Saudi Letter Pleads for the life of the American Hostage

It appears that a Saudi is pleading, in a letter, for the life of the American hostage. The letter declares muslim protection for Paul Johnson's life and is signed with the pseudonym Saad al-Mu'men, or Saad The Believer.

However, who exactly is pleading depends on your slant on the Iraqi situation. While CNN refers to an interview on Al Arabiya news channel's Web site and describes the letter's author as a "friend", Aljazeera describes the letter writer, and indeed the entire letter, as a "mystery."

(CNN) -- A Saudi colleague of abducted U.S. citizen Paul Johnson Jr. urged kidnappers Thursday to free the hostage, arguing that the victim is under his protection as a Muslim and killing him would break Islamic law.
www.cnn.com...

(Aljazeera) -- A mystery letter signed by "The Believer" urges militants to free the American hostage, Paul Johnson, saying killing him violates Islamic law.
www.aljazeera.com...

If the kidnappers were smart they'd release this guy unharmed and they would win HUGE points in the public opinion polls. OR worse. Release him to Jessie Jackson. Do that if you want to get at George Bush. lol. Seriously though. Releasing this guy would do far more for their cause than killing him. Just my opinion.

Good point Indy.

Indeed, releasing the hostage may serve the kidnappers alot more than if they followed the protocol established (i.e. murdering the hostage, video recording of the murder, distribution of video) by previous kidnappings.

Which then begs the question, are we giving the kidnappers more credit (in terms of their strategic thinking) than they deserve?

Well, it appears the pleading did not help this time...
We are giving them too much credit, I believe...
-dnnx