Another American civilian has been taken hostage in Iraq.

A US hostage in Iraq has appeared on a video tape urging his government to "open a dialogue with the Iraqi resistance" to save his life.

The hostage is believed to be Jeffrey Ake, a subcontractor who went missing on Monday, say US officials.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said they were working "very, very hard" to secure his release but they would not negotiate with his captors.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Unlike in previous videos of hostages, there was no banner giving the name of the kidnappers.

In the video, shown on al-Jazeera satellite television, the hostage sits behind a desk with three armed and masked men standing beside him.

He is holding up his passport and driver's licence.

(An old, old issue for this blog, and despite the attention and notoriety it brought here, I didn't shy away from it then, nor [as I explained] would I in the future.)

Dr. Rusty Shackleford and James Joyner have much more. Observes the former:

The demand is standard for these types of videos. However, what is new is the demand for dialogue between the U.S. and insurgents.

Could this be a further sign of the weakening of the insurgency?

Since there was no money demand mentioned, it also is very unlikely that those responsible for this kidnapping are financial opportunists. However, part of the deleted audio may have made a ransom demand.

Further, this is not the M.O. of the usual terrorist suspects. While I cannot say for certain, the video does not appear to show the banners of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq, The Army of Ansar al-Sunna, or The Islamic Army of Iraq.