"Fishy reports on Beheaded US Hostage - Johnson"

This was CNN's report: June 19, 2004
Al Qaeda militants kill American hostage
His body was found Friday in northern Riyadh soon after an Islamist Web site posted photographs of his decapitated body.
U.S. officials said the remains were "definitely" Johnson's.

Yahoo! News: Sun, Jun 20, 2004
Saudis Search for Slain Hostage's Body
Saudi officials had reported that Johnson's body was found Friday dumped on the northern outskirts of the capital, hours after his captors killed and decapitated him and posted Web photos of his severed head. But officials backtracked Saturday. "We haven't found the body yet," said Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah in Washington. "We think we know the area where it is."

Whose remains did US officials identify as "definitely" Johnson's?

Okay. In the article I posted below, you have al-Moqrin denying involvement in the latest beheading, but now it seems 'the head' of the cell that supposedly killed him left a note! Well I'm glad to see that's all cleared up now. This combined with the appearing and disappearing body (also below) tells me that SOMEBODY is seeing the p.r. value in beheading an American over there every now and then. One concrete result I have seen here in the U.S. is a a sudden rise in murders that feature beheadings...beheaded children, beheaded wives... - Rootsie.com

al-Qaida Head Justifies Targeting Johnson
www.guardian.co.uk
Al-Moqrin replied to critics urging the release of Johnson, saying: "Do those people want to see this infidel carry on the killing of the children and the raping of the women in Baghdad and Kabul?"

Al-Moqrin, believed to be the top al-Qaida figure in Saudi Arabia, was killed along with three other militants in a Riyadh gunbattle Friday night, hours after photos of Johnson's body and severed head were posted on Web site.

Replies: 3 Comments

Sunday, June 20th, kristine posted:

Is it that they lost the body? Forgot whom they told to dump it? And now it's riding around in the trunk of somebody's car? That, or they can't chance an autopsy?

Sunday, June 20th, News Update posted:

Saudi security forces helped kidnap the guy
Johnson's kidnappers had help from sympathizers within the Saudi security forces, according to an account of the operation posted by the al-Qaida cell on an Islamic extremist Web site Sunday. The sympathizers gave police uniforms to the militants, who then snatched the American engineer at a fake checkpoint in the city, the posting said.

Sunday, June 20th, Davy de Verteuil posted:

Whenever America gets caught/into trouble somebody (American) gets beheaded.
Hollywood/Penta-gone drama "memo" style. Or the kid-napped that escaped against all odds.