I'm John Batchler. Bill Rajo, my colleague is a senior fellow for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

He keeps the Long War Journal with his colleagues, one of whom joins us right now, Bridget Toomey,

watching two very dynamic stories that do not make the top of the headlines but are part of the

war in the Middle East, the wars in the Middle East. Bridget, a very good day to you.

I begin with the abduction kidnapping of Shelley Kittelson by Ketab Hezbollah. I recognize Ketab Hezbollah

as a major combatant organization with power all across Iraq, so much so that they challenged the United

States when we had bases in Jordan, I believe, and in parts of Syria. But now they've kidnapped

an American journalist. Why? Who is she? Where does she come from? Good evening to you, Bridgett.

Hi, John. You're absolutely right. Unfortunately, Katai Pesbella did

take an American citizen hostage. They kidnapped her from the streets of Baghdad.

She's from Wisconsin. She's been reporting on the Middle East for a long time now. She was in

Baghdad for a story. It looks like they are holding her, you know, as a negotiating tactic.

It seems they want to get some of their members freed from Iraqi prisons. This militia has also been

heavily involved in attacks on the U.S. presence in the region, in Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan recently. So they may be

anticipating more arrests coming, and they see, you know, having an American citizen as a prisoner

gives them some leverage when negotiating with the Iraqi government and with the United States.

Bill, you have a question.

Bridget, a long, long time ago, almost 20 years ago in 2000, early January 2007,

another Iraqi militia, Sibahak attacked the U.S. provincial joint coordination center in

Karbala and kidnapped five American soldiers.

They were later executed, but they were attempting to take them across the border into Iran.

Is there any indication that this journalist is being held in Iran?

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