The Sunday Paper Staff Blog

How many Americans are currently being held hostage in Mumbai? Good luck finding out. No one is reporting who the hostages are, how many there are, or where they are from. 

Al Jazeera's Arabic language website, not surprisingly, claims that the terrorists have about 20 hostages and that they are "mainly Americans" but Al Jazeera does not cite its source for the information. Instead, the network says simply, "This is what we have." 

 CNN, the BBC and Reuters all say that hostages are still being held at the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Trident Oberoi, without giving numbers or details, and they also say that the terrorists, apparently an Islamist group called the Deccan Mujhadeen, were looking specifically for Americans, Brits and Australians. Yet, no one has any numbers or details. How many hostages are there and where are they from? And why in God's name isn't the US even remotely curious about Americans being slaughtered in 5-star hotels? 

Bush and Obama are condemming the action, for whatever that's worth.

By the way, if you're planning to call the U.S. State Dept. to find out if your friend or loved one is one of those killed or captured, don't bother. You'll get a longwinded recording in a cheery upbeat voice that will instruct you to go to the Web site, then you'll get a 5-digit slate of options and finally a forward to the emergency line. 

Yes, I mean this one: "U.S. citizens concerned about the wellbeing of friends and family in India may call the following number for information: