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[Pilot in Command]

They beheaded Mr. Johnson. Here it is:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/18/saudi.kidnap/index.html

Here's the latest Warden Message (posted today):

http://usembassy.state.gov/riyadh/wwwhsc16.html

[johnslat]

The State Department seems to be sending out mixed messages:

1. "The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens to defer travel to Saudi Arabia. Private American citizens currently in Saudi Arabia are strongly urged to depart. On April 14, 2004, due to security concerns, the Department of State ordered the departure of family members and non-emergency employees of the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Saudi Arabia."

2. "Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said on Friday he hoped foreigners would stay in Saudi Arabia because their departure would be a victory for the kind of people who beheaded kidnapped American Paul Johnson.
Powell's remarks in an interview on the Radio America network flew in the face of the advice of his own department, which "strongly urges" Americans to abandon the world's largest oil exporter because of the threat of kidnappings, suicide bombings and other attacks on Westerners.
"If they leave, then the terrorists have won," Powell said in the interview shortly after news of Johnson's death in Riyadh.
"And I don't think either the Saudis, the Americans or these brave folks who work in Saudi Arabia want the terrorists to win."
Powell said oil companies operating in the kingdom were bolstering their security and intelligence was being gathered on militants, which should reassure foreign oil workers.
"The people who are there have a pretty good understanding of the risks they are taking being there. And they tend to be sort of wildcatting kinds of folks in the oil industry," he said.
Hours earlier the State Department extended its warning about possible al Qaeda attacks against Westerners and oil workers in Saudi Arabia to the entire Gulf region. "

Rather confusing, isn't it? Do they want people to leave or to stay? Hey, here's an idea - why don't Powell, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rove, Wolfowitz, Pearle and all the other movers and shakers lead the way? Why don't they all relocate to the Kingdom (with their wives and families), wave the flag and draw a line in the sand?
Regards,
John

[Cleopatra]

I would say that Bush, Cheney et al are about as likely to take up residence in KSA - despite their affectionate friendships with certainly highly placed Saudis - as they are to put themselves in the firing line in Iraq-nam.

However, given W's condemnation of the Spanish people for their democratic election of a government which fulfilled its promise of withdrawing from a war they had never wanted in the first place, I hardly think he has any option other than to tell "his" people not to "give in" to turrists.