Guardian journalist abducted in Baghdad

That single fact is starkly shocking. Of all of the newspapers to choose, the bad guys chose the al-Guardian, a paper that is renowned for being no friend to the coalition, that daily publishes articles that apologise for the horror and mayhem that's been inflicted on Iraq since the "illegal" invasion by the Brits and Americans.

As Steven Vincent (murdered journalist) reported in his book "The Red Zone":

"This is not mere semantics. The terms the media use to report on Iraq profoundly affect how Americans (could have substituted the word world here) perceive this conflict...words matter...England's Guardian newspaper, Seumas Milne, a bitter opponent of Iraq's liberation wrote, "It has become even clearer that they (the insurgents) are in fact a classic resistance movement with widespread support waging an increasingly successful guerrilla war against the occupying armies."

Maybe they've seen an opportunity to put their side of the case. To talk at length with the Guardian's Iraq correspondent, knowing that his employers are sympathetic to their cause and would welcome the world exclusive.

The alternative is that Rory Carroll merely represents an opportunity to commit another outrageous murder of a journalist, to send the message that journalists should not be reporting on what goes on, that they are taking their life in their hands by their very presence.

But if you've been reading Michael Yon's reports, this is all familiar ground. His last two posts had plenty about the dangers for journalists:

"Forget for a moment the lopsided expense versus returns ratio. The bullet holes in the hotel rooms and the picnic tables in the desert tell a back story about why so few journalists make the journey. All this, while knowing that insurgents have specifically targeted members of the media." October 13, 2005

"Journalists" are probably per capita at much greater risk in Iraq than even the soldiers. Journalists are regularly killed there." October 4, 2005

I hope he gets away safely.