Today is the deadline set by Islamic terrorists for the release of al-Qaeda prisoners in exchange for the release of American hostage Paul Johnson. Will it happen? The Saudis have expanded their search for him.

With helicopters flying overhead, thousands of Saudi police searched for American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr. on Friday, as a deadline loomed for the kingdom to release jailed al-Qaida suspects or see him killed. Police went through several Riyadh neighborhoods, even going door to door, but authorities acknowledged having few leads for finding Johnson, a Lockheed Martin employee who was kidnapped a week ago by a group calling itself al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Security forces expanded their searches later Friday to more suburbs of Riyadh, and police stopped cars at checkpoints throughout the capital.

Some Saudis are unsympathetic:

The organization that claimed the kidnapping is believed to be headed by Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, the top al-Qaida figure in Saudi Arabia.
People living in fundamentalist districts being searched in western and southern Riyadh suggested that the kidnappers enjoy popular support, partly because of U.S. policy in Iraq and America's perceived backing for Israel. "How can we inform on our brothers when we see all these pictures coming from Abu Ghraib and Rafah," Muklas Nawaf, a resident of Dhahar al-Budaih, said as he ate meat grilled on a spit at a restaurant called Jihad, Arabic for holy war.

At least one Saudi cleric is pleading for Johnson's return:

A top Saudi cleric, the preacher at the leading mosque in Riyadh, the Imam Sultana, implored the kidnappers to release Johnson in a column published Friday in Al-Riyadh newspaper. "O youth of the nation who have trodden the wrong path, come back to the fold of the community of Islam. Avoid this sedition and be obedient to the ruler of the Muslims," Sheik Mohammed bin Saad al-Saeed wrote.

There are few promising leads. Stay tuned.