Even Hostage Takers Like Roma football

According to the Italian reporter's account, her captors were struck by the concern of an Italian soccer star with the kidnapping:

Then an almost funny incident. One of the two captors came to me surprised both because the TV was showing big posters of me in European cities and also for Totti. Yes Totti. He declared he was a fan of the Roma soccer team and he was shocked that his favorite player went to play with the writing "Liberate Giuliana" on his T-shirt.

The national concern over the fate of Giuliana--with her photo draped from the Rome City Hall--is, to use a soccer-metaphor, striking. And especially notable given the 1,500 American soldiers who have now given their lives in Iraq--with national attention occupied instead with Martha and Michael.