July 17, 2004

The gruesome beheading video of engineer Paul Johnson has finally surfaced on the Internet. (View an edited version of the video here . Caution: Extemely gruesome video.) While still pictures of Johnson after his decapitation have been available atradical Islamic sites such as www.hostinganime.com/neda3/sout/index.htm for some time, this video has just come to light. An individual using the name Abu Hajar writing on the "Its Happening" bulletin board (www.itshappening.com/showthread.php?t=50707) on July 17 posted a short note titled "Learn How to Behead Paul Johnson."

Hajar wrote (sic), "To the admin: i hope that you dont become frightened and remove the file." Hajar ended his post by writing, "Our deaths are in the paradise and their deaths are at the hell." Hajar's post was not well received on the "It's Happening" board, with a number of members responding with both threatening and profane posts. The link posted by Hajar, www.powow.com/coffeeshop22/nz.zip, takes viewers to the beheading of Johnson. The short video begins with chanting and then shows video of helicopters, interspersed with the rubble apparently following an explosion. The scene then shifts to a picture of Johnson sitting blindfolded with his mouth moving – possibly praying. Viewers then see Johnson's head being hacked off in fast movements. The killer then callously wipes the blood from his knife on Johnson's orange jump suit and places his head on his back.

According to international media, the video was titled "The Voice of Jihad: Get the infidels out of the Arabian Peninsula." Voice of Jihad is the name of a periodical issued on the Internet twice monthly by the al-Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia, which claimed responsibility for Johnson's killing. www.powow.com is a company offering free web pages. The Powow name is apparently registered to Inet-Traffic, Inc. FreeHomePages.Com, 1901 Harrison St.. 2nd Floor, Hollywood, FL 33020. A statement at the bottom of the Powow home page reads, "POWOW is not responsible for the content of any Personal Home Page, and the opinions and views expressed in the Home Pages do not necessarily reflect those of POWOW. The contents of the Personal Home Pages are not reviewed in any way before they appear in POWOW. If you would like software to control and limit access to Internet sites like this one from children in your household, then visit one of these sites for more information. POWOW conforms to the guide lines laid out by the below software manufacturers." However, the company's terms of service (www.freehomepages.com/terms.html) read, "The Member agrees that all info including but not limited to name, email, ip address, dates, times, files, etc. may be given to any law enforcement agency at any time at the sole discretion of FreeHomePages.com. This will be used in cases including, but not limited to, the uploading of child porn and/or terror material." A comment on the www.powow.com home page reads, "You can upload every kind of file as long as it's legal." Those people with questions are invited to write to mayor@freehomepages.com(operated by the same company). However, an e- mailed query to that address requesting a comment on the company's apparent hosting of the beheading video was not immediately answered. A message left at a number provided for contact information for freehomepages administration was not immediately returned either.

Inet-Traffic also operates a number of other sites that include www.cybamall.com/yourname, www.freehomepages.com/yourname, www.cybcity.com/yourname, www.haywired.com/yourname, www.homepagez.com/yourname, www.koolpages.com/yourname, www.oddworldz.com/yourname, www.pagerealm.com/yourname, www.pcpages.com/yourname. Kool Pages and Oddworldz have become well known names to terror trackers the past few months. Al Qaeda and terror groups routinely host sites on these pages. The site to which Johnson's beheading video is attached could best be described as a "non-site." It is called Coffee Shop 22 and reads (sic), "The reason i made this site is coffee-shop22. Some of my hobbies include: coffee-shop22. I really want: coffee-shop22. I really need: coffee-shop22. I dont care much for: coffee-shop22. Thanks for Visiting my site."

Jeremy Reynalds

He was honored with the prestigious Jefferson Award in 1994. Reynalds emigrated from England to the United States in 1978 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1999. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University, located in La Mirada, California, just outside Los Angeles.

He is also the author of two books and a contributor to a third, which deals with the media's images of the homeless. He may be reached by e-mail at jeremy@joyjunction.org.