is there something we should know?

First, CARE's Margaret Hassan is kidnapped and held hostage in Iraq, with her captors echoing a demand made after a previous kidnapping to release all of the female prisoners held by the American and associated forces and today, a Polish woman has been kidnapped and made a hostage in Iraq, with the same demand to release all female prisoners. This is three times in the last couple of weeks that the specific demand to release all female prisoners of the occupying forces has been made, and so far the Bush administration has insisted that there are no longer any Iraqi female prisoners being held anywhere. This makes no sense. The Zarqawi group and other groups involved in these kidnappings aren't stupid and it seems clear at this point that there is a clear purpose behind the demands to release females, even to the possibility that they know of and want the release of a specific woman or group of women that are being held incommunicado. With the record of secrecy and falsehood that the Bush crowd has, while I want to believe my own government, I'm having a hard time reconciling the glaring discrepancies inherent in this developing story.

Note to John Kerry - be careful what you wish for. If you win, you are going to be in for the most challenging task of your life.