Earlier this week, we heard that RICHARD ENGEL, the NBC News' chief foreign correspondent, was missing in Syria.  Well, he's been found, and he's safe, now.  He was definitely NOT safe a few days ago.  As it turns out, Richard, his team, and some Syrian rebels had been KIDNAPPED by a government militia, and were held hostage by masked gunmen for several days.  Richard and his crew managed to escape, when the kidnappers got into a GUNFIGHT with some rebels.  Two of the kidnappers were killed, and they broke free, and were taken in by the rebels.

This WAS a very serious situation though.  At least one of the rebels who were abducted with Richard and his crew was EXECUTED in front of them.  They were also tortured psychologically.    Richard explained, "We weren’t physically beaten or tortured.  A lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed.  They made us choose which one of us would be shot first, and when we refused, they were mock shooting, they pretended to shoot Gazi [the cameraman] several times and when you're blindfolded and then they fired the gun up in the air.  It can be a very traumatic experience."

Richard and his crew were on the "Today" show yesterday to talk about the experience, which you can see here.  (You can also find video on the "Today" show's website.)

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