President Calls Contractor Murder Enemy's 'Evil Nature'

DoD-AFPS ^ | June 18, 2004 | Gerry J. Gilmore

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

President Calls Contractor Murder Enemy's 'Evil Nature'

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2004 – President Bush today called the reported murder of a U.S. civilian contractor working in Saudi Arabia "the evil nature of the enemy we face."

Paul M. Johnson Jr., 49, who worked for Lockheed Martin as an engineer specializing in Apache helicopter systems, was kidnapped June 12. U.S. officials confirmed that Johnson's body was found today near the Saudi capital city of Riyadh.

Reports say the contractor had been beheaded.

In Washington State this afternoon after an earlier visit with soldiers at Fort Lewis, Bush offered his condolences to Johnson's family.

"The murder of Paul shows the evil nature of the enemy we face -- these are barbaric people," Bush said.

"There's no justification, whatsoever" for Johnson's murder he emphasized, adding, "they killed him in cold blood."

It's imperative, Bush declared, to pursue terrorists and bring them to justice "before they hurt other Americans."

Through acts like Johnson's killing, terrorists "are trying to shake our will and get us to retreat from the world," Bush pointed out.

"America will not retreat," the president vowed. "America will not be intimidated."

On June 15 Johnson's captors -- who claimed to be associated with al Qaeda -- reportedly had given a 72-hour ultimatum to Saudi authorities to release political prisoners. The contractor would die, the terrorists promised, if their demands weren't met. Both the American and Saudi governments have pledged not to negotiate with terrorists.

Due to increased terrorist actions in the Saudi kingdom in recent weeks, the U.S. State Department has recommended that Americans living in Saudi Arabia leave that country.

About 30,000 Americans live in Saudi Arabia.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

[RightWhale]

the evil nature of the enemy

Some people don't like that word, and it is hard to define evil, but we know it when we see it and this was evil.

[tiamat]

Dubya's right.

It was Evil, pure and simple.

[Freesofar]

I just heard on the radio news that the Saudis killed the evildoer Al Quedamonster who took responsibility

[alpha-8-25-02]

would you rather have panties on your head or have your head cut off.
God be with his family
i'm very tired of the msm.

[don-o]

Have we finally got past that "Islam is a religion of peace" nonsense?

[SE Mom]

Sorry to go a bit off-topic...but here's one of the definitions of evil I like best:

At a certain college there was a professor with a reputation for being tough on sudents with faith in God. At the beginning of each semester he'd ask if there were any "believers" in the class. If there were, he'd mock and denigrate their faith.

One young man raised his hand in answer to the professor's question, and the professor asked him if God made everything. The young man replied "Yes" to which the professor said "If God made everything- he made evil" to which the young man had no reply.

Another fellow raised his hand and asked the professor, "Sir, is there such a thing as cold"?

The professor replied "Of course there is such a thing as cold- what sort of question is that?"

The young man replied, "Actually, sir, cold doesn't exist. What we consider to be cold, is really an absence of heat. Absolute zero is when there is absolutely no heat. but cold does not really exist. We have only created that term to describe how we feel when heat is not there."

The young man continued, Sir, is there such a thing as dark?" Once again the professor responded, "Of course there is."And once again, the student replied, "Actually, sir, darkness doesn't exist. Darkness is really only the absence of light. Darkness is only a term developed to describe what happens when there's no light present."

Finally, the young man asked, "Sir, is there such a thing as evil?" The professor responded, "Of course, we have rapes, murders and violence everywhere in the world, Those thing are evil."

The student replied, "Actually, sir, evil does not exist. Evil is simply the absence of God. Evil is a term developed to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. It isn't like truth, or love which exist as virtues like heat or light. Evil is simply the state where God is not present, like cold without heat, or darkness without light."

The professor...had no reply.

[RightWhale]

Little known fact: Rods and cones in the eye respond to light, two kinds of eye sensors, but frogs have five sensors and kind one responds to dark.

[Deo volente]

"It's imperative, Bush declared, to pursue terrorists and bring them to justice "before they hurt other Americans."




This is a sure-fire way to lose the War on Terror.
With every terrorist that we "bring to justice", ten more will come forward to take his place

What is needed is something along the lines of a nuclear strike on Mecca and Medina. That would be a good start to a real War on Terror. Followed by the immediate rounding up and interrogation of all young Muslim men in our country, and incarceration of those suspected to have ANY ties to terrorism.

And then, close the borders. Nobody allowed into the country with passports from any state identified as supporting terrorism.

The president should then announce to the world that any attack on our country this summer will result in nuclear retaliation on any state found to be involved in any way.

Politcal correctness and "toleration" be damned.
We are in a war for our very survival, and the enemy is relentless.

[RightWhale]

or one kind responds to dark. Sorry, been trying to translate some German and my word order sense is kind of numb.

[DannyTN]

I think Augustine defined evil as the "absence of good".

But some evil seems to be more than mere "absense of good", because when sentient beings have an absence of good, they have the ability to act in no good ways, thus spreading evil.

Kind of like a cold spot can contaminate other areas by drawing their heat away or a dark wall can diminish a room by absorbing the light.

Of course we are to overcome evil with good. So we must find the evil and combat it with good, filling souls with goodness and driving the absense of good away.

[whadizit]

"America will not retreat."

Duh...is that the toughest talk you can conjure up, W?

Why not: "We are now taking the gloves off! The political solutions we settled for in Iraq letting the terrorists off the hook have NOW COME TO AN END!! We are no longer a kinder and gentler military...we will not only destroy the actual thugs who did these beheadings and other killings...but we will destroy ANY GOVERNMENT THAT OFFERS SAFE HAVEN FOR THESE TERRORIST THUGS!!"

[pttttt]

Nobody allowed into the country with passports from any state identified as supporting terrorism.

One of those would have to be Saudi Arabia. They provide a refuge and support for terrorists. They "found" and supposedly killed the Al Qaeda punk real quick when the heat was turned up after the beheading. They had to have known where he was all the time.

[whadizit]

"...and ANY INDIVIDUALS WHO PROTECT THEM. Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and N. Korea...you are now ON ALERT!"

Unfortunately, we do not have the numbers in military to fight on more fronts...what to do about that? Draft? W should go to Congress and they should formally declare WAR!!!!

[whadizit]

"They had to have know where he was all the time."

I agree!

[Deo volente]

Unfortunately, because of our insatiable thirst for cheap oil (no longer so cheap!), we will probably continue to prop up the Saudi royal family and treat them with kid gloves.

[olde north church]

I would imagine the call went out from Washington, you can clean your house or we can clean your house. It will be blood for oil, your blood, now our oil.

[Happy2BMe]

Sorry - Bush could have done much better in nailing the curse of the wormwood here - Islam.

He sidesteps it EVERY SINGLE TIME!