Iraq hits close

Just received an email from some friends that a fel­low jour­nal­ist we know, Micah Garen, is in seri­ous trou­ble. When I learned the kind of trou­ble he’s in, I was shocked as it turns out that Micah has been kid­napped by armed insur­gent in Iraq and could pos­si­bly be their next victim.

I worked with Micah at Earth­web in the mid-90s. He’s a really nice guy and a great jour­nal­ist. Not only that, but he’s also a great devel­oper, who helped us launched the ini­tial push chan­nel for the developer.com net­work, back in 1997. Please help spread the word about this.…

Update

Beyond spread­ing the word, you should also try to call your elected rep­re­sen­ta­tives to voice your con­cern on this. Ask them to con­tact Jenny Fu at the State Depart­ment. She’s the one mon­i­tor­ing the situation.

Update 2

Aus­tralian News reports that Moq­tada al-Sadr is inter­ven­ing. Let’s keep our fin­gers crossed.

Update 3

The Asso­ci­ated Press reports that the mil­i­tants have promised to release him today (08/20/04).

Update 4

The Asso­ci­ated Press reports that kid­nap­pers have lifted their death threats (08/21/04).

Update 5 (Final)

Micah has been released! Score +1 for the good guys… and here’s to hop­ing other kid­nappees will be released soon. (08/22/04)