We now know the name of the American female journalist that was taken hostage in Iraq Saturday. Jill Carroll, a free-lance journalist who has been working for the Christian Science Monitor since February of 2005, had also worked for the Italian news agency ANSA, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other US dailies. “She had previously worked as a reporter for The Jordan Times in Amman after graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.” source

… according to World News Editor David Clark Scott, “She has proved an insightful, resourceful, and courageous reporter,” he said. “But Jill is not the kind of person to take undue risks.”
…
One of the kidnappers pulled the driver from the car, jumped in, and drove away with several others huddled around Carroll and her interpreter, said the driver, who asked not to be identified. “They didn’t give me any time to even put the car in neutral,” he recounted.

The body of the interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, 32, was later found in the same neighborhood. He had been shot twice in the head, law enforcement officials said. There has been no word yet on Carroll’s whereabouts.
…
The kidnapping occurred within 300 yards of the office of Adnan al-Dulaimi, a prominent Sunni politician, whom Carroll had been intending to interview at 10 a.m. Saturday local time, the driver said.

Mr. Dulaimi, however, turned out not to be at his office, and after 25 minutes, Carroll and her interpreter left. Their car was stopped as she drove away. “It was very obvious this was by design,” said the driver. “The whole operation took no more than a quarter of a minute. It was very highly organized. It was a setup, a perfect ambush.”
…
Carroll’s relatives also pleaded for her release, urging her captors to “consider the work she has done to reveal the truth about the Iraq war.”