Kidnapped, Not Missing

As the Swords of Righteous Bridges (Go, Golden Gate! Slash that unrighteous Bay Bridge!) tell the world (once again) that they'll be bruttally murdering the four Christian Peacemaker Team members they've been holding hostage, word mangling is once again raising its ugly syntax.

Over at the Christian Peacemaker Team site you'll have trouble finding words like "hostage" or "kidnapped," at least in the context on their kidnapped team, which is being held hostage. No, the four workers are simply ...

missing.

It's the word used on CPT's homepage and it headlines the group's most recent press release.

They are not missing. We know what happened to them; there is no mystery, except for where they are. "Misplaced" would better describe their condition from a soft perspective.

They are abducted, a word CPT does use, and its a word of medium weight.

Their were also siezed at gunpoint and held hostage by terrorists demanding the release of terrorist and insurgent comrades. Strong connotation language like that is missing from CPT's vocabulary ... unless its used against American soldiers and their allies.

I have trouble with CPT's position of peace above righteousness, peace above freedom, peace above democracy. But that said, CPT is admirably sticking to its principles even under the pressure of the probable death of four of its team members at the hands of the terrorist thugs CPT favors in this conflict. The group continues to hold rallies for Iraqi detainees -- not their own detainees -- in a show of unyielding conviction.

It's unfortunate their conviction is misdirected in support of the bad guys.