Steven Vincent was the first American journalist killed in Iraq. The free-lance journalist and author from Manhattan writing about the rise of conservative Shiite Islam and the corruption of the Iraqi police was shot and killed last night in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Sources in Basra said Vincent and his translator, Noor al-Khal, had left the hotel about 7 p.m. last night to change U.S. dollars for Iraqi currency in a nearby currency exchange shop.

Unlike some foreign journalists, Vincent did not employ a bodyguard. But a number of other journalists, including several British journalists, have operated in Basra recently without bodyguards and without incident.

Witnesses who were interviewed by Iraqi journalists said Vincent and al-Khal lingered in the crowded street after leaving the shop. Suddenly, a pickup truck with Iraqi police markings pulled up and four masked men jumped out and grabbed the journalist and translator.

Vincent’s body, shot several times, was found this morning on the road to the airport north of Basra. Al-Khal was lying beside him, also shot but still alive. She is now in a hospital and sources in Basra said she apparently was left for dead.

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So much for the truth. I hope I don’t get shot