WASHINGTON, DC –United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg made the following statement today on the murder of Paul Johnson Jr.:
"I want to express my deepest sorrow and condolences to the Johnson family. All of New Jersey and America is shocked by Paul Johnson Jr.'s brutal murder and we grieve alongside his friends and family. Mr. Johnson was not only an innocent man, but he was also an ambassador of goodwill who had made many Arab and Muslim friends in his ten years working and residing in Saudi Arabia.The depravity of this act must be a call to all countries to band together to find and eliminate terrorists and their supporters wherever they hide or find refuge. We must force all nations to confront and reject the growing wave of hatred that is being bred against the West in the Middle East and in other parts of the world.
The Saudi Arabian government has shown too much patience for these terrorist cells and the ideologies of hate they preach. The United States will no longer tolerate Saudi neglect of the extremists and terrorists who live and thrive in the Kingdom. All further relations with Saudi Arabia must be entirely contingent on the Kingdom's progress cracking down, reigning in and snuffing out its terrorist problem. Deeds -- not words -- must be the benchmark of Saudi progress in solving the terrorist problem that threatens its society as much as it threatens our own."
