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Hey, did anyone else catch Steve Centanni last night? He was doing one of those half-hour live updates during the evening shows. He may have come back earlier, but that was the first time I've seen him since his kidnapping a few months ago. Glad to see him looking well, considering the alternative!

Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig framed by shadow of Adam Gadahn Last month, American al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn issued a “convert-to-Islam-or-die message to U.S. President George W. Bush, Daniel Pipes, Michael Scheuer, Steve Emerson and Robert Spencer. This attempt at forced conversion to Islam followed the “conversion” at gunpoint of the two kidnapped Fox News reporters Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig. What exactly was the significance of these events? On the one hand, these attempts at forced conversion were in clear continuity with Islam’s long history of calling people to convert before waging war on them. But how exactly...

This is one case where silence isn't golden and ignorance isn't bliss. They are dangerous and dumb It's not easy to be shocked by jihad these days, five years and numberless atrocities after the Twin Towers imploded on almost 3,000 fellow citizens. That said, I admit my own jihad-fatigue was broken — shattered, really — by the "conversion" to Islam of Fox journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig videotaped during their two-week ordeal as captives of Palestinians in Gaza. Why? Andrew G. Bostom, writing at Frontpage mag. tells us forced conversions to Islam "have been the norm, across three continents...

Did you see that video of the two Fox journalists announcing they'd converted to Islam? The larger problem, it seems to me, is that much of the rest of the Western media have also converted to Islam, and there seems to be no way to get them to convert back to journalism. Consider, for example, the bizarre behavior of Reuters, the once globally respected news agency now reduced to putting out laughably inept terrorist propaganda.

DUBAI - The militant Palestinian group which kidnapped and freed two Fox News Channel journalists last month vowed on Saturday to target all non-Muslims who enter the Palestinian territories. In a statement posted on the Internet, the Holy Jihad Brigades said all non-Muslim foreigners it captures could face death unless they convert to Islam or Muslim prisoners be freed in exchange for their release. “God ordered that we fight all infidels as they fight us all ... the blood of any infidel who comes to the land of Palestine has no sanctity,” said the group, unknown before the journalists’ kidnapping....

It's not easy to be shocked by jihad these days, five years and numberless atrocities after the Twin Towers imploded on some 3,000 fellow citizens. That said, I admit my own jihad-fatigue was broken, shattered, really, by the "conversion" to Islam of Fox journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig videotaped during their two-week ordeal as captives of Palestinians in Gaza.

August 28, 2006 | Episode #27Crisis in Iran and EgyptGlobal Crisis Watch calls Washington and Jerusalem, and tackles the involvement of al Qaeda in the Fox News kidnappings and Iranian sabre rattling with Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, author of "My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir," the empowerment of radicals in Egypt with Mike Muenier of the U.S. Copts Association, and the ideology taught to Iranian youths with Dr Arnon Groiss of the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace. Co-hosted with Nir Boms of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East and Leah Soibel of the Israel Project.Link: http://www.GlobalCrisisWatch.com/gcw/gcw_060828.mp3 29.5...

Two Fox News journalists were freed on Sunday in Gaza after a complex deal was hammered out between the kidnappers and the Hamas-led government of Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh. The negotiations brought an end to the two week long hostage ordeal, but it may complicate efforts to free another captive — Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit — held by Palestinian militants. In its broadcasts, Fox News often portayed the Hamas militants as terrorists, but the kidnapping of the two journalists, sources tell TIME, had nothing to do with Fox's perceived pro-Israel stance or a serious attempt, as the captors first demanded,...

On the face of it, conversion to Islam would appear to provide a painless escape device for any hostage who happens to fall into fundamentalist terrorist hands. After all, once free, the hostage can always revert to his real faith or non-faith. It is hard to blame the two Fox News journalists, the American Steve Centanni, 60, and the New Zealander, Olaf Wiig, 36, for taking that path on to buy their way out of an uncertain fate at the hands of Palestinian terrorists – especially as they later reported they were forced to make the gesture at gunpoint. And,...

Per Fox News

The kidnappers of the two Fox News journalists abducted in Gaza City on August 14 have promised to release them unharmed, Palestinian Authority officials said on Saturday night. According to the officials, the PA has managed to establish contact with the kidnappers, who promised to resolve the affair peacefully. PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he had personally received assurances from the kidnappers that the two, reporter Steve Centanni, from the US, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, from New Zealand, would be released unharmed and unconditionally. PA Interior Minister Said Siam, who is in charge of part of the PA security...

Today two groups of protesters are gathered outside the Prime Minister's Office. The Movement for Quality Government is demanding the establishment of an official commission of inquiry, headed by a Supreme Court justice to investigate the handling of the war in Lebanon. Down the road, IDF reservists are demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz resign. The critical question arising from the separate protests is whether or not the country's current political and military leadership are capable of drawing the proper lessons from the war. If Israel's...

Excerpt - The two Fox News employees kidnapped in the Gaza Strip recently are being held by one of Fatah's militias, Palestinian Authority security sources and Hamas activists told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. On Wednesday, a hitherto unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility for the abduction and demanded that Muslim prisoners in US jails be freed within 72 hours. The kidnappers released a video showing correspondent Steve Centanni of Washington DC and cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand dressed in training suits and sitting cross-legged on the floor inside a dark apartment. ~ snip ~...

The president spoke with UN SG Kofi Annan about the international force being assembled for Lebanon; the Iranian regime's statement on its nuclear program; and the need to improve the situation in Darfur. He attended a fundraiser for Senator George Allen, R-VA. President Bush met with Rockey Vaccarella, Louisiana victim of Hurricane Katrina, to discuss rebuilding efforts there.

Bob Laurence, TV critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune, sent a letter to Romenesko setting forth a couple of reasons for the scant coverage given to the kidnapping in Gaza of two Fox News journalists (via Michelle): ... Fox has deliberately set itself apart from other news media. Starting at the top with Roger Ailes, the Fox sales pitch has been to deride other media, to declare itself the one source of the real truth, the sole source of 'fair and accurate' news reporting. As a result, there's not a reservoir of kinship or good will with Fox on the part of the rest...

Gives 72 hour deadline to release all muslim prisoners.

Video of kidnapped journalists released A previously unknown Palestinian group released the first video Wednesday of two kidnapped Fox News journalists and demanded that Muslim prisoners in U.S. jails be released within 72 hours in exchange for the men, a Palestinian news agency reported. In the video, Steve Centanni, 60, of the San Francisco area, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, appeared to be in good health, seated on the floor in sweat suits against a black background. No armed men were shown. "Our captors are treating us well," Centanni said, adding that they had access to clean...

Family members of a Bay Area native and Fox News reporter kidnapped in the Gaza Strip are worried, but hopeful his abductors will release him. Steve Centanni, 60, and his cameraman, Olaf Wiig, were driving through the Palestinian territory Monday when unknown gunmen stopped and kidnapped them. Centanni graduated from Los Altos High in 1964 and worked for local radio stations and KRON-TV before joining Fox, said his brother, Ken Centanni, who lives in San Jose. Fox News representatives called Ken Centanni and another brother, Nicholas Centanni, of Los Gatos, early Monday to tell them of their brother's kidnapping. ``We...

Dear Lord, we come to you to pray for these two Fox journalists who have been reported to have been kidnapped in Gaza. We ask for their safe return, Lord, and for comfort for their families during this time. May those who perpetrated this crime release them without harm. For it is in Jesus' name that I pray these things, Amen.