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[seemslikeadream]

Saudi Victims Had Military Link
3 Americans Kidnapped or Killed Were Singled Out as Contractors, Officials Say
By Craig Whitlock and Renae Merle
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 14, 2004; Page A12


LONDON, June 13 -- The three Americans killed or kidnapped by Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia in the past week were likely selected as targets many days or weeks in advance and singled out because of their work as military contractors, U.S. and Saudi officials said Sunday.



Authorities continued to search for the kidnapped American, Paul M. Johnson Jr., 55, an employee of Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp., whose family reported Saturday that he had vanished in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

A group calling itself Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement Saturday saying it had captured Johnson and would treat him in the same way that U.S. troops treated Iraqi detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad and the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

Although Johnson was employed by Lockheed Martin, the telephone number on his business card indicated that he worked at the Riyadh headquarters of Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi technology firm that manages a number of defense contracts for the Saudi government.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38241-2004Jun13.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. U.S. Engineer Kidnapped in Saudi Arabia, Says Embassy (Update4)

Companies

BAE Systems Plc today joined other Western companies such as HSBC Holdings Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Group in offering to help the families of foreign staff in Saudi Arabia to leave. Ericsson AB has also offered to help relocate dependents.

The kidnappers threatened in a statement on an Islamic Web site to ``treat the hostage as the Americans treated the prisoners of Abu Ghraib,'' said U.S. embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin, in a reference to the Iraqi prison where some U.S. soldiers abused detainees.

Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, in a statement posted under the name of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vance Coffman and President Robert Stevens, said ``the full attention and resources of this corporation are committed to support efforts to secure Paul's safe return.''

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http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aDWR1cPfjbgo&refer=us