Prayers Needed (Paul Johnson)

[Blatz]

Terrorists' Deadline Approaches (http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/061704_nw_johnsondeadline.html)

June 17, 2004 — Friday is supposed to be the end of the terrorists' 72 hour deadline in the life and death drama of Paul Johnson. Many of his friends, his family, and Ocean County neighbors came out to pray for his well-being.

It was a gathering reminiscent of the post 9-11 vigils that we saw across the area. Several hundred people were waving American flags in West Creek to show support from native Paul Johnson and his family. As they struggle to hold on with that deadline set by his captors, it's coming to an end.

Several hundred people, many with their children and grandchildren braved a muggy, steamy field swarming with mosquitoes to sing and pray for Paul Johnson's safe return.

With yellow ribbons and people holding little American flags, a number of pastors and chaplain from across Ocean County urged the crowd not to lose hope, not to feel helpless, but to pray.

Earlier in the day, a letter appeared on several Islamic websites from someone who identified himself as a Saudi friend of Johnson. The friend said he bestowed his protection as a Muslim on the American hostage. If Johnson is harmed, the letter reads "I will never forgive you, I will curse you in my prayers." Meanwhile, Johnson's relatives he is not the man that his captors make him out to be.

With the deadline for his killing fast approaching, his uncle who helped raise him as a son is finding it difficult to hold on.

While most family stayed away from the vigil, Johnson's niece and his son's wife, Jody, did appear to thank the crowd.

And so tonight, the Johnson's and their relatives are finding that they are not alone. That entire community is here supporting them, praying for Paul Johnson's safe return against all odds.

Dann Cuellar, Channel 6 Action News. Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved.

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[JamesC]

Done...I hope things work out for him.

[giddyup]

Done indeed. I don't want another Nick Berg.

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[droxford]

I hope the best for him....

... but he's a dead man. the worst part of it is - he's gonna die a very gruesome death, and it's gonna be broadcast around the world. It seems to be the latest terrorist trend.

Those heartless SOB's need to burn, and America isn't making 'em pay like we should.

-- droxford

[Master Baiter]

Originally posted by droxford
I hope the best for him....

... but he's a dead man. the worst part of it is - he's gonna die a very gruesome death, and it's gonna be broadcast around the world. It seems to be the latest terrorist trend.

Those heartless SOB's need to burn, and America isn't making 'em pay like we should.

-- droxford
I totally agree. I hope everything works out for him but it is not likely. :(

[Mulder]

Originally posted by droxford
I hope the best for him....

... but he's a dead man. the worst part of it is - he's gonna die a very gruesome death, and it's gonna be broadcast around the world. It seems to be the latest terrorist trend.

Those heartless SOB's need to burn, and America isn't making 'em pay like we should.

-- droxford

Is that really necessary?

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally posted by droxford
I hope the best for him....

... but he's a dead man. the worst part of it is - he's gonna die a very gruesome death, and it's gonna be broadcast around the world. It seems to be the latest terrorist trend.

Those heartless SOB's need to burn, and America isn't making 'em pay like we should.

-- droxford

I hope not. I hope they learned from the Berg case that it doesn't help their cause at all.

[Master Baiter]

Originally posted by Mulder
Is that really necessary?
Why is being pissed off about people killing our own unnecessary?? When I read the story I thought the same thing as drox and it pisses me off.

[Surfguy]

I was reading over at Yahoo! an article that interviewed a Saudi where this person stated all Saudis hate Americans so they wouldn't tell where Paul Johnson is even if they knew.

I don't think he has but a very slim chance if he's not gone already and only if the Saudi government finds him before he is murdered.

[Mulder]

Originally posted by Master Baiter
Why is being pissed off about people killing our own unnecessary?? When I read the story I thought the same thing as drox and it pisses me off.

The post asks for prayers, that we hope for the best. I don't think it is the right time or place to lock on to the fact that he is "a dead man" and will "die a gruesome death". God forbid it happens, it can be expressed at a more appropriate time.

[droxford]

Originally posted by Mulder
The post asks for prayers, that we hope for the best. I don't think it is the right time or place to lock on to the fact that he is "a dead man" and will "die a gruesome death". God forbid it happens, it can be expressed at a more appropriate time.

Good point. I shoulda saved such negative comments for a different thread - perhaps in D&D. My apologies.

I certainly hope the best for him and his family.

-- droxford

[Bogey]

Sadly, it appears this has turned out like the Berg situation. :(
RIP

[pariah]

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[Dr of Dunk]

Originally posted by Bogey
Sadly, it appears this has turned out like the Berg situation. :(
RIP

CNN is reporting that to apparently be the case.
Sick.

[NBAHOU713]

It is too late, unfortuntely they have beheaded Paul Johnson. This is the saddest thing .... I dont see it stopping either anytime soon.

[RocketsPimp]

Here's a Yahoo link to the story.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20040618/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saudi_kidnapped_american_33

By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - An al-Qaida group said Friday it killed American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., posting an Internet message that showed three photographs of a severed head that appeared to be his.

The message, in the name of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, appeared as a 72-hour deadline set by the group ended.

Less than an hour after the announcement, an Arab satellite television network said Johnson's body had been found.

According to the al-Qaida group, "In answer to what we promised ... to kill the hostage Paul Marshall (Johnson) after the period is over ... the infidel got his fair treatment," the statement said.

"Let him taste something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and missiles," the statement said.


Johnson, 49, who worked on Apache attack helicopter systems for Lockheed Martin, was kidnapped last weekend by militants who threatened to kill him by Friday if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners. The Saudi government rejected the demands.

As the deadline approached, Saudi security forces launched an all-out search, going door-to-door in some Riyadh neighborhoods, as Johnson's wife went on Arab television Friday pleading for his release.

After Johnson's death was reported, his family was in seclusion at a town house in Galloway Township, N.J., where they have been holding a vigil.

A man standing in front of the house identified himself only as "Bill" and said the family did not want to talk to reporters.

One of the three photographs posted on the Web site showed a man's head, face toward the camera, being held by a hand. The other two showed a beheaded body lying prone on a bed, with the severed head placed in the small of his back, the clothes underneath bloodied.

The face looked like Johnson's.

The beheaded body was dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, similar to those issued to suspected Islamic militants imprisoned by the United States at Guantanamo Bay — and similar to the suit another American captive, Nicholas Berg, was wearing when he was beheaded in Iraq (news - web sites) last month by another group of Islamic militants inspired by al-Qaida.

"To the Americans and whoever is their ally in the infidel and criminal world and their allies in the war against Islam, this action is punishment to them and a lesson for them to know that whoever steps foot in our country, this decisive action will be his fate," the statement said.


The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh had no immediate comment. "We are working on verification," the spokesperson said. Spokespersons for the CIA (news - web sites) and State Department in Washington also said they could not confirm the reports of Johnson's death.

A Saudi senior security official, reached by The Associated Press, said: "We have so far nothing on this."


Soon after the statement appeared, the Web site was inaccessible, with a message saying it was closed for maintenance.

Johnson was the latest victim of an escalating campaign targeting Westerners that Saudi and U.S. officials say aims to drive foreign workers from the kingdom and undermine the ruling royal family, hated by al-Qaida.

Johnson was seized on June 12, the same day that Islamic militants shot and killed American Kenneth Scroggs, from Laconia, N.H., in his garage.

Scroggs worked for Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi firm whose Web site lists Lockheed Martin among its customers. The office number on Johnson's business card was for Advanced Electronics.

The same week as Scroggs' death, another American and an Irish citizen were also shot and killed in Riyadh.

Johnson's death was the second beheading displayed on the Internet by militants with grisly images.

Berg, a businessman, was beheaded in Iraq, and his last moments later appeared on a videotape posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site. His body was found on May 12. U.S. officials say al-Qaida-linked Muslim militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been Berg's killer.

A senior Saudi official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the government did not yet have any independent confirmation of Johnson's death. "There is no body, and we know of no videotape," said the official.

Reached by phone at the Bethesda, Md. headquarters of Lockheed Martin Corp., a spokesman said the company had "no official notification on the status of Paul Johnson."

"But obviously we hope that the media reports people are seeing are not true," spokesman Jeff Adams said.

A message posted on the defense contractor's Web site reads "Our thoughts and prayers are with Paul M. Johnson Jr. and his family," but a notation on the message refers to it as "Employee Kidnapped."

[moestavern19]

Good ****ing God This makes me angry as ****. And to think some people think if America stays out of it everything will be Dandy as ****ing Candyland. I hope someone tracks down these sons of bitches and force feeds them razor blades. :mad:

[Nuggets4]

Originally posted by moestavern19
Good ****ing God This makes me angry as ****. And to think some people think if America stays out of it everything will be Dandy as ****ing Candyland. I hope someone tracks down these sons of bitches and force feeds them razor blades. :mad:

Take it to D&D.

My prayers to the Johnson family.

[Blatz]

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[Lil Pun]

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[keeley]

Originally posted by Nuggets4
Take it to D&D.

My prayers to the Johnson family.

I agree with part #2 wholly.

However... We'll be the ones to say the first part thank you

[Texas Stoke]

Originally posted by RocketsPimp
Here's a Yahoo link to the story.[url]"To the Americans and whoever is their ally in the infidel and criminal world and their allies in the war against Islam, this action is punishment to them and a lesson for them to know that whoever steps foot in our country, this decisive action will be his fate," the statement said.

I'm trying not to be sucked into this, but its hard not to... you know... a man living in America,, i look at this type of thinking and think to myself.. well if we had that same type of thinking 9'11 may of never happen,see, because... a muslim would have never been able to step foot without having the threat of having his head cutoff, he surely would not been allowed to walk into an airport, so i say to myself is that what they want us to do, because when i see and hear this all i remember is pictures of innocent people jumping out of the world trade center, and hearing a voice recording of a young man calling his girlfriend and telling her he's sorry and that he thinks this is it and hearing burning flames that are about to consume him in the background.

deep down i see the ignorance of it all, the relgious differences, the culture conflicts, the political idealogies, but there does come a time when man must make a decison between the instigators and the one's he loves. before 911 i never cared for islam or christianity, but now, they leave men like me no choice, you know, im an enemy because i dont worship allah, well **** that its time for that kind of thinking to be exterminated, i would rather I do it now, than have our children have to do it in the future. I'd love to sit around and meditate and take a spear in my heart like ghandi and forgive the instigators but the ball is already rolling and i get the feeling these muslimists leave one like me no choice but to prepare for a last great war so that my children may live in peace.

[MR. MEOWGI]

Originally posted by Texas Stoke
I'd love to sit around and meditate and take a spear in my heart like ghandi and forgive the instigators but the ball is already rolling and i get the feeling these muslimists leave one like me no choice but to prepare for a last great war so that my children may live in peace.

Please try to understand that the greatest war lies within your own mind.

[Texas Stoke]

Originally posted by MR. MEOWGI
Please try to understand that the greatest war lies within your own mind.

Mr. Meowgi, I understand what you mean, and i am glad you feel that, and im not ready to give up that common vision and feeling.. its human nature..we have it in all of us,,,but I forget to hear it's call sometimes,,,, maybe cause i'm drinking...just a lil bit.

[moestavern19]

My bad, just got upset over the whole situation.

Prayers to the Johnson Family.

[MadMax]

wow...no room for mercy. just torture and death.

i don't live these words of Christ out, fully...but I wish I did...and i wish others did as well.


32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

[Nuggets4]

Originally posted by keeley
I agree with part #2 wholly.

However... We'll be the ones to say the first part thank you

My apologies.

[Dr of Dunk]

I read that the Saudi security tagged a few of these goons as they were dumping the body. One of them was rumored to be the ringleader that orchestrated the beheading and declared it on the website. I don't know if it has been determined if he really was one of the ones they actually killed, though. Doesn't make up for the family's grief.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally posted by MR. MEOWGI
Please try to understand that the greatest war lies within your own mind.

What does this mean?

[MR. MEOWGI]

Originally posted by Mr. Clutch
What does this mean?

What is the color of wind? ;)

War and peace are both within us. One must first find peace within himself in oder to create peace in the world.