IS THE BBC ENDANGERING SALAM PAX? Sounds like it.

I’m supposed to be on CNN later talking about warblogs, and I had talked them out of featuring Salam. Like it matters, when it’s been all over the BBC World Service, with lots of personal details. If he turns out to have been killed by Saddam’s goons, I’m going to very publicly blame the BBC.

UPDATE: A couple of people ask when I’m going to be on CNN. Looks like 12:15 EST, but there’s some sort of White House event that may kill it. Stay, er, tuned.

One person also asks why I’m slamming the BBC when I’ve linked to Salam myself. That’s a fair question. But what I haven’t done is release a lot of identifying details that have never been published online. The New Yorker did that, but took it off their website pretty quickly when people complained. Apparently, though, the BBC World Service — which is sure to be carefully monitored by whatever’s left of Iraqi intelligence services — repeated those details and maybe some more. My feelings on linking to Salam are that when you put stuff on the web, you expect for people to read it. He’s a big boy, and knows the risks better than we do. But putting up information that he hasn’t seen fit to make public seems to me to be crossing a line.