Paul Johnson: You heard it here first.

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2004/WORLD/meast/06/18/saudi.kidnap/top.video.1.jpg

Report: U.S. hostage beheaded
Al Arabiya says new video shows killing

Friday, June 18, 2004 Posted: 1:41 PM EDT (1741 GMT)

(CNN) -- An Arabic TV news network said Friday that American hostage Paul Johnson Jr. has been beheaded by his Saudi captors.

Al Arabiya said its bureau chief had been shown the video of the killing.

Earlier Friday, Al Arabiya had aired an emotional statement from the wife of Johnson.

Johnson's wife, Noom, who is Thai, said she hoped the Saudi government "can help my husband."

U.S. and Saudi investigators concluded an intensive meeting Friday, Saudi officials said, as security forces spread all over the kingdom searching for Johnson.

Johnson, 49, a Lockheed Martin Corp. employee, had been kidnapped Saturday in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. He helped maintain U.S.-built Apache helicopter gunships for the Saudi military.

Johnson's captors had threatened to kill him by Friday unless the Saudi government releases al Qaeda prisoners and Westerners leave the Arabian Peninsula.

Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin , the self-proclaimed military leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, claimed responsibility for Johnson's kidnapping and the death of another American on the same day on behalf of a group called the Al Falluja Squadron, which says it has ties to al Qaeda.

The State Department has urged all Americans to leave Saudi Arabia, but Johnson's sister, Donna Mayeux, said her brother "always felt safe in Saudi Arabia."

"My brother is an honorable man," she said. "He has always treated people with dignity and respect."

i heard it on al jazeera first, but yeah thats too bad.

Damn, I posted that on the General board... I feel bad for the guy's family. And for him. That's such a terrible way to die. :(

Do we know if they did it as slow and deliberate as last time?

I wonder if it was an actual al qaeda affiliated person who conducted the murde with this man...

it's easy to hide behind a mask and say you're part of al qaeda and behead a guy if someone is paying you well enough...

like those russian contractors who were killed a few weeks ago in their convoy...

...also...

A South Korean was also beheaded today.

Originally posted by Enzed
...also...

A South Korean was also beheaded today.

Yea, it's been all over the news. Good to see that South Korea isn't validating such tactics.

I wonder how fast they'd back down if the bad iraqis had "someone of importance"...lets say they had Dubya's wife instead of some pleb...

Still no negotiation, eh Georgie?:noway:

Originally posted by jczeroman


Yea, it's been all over the news. Good to see that South Korea isn't validating such tactics.

but c'mon, you and i know that any good South Korean wouldn't want their people there anyhow. it's called non-interventionism.

Originally posted by Irrelevant


but c'mon, you and i know that any good South Korean wouldn't want their people there anyhow. it's called non-interventionism.

Oh sure. I probably wouldn't. BUt if they let that stuff work, then they will have bigger problems then their government marching them into a war they don't agree with.