Posted on 09/20/2004 1:54:05 PM PDT by The_Republican
CAIRO, Egypt - A video posted Monday on a Web site showed the beheading of a man identified as American hostage Eugene Armstrong.
The militant group led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the slaying and said another hostage — either another American or a Briton held by the group — will be killed in 24 hours unless all Muslim women prisoners are released from U.S. military jails.
"You, sister, rejoice. God's soldiers are coming to get you out of your chains and restore your purity by returning you to your mother and father," said a militant reading a statement in the video.
In Washington, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Armstrong's body had been recovered, but the official would provide no information about where or when it had been recovered.
The taped beheading appears to be of Armstrong, but the CIA (news - web sites) is still reviewing the tape to be sure, the official said.
The 9-minute tape was posted on a Web site used by Islamic militants after a 48-hour deadline set earlier by the group for the beheading of the three employees of a construction company abducted Thursday in Baghdad — Armstrong, American Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley.
The tape showed a man seated on the floor, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands bound behind his back.
Five militants dressed in black stood behind the man, four of them armed with assault rifles, with a black Tawhid and Jihad banner on the wall behind them. The militant in the center read out a statement, as the hostage rocked back and forth and side to side where he sat.
After finishing the statement, the militant pulled a knife, rushed to the hostage from behind and cut his throat until the head was severed.
The victim gasped loudly as blood poured from his neck. His killer held up the head at one point, and placed the head on top of the body.
"The fate of the first infidel was cutting off the head before your eyes and ears. You have a 24-hour opportunity. Abide by our demand in full and release all the Muslim women, otherwise the head of the other will follow this one," the speaker said.
He appeared to indicate the hostages would be killed one at a time and did not specify whether Hensley or Bigley would be next.
The voice of the militant sounded like past recordings attributed to al-Zarqawi, whose Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for kidnapping Armstrong along with another American and a Briton.
The militants had demanded the release of female Iraqi prisoners detained by the U.S. military. The military says it is holding two women as security detainees in Iraq (news - web sites), including Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha, a scientist who became known as "Dr. Germ" for helping Iraq make weapons out of anthrax.
The militant on the video called President Bush (news - web sites) "a dog" and addressed him, saying, "Now, you have people who love death just like you love life. Killing for the sake of God is their best wish, getting to your soldiers and allies are their happiest moments, and cutting the heads of the criminal infidels is implementing the orders of our lord."
Armstrong grew up in Hillsdale, Mich., but left the area around 1990. His brother, Frank, still lives there. Armstrong's work in construction took him around the world; he lived in Thailand with his wife before going to Iraq.
The other American hostage, Jack Hensley, 48, made his home in Marietta, Ga., with his wife Patty and their 13-year-old daughter. Kidnapped with the Americans was Briton Kenneth Bigley, 62. All three worked for Gulf Services Co. of the United Arab Emirates.
Since when do these pus bags give a crap about their women.
Eff these savage pigs and thier pig god.
Let's just get the eff outta' there and let them fend for themselves.
I'm sick and freaking tired of defending our actions over there to the muzzies I work with. Give thier pile of sh*t country back to them, and let them fend for themselves.
My day was going great until I got on Drudge.
Can we make Mecca glow yet?
Beheading Video Of American Hostage Eugene Armstrong
So long as we treat Sunni Iraqis like the rest of Iraq, they will keep doing this. They will never like us...they NEED to fear us.
Life goes on. Let them kill themselves..the world is a better place WITHOUT the middle east.
When will we start deporting these freaks from the USA?
Zarqawi et al do not fear us bombing mosques, rounding up Muslims, or killing civilians-- they're hoping for it. What they fear is us doing exactly what we are doing-- building a democracy into the heart of their region, giving their women a chance to live freely, and giving their people a chance for a decent life.
may God have mercy on their souls; may their murderers burn in the most painful, God-forsaken, love empty hell in the universe.
These are evil men; they deliberately asked for something that could not be given them. There are no women in the prison, and they never gave a d*mn about any of their women except as an excuse for more violence.
May they be beheaded by their fellow Muslims; for all the pain and suffering they have caused, may their own people defile them and desecrate their graves as an example to others who would destroy life just for the sake of death...
I am just glad I am not the President. I would simply level the entire country and rebuild it. It would have democracy or else there would be nothing left of it. That would be my ultimatum for these so-called "freedom fighters". F**king thugs and cowards is more like it.
God bless our troops wherever they may be.
YAWN? !!! In case you missed it, one of fellow citizens was murdered like an animal and all you can say is, YAWN...Life goes on. Let them kill themselves....
I feel sorry for you.
No one is home and I just forced myself to watch this.
This is the first one I've ever seen.
Put this on American TV, and let our country decide.
THOSE BASTARDS!!!
"Put this on American TV, and let our country decide."
I agree...but the soccer moms and the metrosexual Kerry voter men will loose their lunch.
There is tape of our 9-11 war dead but no one is allowed to see it. That is a crime to me.
Our collective reaction is understandable, but we must take pause and question the timing of this thing.
What a perfect accent to John Kerry's words of earlier today.
It's like a joint effort to undermine US morale.
Kill these evil sons of filthy dogs! Level Falusa! Death to the scummy cult called islam!
Don't strain your ears listening for condemnation of this act of barbarism from the Muslim world. Islam is just Nazism by a different name. These Islamo-nazis must be destroyed utterly.
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