EUGENE ARMSTRONG

'Olin Eugene Armstrong, Jr.' (5 June 1953 - 20 September 2004) also known by his nickname "Jack", grew up in the south-central Michigan community of Hillsdale, where he lived until 1990.

Contents

Work in Iraq

Capture and murder

See also

Sources

Work in Iraq

Armstrong was an American contractor working in Iraq for the construction firm Gulf Energy Company of the United Arab Emirates.

Capture and murder

After being taken hostage, Armstrong was beheaded on 20 September 2004 by the Tawhid and Jihad militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is believed to have personally beheaded Armstrong. The following day, the group beheaded fellow American Jack Hensley, and threatened to kill their third hostage, Briton Kenneth Bigley (who was also later beheaded), unless the United States met their demands to free all women prisoners in Iraqi jails.
It took several minutes for Eugene Armstrong to be beheaded due to the use by his captors of a small knife. On holding up Armstrong's head to the camera, the captors yelled "Allah Akbar".
When footage of Armstrong's murder was posted on the internet, the host for the Tawhid and Jihad website, HostingAnime, defended its content citing "free speech".

See also

★ Daniel Pearl

★ Nick Berg

★ Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.

★ Kim Sun-il

★ Jack Hensley

★ Kenneth Bigley

★ 2003 invasion of Iraq

★ Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse

★ Human rights situation in post-Saddam Iraq

Sources

★ FACTBOX-Prominent kidnappings of foreigners in Iraq Accessed Sept. 5, 2007.