[00.01 GMT] Kidnapping aiding insurgents? US death toll 2,260 (Albuquerque Tribune, NM, USA); Kidnapped Auckland man 'just wanted to make people safer' (New Zealand Herald, NZ); Paul Buchanan: The Politics of Cartoon Conflict (Scoop.co.nz, New Zealand) - an interesting perspective on the current crisis from Paul Buchanan, in the context of the wider political conflict. His polar pre- versus post-modern anaysis is as inadequate as that which it critiques (the so-called 'clash of civilisations'), however. John Gray's book Al Qaeda and What It Means to Be Modern is worth reading in this regard. Iraq: Children's mental health affected by insecurity, say specialists (Reuters); US Lawmakers Fear Lack of Progress on Iraq (Associated Press).