A message from the editor

It's been a strange week.

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, at around noon, the Mirror got word from Jonathan Steele, one of the world's best war correspondents, that our freelancer Ken Hechtman, one of the world's oddest war correspondents, had been captured in the Afghanistan border town of Spin Boldak.

After that, chaos. Aside from being intensely concerned about Ken's safety, we also tried to handle, as best we could, the media bombardment and, at the same time, work with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Reporters Sans Frontières to do whatever we could to help secure Ken's release.

And, finally, on Saturday morning, Ken was released, thanks primarily to a top-notch job by Canadian diplomats based in Pakistan, in particular two on-the-ground guys named Paul Gareau and Phillippe de Varennes. With relief, we held an impromptu press conference on Saturday afternoon in the lobby of our office, with Ken's even-more-relieved parents.

Since then, we have fielded many questions about Ken's experience, and many questions about what he, and the Mirror, were hoping to accomplish. So, in an attempt to set our side of the story straight, here's a recap.

Ken, who has long held an interest in Afghanistan, had decided that he was going to go to the region no matter what. Put simply, it was something he felt he had to do. He approached us with the idea of filing reports, and, after several meetings, we told him to send in a story once he got there. With a degree of skepticism, we told him we'd print it if it was good.

Well, Ken filed his first dispatch for our Oct. 18 issue, and it was good. So we ran it, and then five more. Partly because he wasn't a member of the media pool, and mainly because his prime interest lay in exposing a different side of the war, his reports, though written with humour, offered a distinct and valuable perspective.

Ken, as he is the first to admit, was not a professional journalist when he left, and many of our critics will argue that after filing reports for the Mirror, he is still not a professional journalist. From our point of view, one thing is certain: Ken is an intelligent, resourceful character, with a long activist past and a stubborn desire to get to the truth. Our kind of guy. I would also say that, judging from the tremendous response we received from our readers, he was providing information that people are desperate to know.

We stand by his stories, and invite you to read, or reread, them for yourself at www.montrealmirror.com. This week, on page 12, you will find his most recent report, written after his release and filed to us and www.straightgoods.com. For Guardian reporter Jonathan Steele's account of the events, search "From rookie reporter to Taliban prisoner," Dec.3.

Finally, in response to the numerous queries we have been receiving, we are not presently looking for a war correspondent.

--Alastair Sutherland, Editor