BAGHDAD — Journalist Steven Vincent collected facts for his stories from the streets of Basra, not from official statements. But he knew that the streets of Iraq's second-largest city were becoming increasingly unsafe for him.
"This is not the easygoing municipality of 1.5 million people I recall," he wrote in a June 9 article for National Review Online. "For one thing, I can no longer wander the streets, take a cab or dine in restaurants for fear of being spotted as a foreigner: Kidnapping, by criminal gangs or terrorists, remains a lucrative business."
Still, Vincent persisted, on a personal mission to uncover the dark political underbelly of Basra. He wrote about it, and some think it may have cost him his life.
The 49-year-old former arts writer was abducted Tuesday night from a downtown Basra street along with Nour al Khal, an Iraqi woman who was his longtime assistant and interpreter. Vincent's body was discovered before dawn, hands bound and shot five times; Khal is being treated for multiple gunshot wounds in a Basra hospital.
Dozens of foreign journalists have been abducted or killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to oust President Saddam Hussein. But Vincent's death has new, disturbing implications; he may not have been killed because he was an American or a journalist. He may have been targeted because he was uncovering alleged corruption and influence-peddling in the city's political, security and religious leadership.
Multiple witnesses attest that Vincent and Khal were abducted by men who appeared to be driving police vehicles.
One witness, who refused to give his name, said he recognized one of the abductors as an Interior Ministry employee.
"The man also recognized me, after I saluted him," the witness said. "He said to me: 'Do not interfere! It is our duty.' "
Vincent, a native of San Jose and a longtime New York City resident, was a freelance writer. He had spent several months in Basra working on a book while filing stories for the Christian Science Monitor and the National Review as well as posting on his Web blog, www.redzoneblog.com.
Vincent and his wife, Lisa Ramaci-Vincent, were well regarded in their neighborhood in Manhattan's Alphabet City, said Joe Evans, a longtime neighbor.
Evans, who has lived in the apartment building for 20 years, said that he and the Vincents and other pioneering types took over the abandoned six-story building, which had only two electric lights and no bathrooms. They worked long hours to rehabilitate it, with loans from public agencies.
