SanLuisObispo.com has quite a bit of detail on the video (another unreleased video – not the one above) and the men:
The video begins with a shot of the three with their hands cuffed in front of them, standing in a row against a backdrop of gold-colored drapes. The men identify themselves as John Young, 44, of Kansas City, Mo., Jonathan Cote, 23, of Gainesville, Fla., and Bert Nussbaumer, 25, of Vienna, Austria.
All three wear identical white short-sleeved undershirts, gray pajama-like pants and socks. The video shows all three men, then zooms in on each hostage’s face as he speaks.
Young, with a mustache and calm demeanor, blinks rapidly several times before beginning. He looks directly into the camera and gives his name, age and hometown.
“I work in private security in Iraq,” Young says. “I am asking the people of my country to please help me and my friends out of Iraq and to pressure the government to remove troops from Iraq.”
Next is Cote (pronounced “Ko-TAY”), who’s the only hostage with visible signs of injury. He has slight bruising and swelling around his nose and red splotches on his face. He speaks calmly.
“I work for a private security company,” Cote says. “I’m asking the American people to put pressure on the government to leave Iraq to help me and my friends get out of here.”
The last of the trio is the dark-haired Nussbaumer, who speaks with a thick accent and describes himself as an “Austrian citizen.” His voice is the least clear, but he appears to say, “I want you to get me and my friends out of Iraq.”
The video then cuts to a shot of a fourth hostage, who identifies himself as “Josh Munz, from California, USA.” He’s clean-shaven and doesn’t appear to be handcuffed. He also is dressed in nondescript pajama-style clothing and speaks before a white backdrop — not the same golden curtains as the previous scene.
“I was in the United States Marine Corps, in Haditha and Fallujah,” Munz says, referring to two predominantly Sunni Muslim towns where fighting has been fierce.
The clip then cuts to a similar white backdrop, but of a different material. The last man appears to be sitting down, though his legs aren’t visible. His hands aren’t cuffed.
The hostage identifies himself only as “Paul,” though it’s clear he’s Paul Reuben, a former Minnesota police officer whose family had previously released his name and photo. His twin, Patrick Reuben, said in an e-mail that the brothers had turned 40 on Nov. 24, eight days after the kidnapping. Paul Reuben alludes to his birthday in the video.
“I’m 39 years old, or 40; I’m not quite sure of today’s date,”he says. “I’m from Buffalo, Minnesota. I’m married. I have twin daughters — they’re 16 — and I have a stepson that’s 16.”
Reuben is dressed differently from the other hostages, wearing a dark-blue tracksuit with orange stripes along the shoulders. He grins nervously when he flubs a line at the end of his recorded statement.
Also Blogging:
The Jawa Report (H/T on the video)
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This video is different from the description given in the sanluisobispo.com report. That video was never released to the public, although the audio was. The Jawa Report has the transcript of the current video.