This looks grim to me. (Al Qaida's demons have released video of the captured American Paul Johnson, showing him in a very tormented state, clearly being threatened by a horrible death.) Picture here.

I suspect there's another Islamist snuff film coming. (Take a look at this site.)

Sickeningly familiar pattern:

"My name is Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.," the seated hostage says in the tape, an elaborate tattoo on his left shoulder. "I am an American. ... I work on Apache helicopters."

Bastards.

While I don't know whether they've killed Mr. Johnson, I think it's important that Americans see the nature of the enemy to the extent they can stand it, and therefore (as I did with the Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg videos) I am making the video of this sickening incident (what the enemies have released so far) available for downloading here.

NOTE: Please be patient, as it took me some time to upload the video -- which is in the form of a zip file. (If it doesn't work, try later.)

UPDATE: The video (which is in Real Audio) can also be streamed here.

MORE: Notwithstanding worldwide reports like this calling the al Qaida hostage takers terrorists, today's Philadelphia Inquirer nonetheless describes them as "extremists."

Does that mean we should declare war on extremism?

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds links to a fascinating story about things you won't see:

June 16, 2004 -- THE video only lasts four minutes or so — gruesome scenes of torture from the days when Saddam Hussein's thugs ruled Abu Ghraib prison. I couldn't bear to watch, so I walked out until it was over.

Some who stayed wished they hadn't. They told of savage scenes of decapitation, fingers chopped off one by one, tongues hacked out with a razor blade — all while victims shriek in pain and the thugs chant Saddam's praises.

Saddam's henchmen took the videos as newsreels to document their deeds in honor of their leader.

But these awful images didn't show up on American TV news.

In fact, just four or five reporters showed up for the screening at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, which says it got the video via the Pentagon. Fewer wrote about it.

No surprise, since no newscast would air the videos of Nick Berg and Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl getting decapitated, or of U.S. contractors in Fallujah getting torn limb from limb by al Qaeda operatives.

But every TV network has endlessly shown photos of the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib. Why?

MORE: The terrorists' web site has been shut down, with the following explanation:

This site has currently been removed for violating our TOS/AUP

We have received a lot of emails from viewers, concerned with the nature of content in which we host. We would like to inform you all, that HostingAnime does not support terrorism or attacks against our Country/Soldiers in anyway, shape or form..

"The Fallujah Brigade has killed the director of this team and kidnapped one of its engineers, Paul Johnson, and if the tyrannical Saudi government wants their American master to be released, then they have to release our holy warriors that are held in Ha'ir, Ruweis and Alisha prisons within 72 hours of this statement's date."

Jacobs was shot dead last week near his home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He worked for the Vinnell Corp, which trains the Saudi National Guard.

The killers -- there are two -- chase Jacobs, who screams, "Wait, wait! No, no!"

He is then shot several times in the head.

At least three casually dressed men were involved. One who isn't seen firing shots at Jacobs appears in the next video sequence. It looks like he's cutting Jacobs' throat.

No gore, like the beheadings of Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg. The only similarities are these: All three killings were videotaped, and all three men were Jewish. The latest video even describes the victim as "American Jew Robert Jacobs, who worked for the spy group Vinnell."

The videotape (a Real media file) can be found here. It begins and ends with the expected propaganda. It also deserves your thought. The same alleged Qaeda cell that claims Jacobs as a trophy also says it has kidnapped another American in Riyadh -- all part of a campaign to drive infidels from their land.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Wednesday the Saudis were "paying a price for funding organizations that carry on active terror around the world.''

"The Saudis for years had some kind of a tacit agreement with the al-Qaida and other terrorists that they would not carry out acts of terror within Saudi Arabia in return for a wink and a nod on the part of Saudis about a lot of their activities,'' McCain said on NBC's "Today'" show.

Why not a Hashemite restoration?

Must we continue to support a dysfunctional regime which deliberately lets terrorists escape?

UPDATE: Stephen Green suspects that Paul Johnson is already dead, and his argument makes a lot of sense. Why should terrorists bother keeping the guy alive and making demands they know are sure not to be met?

If he is dead, it's one way to buy time while Saudi authorities search for them in the futile hope of saving Paul Johnson. The terrorists might not even be in Saudi Arabia right now.....

More from Kevin Aylward, and from Joe Gandelman.

Might the terrorists think that this new tactic -- releasing a video of an about-to-be-killed hostage coupled with demands -- is a good way to persuade Americans of anything? I certainly hope that Paul Johnson is still alive, but I can't see how any of this would soften our resolve. If anything, it might intensify it. If they seriously believe that Americans will now want to "reason" with them, they're more deluded than I thought.

MORE: The horrific Iraqi torture video mentioned above has been available (for downloading) by Stephen Green and is also available at the American Enterprise Institute's site. (Via Stephen Green.)

UPDATE (6-18-04): I just heard the news that Paul Johnson's captors have announced his beheading, and have released photos on the Internet.