[Anderson Cooper, Host, "anderson Cooper 360":] Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper. A grainy tape, impossible demands, an American's life hangs in the balance. 360 starts now. New video of Paul Johnson, the American hostage in Saudi Arabia. Terrorists say obey our demands, or Johnson will die. Handing over Saddam. The U.S. and Iraq debate who takes control of the captured dictator and when. The Peterson case heats up with a call to clear the courtroom. A request for a mistrial denied. And new details on Peterson's strange behavior. What to give the gung ho grad? How about a new pair of breasts. One mother's gift has critics crying foul. Will Americans watch "Sex and the City" without the sex? How the red-hot drama is getting cleaned up for cable. And grooving on God. Faith gets fashionable. Christian nightclubs, godly clothes. The Bible as a teen magazine? How far Americans are going keeping the faith.
[Announcer:] Live from the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
[Cooper:] Good evening. The clock is ticking on a death threat against the life of Paul Johnson, the American kidnapped in Saudi Arabia over the weekend. 72 hours. That is how long kidnappers say they will hold Johnson before killing him. The threat, along with demands, came on this four-and-a-half-minute videotape posted on the Internet just late this afternoon. The tape is grainy but the reality of its message very clear. CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports.
[Deborah Feyerick, Cnn Correspondent:] He is blindfolded, a tattoo prominent on his left arm. The captive saying he is missing American Paul Marshall Johnson.
[Paul Johnson, American Hostage:] Paul Marshall Johnson. I worked on Apache helicopters.
[Feyerick:] The 49-year-old New Jersey native works for defense contractor Lockheed Martin. He's an expert on Apache helicopters and night vision systems. His kidnappers claim to be the Saudi branch of Al Qaeda. A masked man holding an automatic weapon identifies himself as the group's military leader. He demands the release of, quote, all our prisoners in Saudi custody, and the withdrawal of all westerners from the Arabian peninsula. Otherwise, he says the kidnappers will kill Johnson within 72 hours, this Friday. Johnson's son, sister and mother remain secluded at an undisclosed location in New Jersey. Yellow ribbons and signs dotting the family's hometown. U.S. intelligence officials tell CNN the Web site where the video appears has been used in the past by Al Qaeda affiliates. An intelligence official says, quote, we take the warning seriously; U.S. policy is not to negotiate with terrorists. Anderson?
[Cooper:] It's just a sickening tape. He looks to be wearing bandages on the head, I think on the neck as well.
[Feyerick:] Exactly. I spoke to a counter-terror expert who says that the way the bandages are positioned over the eyes it's not clear whether in fact he's injured or whether in fact they're just making sure that he never sees the face of those who are holding him.
[Cooper:] All right. Just a horrible story. Deborah, thanks very much. Earlier I talked about the videotape and the efforts to find Johnson with Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah. There has been a demand made on this videotape released on the Internet for the Saudi government, your government, to release Al Qaeda hostages al Qaeda prisoners it is holding. Will you respond to that?
[Adel Al-jubeir, Foreign Affairs Adviser To Saudi Crown Prince:] Well, we are looking at the situation. We're assessing it. We're consulting with the U.S. because we're dealing with an American citizen. And then we will make decisions on what the next steps are. But our history has been one of not negotiating with terrorists.
[Cooper:] What do you know about this group that is holding Mr. Johnson?
[Al-jubeir:] If, in fact, it is the group that is headed by a person by the name of Al-Muqrin it is an Al Qaeda group in Saudi Arabia. He is currently their leader and he is on our most wanted list. They have been ruthless in terms of murdering innocent people on the streets. They've changed their tactics. But we're relentless in going after them.
[Cooper:] You said the policy of the Saudi government is not to negotiate with terrorists. In the incident in Khobar on May 29, there was some sort of negotiation, which allowed, I believe it was, three hostage takers to depart on their own. Have you been able to track them down? And why was a decision made to negotiate then?
[Al-jubeir:] But, Anderson, there was no decision made to negotiate with them then. The stories that came out saying this were erroneous. The security forces had three priorities. One, to secure the perimeter and evacuate all innocent people from the neighborhood. Number two was to look after the well-being of the hostages. And number three was to try to capture the terrorists. When they believed that the terrorists were about to begin killing the hostages, they stormed the building. The priority being to account for all the hostages. Three of the terrorists got away. Their ringleader was wounded and captured. There was no absolutely no there's no basis to the argument or the charge that Saudi Arabia in any way tacitly or directly negotiated with the terrorists. We don't do this. We haven't done that in all of our history and we don't intend to start now.
[Cooper:] Are Americans safe in Saudi Arabia?
[Al-jubeir:] I believe so. People have to make a decision on their own. But we believe so. We believe that we have the terrorists on the run. Yes, it is dangerous. Yes, it will continue to be dangerous. But we don't believe that it has reached a point where it is a crisis or where people should be evacuated. Keep in mind, Anderson, that in a county like Dade County, you have 200 homicides a year. And compare that to the number of people killed in all of the terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia over the last two years.
[Cooper:] Some other westerners in Saudi Arabia have been concerned about possible collusion between Saudi security forces and Al Qaeda groups. Do you believe Al Qaeda groups have made any sort of inroads into Saudi security forces?
[Al-jubeir:] Absolutely not. We don't see any evidence of that. If they had, they would be going after high value targets like military installations, like government buildings, and not after housing compounds where innocent people live.
[Cooper:] Adel Al-Jubeir, I appreciate you being on the program. Thank you.
[Al-jubeir:] You're most welcome.
[Cooper:] Turning to Iraq now. In just 15 days the handover of sovereignty, but the big question is what will happen to that country's former sovereign, Saddam Hussein. President Bush said today there can't be a risk that somehow Saddam would end up avoiding trial. He said Saddam won't be given to the Iraqi interim government until, and I quote, appropriate security is in place first. That changes what Iraq's interim prime minister said just yesterday, that Saddam would be transferred to Iraqi authorities in the next two weeks. With details on the president's concerns, here's CNN White House correspondent John King.
[John King, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] The president won't promise to immediately surrender custody of Saddam Hussein when the new Iraqi government assumes sovereign powers two weeks from now.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] We want to make sure that he is secure. He's a killer. He is a thug. He needs to be brought to trial.
[King:] Iraq's new leaders are already organizing a tribunal to hear allegations of mass murder, torture and corruption.
[Ghazi Al-yawar, Iraqi Interim President:] We have an excellent, credible judiciary system. We are different than him.
[King:] The former Iraqi president has been in U.S. custody for six months and the administration hopes to transfer him soon, believing a trial run by the new government could be a unifying force. But one White House worry is that Saddam loyalists might try to spring their former leader, and the administration has a legal justification ready if it decides to wait because of security concerns.
[Dan Senor, Coalition Provisional Authority Spokesman:] We also do not have to hand him over until there's a cessation of active hostilities. The repatriation doesn't begin until after that. Hostilities unfortunately continue.
[King:] A good deal of the violence is blamed on militias loyal to Muqtada Al-Sadr. This Pentagon document, two months ago, set kill or capture Al-Sadr as the mission for coalition forces. Mr. Bush now takes a much softer line.
[Bush:] The interim Iraqi government will deal with Al-Sadr. In the way they see fit. They're sovereign.
[King:] The president held out his guest, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, as an example to Iraq as it prepares to take the first steps out of military occupation. In the Rose Garden today the president also stood by a fresh assertion from Vice President Cheney that Saddam Hussein had, quote, long established ties to Al Qaeda. Most intelligence analysts say there's not much evidence to back up that claim. But the president cited the Baghdad-based operations of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and an alleged e-mail from Zarqawi to Al Qaeda intercepted by U.S. intelligence. The president said that's evidence enough for him. Anderson, this president's critics rush to note that e-mail was intercepted months after Saddam Hussein was knocked from power.
[Cooper:] John, this may not be a question you can answer, but is the White House concerned at all that the president went too far in the original statement basically saying that the U.S. was going to hunt and kill or kill or capture Muqtada Al-Sadr?
[King:] No, that was a Pentagon statement. Of course, it was backed up by the White House. The administration says that was the circumstances on the ground at the moment. There was not the plan in place to transfer sovereignty. I asked an official tonight, what if troops came in contact with Al-Sadr right now? The official said it would depend on what he was doing. If he was not doing anything provocative, there were not weapons involved, he would most likely be let go. They want to leave this problem for the new government to deal with.
[Cooper:] Fascinating what a couple of weeks difference makes. John King, thanks. Let's put a Saddam trial in perspective for a moment. If Saddam Hussein does go before a war crimes tribunal, he would be only the second former head of state to be tried for such crimes. Slobodan Milosevic was the first in 2001. He made his first appearance at the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague, accused of crimes against humanity, genocide. His trial still ongoing. General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, until recently, was considered medically unfit to stand trial for human rights abuses during his '73 to 1990 rule. But just last month, the Chilean court lifted his immunity, paving the way for a possible trial. Today's buzz is this. What do you think? Should the U.S. hand over Saddam Hussein to the Iraqis on June 30th? Log on to CNN.com360, cast your vote; results at the end of the program tonight. Shake, rattle and roll in southern California. That tops our look at what is happening right now cross-country. About 30 minutes ago, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Baja, California, Mexico, and was felt in San Diego. A local TV station there reports Sea World has been evacuated as a precaution. There are no reports of damage or injury. As we said this happened 30 minutes ago. We're following the story. Going to bring you any updates. In Washington tonight a new study says one in three Americans had no insurance during the last two years. The problem is especially acute among African-American and Hispanic families. Families USA, which is the group that did the study, they also say that Texas has almost 44 percent of its population under 65 with no health coverage. Indianapolis, Indiana, now; Baptists split. The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, is cutting its ties with the Baptist World Alliance. SBC leaders say the world body is becoming too liberal, accepting women as ministers and including gays and lesbians. Phoenix, Arizona, now. Hard time, part time. Country music singer Glen Campbell will serve ten nights in jail for DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. He's also on probation for two years. Not a major story, of course, but it does allow us to show what may be the best mug shot of the year. And Seattle, Washington, unlawful entry. A man robs a fast food outlet by crawling through the drive-in window with a gun. Take a look at that. He robbed the store and a customer, then he crawled right back out again. Police think he's also responsible for five other fast food robberies. Washington, D.C. Remember when the Agriculture Department called ketchup a fresh vegetable? Now you can have some fries with that. Those batter-coated fries now count as fresh vegetables, at least for inventory purposes, according to a new ruling by the agency. Mmmm, batter-coated fries. That's a quick look at stories cross-country for you tonight. "360" next, Michael Jackson's multimillion-dollar settlement. The pop star pays his first accuser big dollars to drop civil charges. Find out just how much he paid out. And will that be used against him this time around? We'll take a closer look. Plus, Scott Peterson's alibi. Police testify they noticed something fishy. Hear why they had their suspicions from the beginning. And keeping the faith. Religion getting hip, from nightclubs to rap music. Christianity goes pop. All that ahead. First your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com, right now.