in this and the previous century.

    Someone identified as “Turk Defacer” took responsibility for the hack, which was reported to the site by several hundred visitors. The group that operates the site, the 4/9 Infantry Manchu (Vietnam) Association, removed the defacement and restored the site late Wednesday.

    Zone-H, a Web site that maintains the world’s largest defacement database, had no listing for the hack. Searches there for known hackers going by the name Turk Defacer located two, but neither had been pegged with a defacement this year.

    The site was hacked less than two weeks after the physical Vietnam Veterans Memorial was defaced with an unknown oily substance that National Park Service police said had been splashed on at least 14 of the 140 polished granite panels. Names of the men and women who died or were declared missing are etched on the panels.

    The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which built the wall, has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator, while the Park Service is cleaning the soiled panels.

    Prominent Web sites are regularly vandalized by hackers. Last month, for example, the United Nations’ site was plastered with messages accusing the U.S. and Israel of killing children. The name of the group that assumed responsibility for that defacement had been previously linked to Turkish hackers.[/QUOTE]

    That’s certainly a bizarre twist.

  24. #24
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 8:15 pm, a crapweasel said:

    Breast Not Butane!

  25. #25
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 8:21 pm, Boomer said:

    On October 3rd, 2007 at 8:15 pm, a crapweasel said:
    Breast Not Butane!

    That brings back a very bad memory from just a few days ago I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

  26. #26
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 8:48 pm, JoAnn in VA said:

    My husband says the fires in the ladies bathrooms were just examples of very localized global warming- see, it IS a fact! Really!

  27. #27
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 9:16 pm, ajmontana said:

    Well, Somebody needed to light a fire under their a**.

  28. #28
    On October 3rd, 2007 at 10:46 pm, Bruce said:

    This is one of those people who go around doing stuff until it finally gets on the news. Yeah, it’s kind of weird, but where would we be without people of that sort?

  29. #29
    On October 4th, 2007 at 3:38 am, BobUSMC said:

    Here’s an MP3 download I recorded of a telephone message I got from a Bill Wine of the Park Service on Sept 28th regarding the status of the clean up effort on the Wall. I’d left a message earlier and he was kind enough to return my call later that day:

    http://download.yousendit.com/92B45F121B9A9D85

    I edited my last name out of it for the sake of my own privacy.

    He basically says that clean up will continue into this week (10/1) and possibly next week(10/8) and that it’s best to do this slowly and for the public to have patience, and that they also believe they will be able to remove all of the substance.

    I can’t help but think it was a WD-40 type of spray that soaked into the granite wall.

  30. #30
    On October 4th, 2007 at 3:46 am, Emmychka said:

    It’s sad to see what the country is turning to. We don’t support a current war, we vandalize a monument to a previous war….

    …I bet our forefathers are rolling in their graves.

    Thank you for keeping this in front Michelle.

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