kidnap: to seize and detain or carry away by unlawful force or fraud and often with a demand for ransom
capture1 : an act or instance of capturing: as a : an act of catching, winning, or gaining control by force, stratagem, or guile b : a move in a board game (as chess or checkers) that gains an opponent's piece c : the absorption by an atom, nucleus, or particle of a subatomic particle that often results in subsequent emission of radiation or in fission d : the act of recording in a permanent file <data capture>
2 : one that has been taken (as a prize ship)
Could be either word fits, couldn't it....
Until, of course, you read this which was said immediately after the seizure of the Israeli soldiers by the terrorist group Hezbollah:
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=16950
Meanwhile, Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, warned that two Israeli soldiers captured by his fighters will only be returned through a prisoner swap. "I thank our fighters, I kiss their forheads and hands," he said, adding: "This is the only available way to release (Lebanese prisoners in Israel).
The Israelis always first say they do not wish to negotiate, but eventually they accept."
First Published 2006-07-12, Last Updated 2006-07-12 16:56:04[
The word "captured" implies prisoners of war caught on a field of battle by an opposing army - which is not what happens when two soldiers are taken from their own country during a terrorist raid which killed eight other soldiers and are then taken, by force and against their will, across their own border by the aforementioned terrorist group with the vocalized intention of being used as negotiating tools.
Only a recognized army has the right to "capture" and hold prisoners-of-war - and only in a recognized war - a terrorist group making a raid in the dead of night by sneaking into another country for the second time in weeks with the express purpose of causing harm and claiming captives as barginning chips does not qualify.
Words - words words words words words........gotta love 'em and their unending twisting possibilities. Perhaps the pen really is mightier than the sword. Doesn't matter - much as I love words and their endless meanings - and as much as I abhor violence - were I forcibly removed from my own county against my will and held prisoner by a terrorist group who had publically sworn to remove anyone of my ilk from the face of the earth, I'd much prefer the men with swords to the men with pens to be the ones coming to my rescue.
[This message has been edited by Lo (edited July 28, 2006).]