Posted on 03/30/2006 3:33:00 AM PST by xcamel
Breaking - Jill Carrol released in Iraq - more to come
Thank you.
By MARIAM FAM 14 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Kidnapped U.S. reporter Jill Carroll has been released after nearly three months in captivity,
Iraq police and the leader of the Islamic Party said Thursday. She was reported in good condition.
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Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped on Jan. 7, in Baghdad's western Adil neighborhood while going to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her translator was killed in the attack about 300 yards from al-Dulaimi's office.
"She was released this morning, she's talked to her father and she's fine," said David Cook, Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor.
Police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said was handed over to the Iraqi Islamic Party office in Amiriya, western Baghdad, by an unknown group. She was later turned over to the Americans and was believed to be in the heavily fortified Green Zone, he said.
Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn't happen. The date came and went with no word about her welfare.
The United States Embassy in Baghdad said it could not confirm Carroll's release.
On Feb. 28, Iraq's Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said Carroll was being held by the Islamic Army in Iraq, the insurgent group that freed two French journalists in 2004 after four months in captivity.
Jabr said then that he believed the 28-year-old was still alive, although the deadline set by her captors for the U.S. to meet their demands had expired.
She was last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb. 9 by the private Kuwaiti television station Al-Rai. Her twin sister Katie issued a plea for her release on Al-Arabiya television late Wednesday night.
Carroll went to the Middle East in 2002 after being laid off from a newspaper job. She had long dreamed of covering a war.
In American Journal Review last year, Carroll wrote that she moved to Jordan in late 2002, six months before the war started, "to learn as much about the region as possible before the fighting began."
"There was bound to be plenty of parachute journalism once the war started, and I didn't want to be a part of that," she wrote.
Carroll has had work from Iraq published in the Monitor, AJR, U.S. News & World Report, an Italian news wire and other publications. She has been interviewed often on National Public Radio.
On Wednesday, Carroll's sister said her sister is a "wonderful person" who is an "innocent woman." Katie Carroll read a statement on the Al-Arabiya network, noting that there had been no word from her sister's captors in Iraq in almost two months.
"I've been living a nightmare, worrying if she is hurt or ill," Katie Carroll said, according to a transcript released by the Monitor.
Looking into my crystal ball I see a bunch of Freepers putting the cart before the horse ....lets wait to see how this shakes out..
There will be rejoicing around here. She's an Ann Arbor native. (15 miles west) And her mother retired from teaching at Salem High School in the Plymouth-Canton district last year. (one mile from me) Salem High school has a big rock that gets painted frequently by different groups. I bet it will get painted today!
Right...
She had her translator killed in the "fake" attack when she was taken...
On this one, I'm trusting my gut. It has served me well for a looong time, but maybe I should have added IMO at the end.
Gut isn't evidence. I'm with DB...
Agreed.
U.S. Journalist Jill Carroll Freed in Iraq:
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Kidnapped U.S. reporter Jill Carroll has been released after nearly three months in captivity, Iraq police and the leader of the Islamic Party said Thursday. Her editor said she was in good condition.
"She was released this morning, she's talked to her father and she's fine," said David Cook, Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor.
Carroll was kidnapped on Jan. 7 in Baghdad's western Adil neighborhood while going to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her translator was killed in the attack about 300 yards from al-Dulaimi's office.
Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn't happen. The date came and went with no word about her welfare.
The United States Embassy in Baghdad said it could not confirm Carroll's release.
I guess they figured that people were no longer were buying this "Hostage" ordeal.
That is no evidence that this not faked. She was the prize. He was expendable. I don't know what the real deal is but there is the smell of old boots in the area.
She probably converted to Islam.
Not surprised. I was sure she was going to be "released," particularly since earlier pictures showed her trotting around in a burka even before her "kidnapping." But maybe I've gotten too cynical.
Nice photo. What are they doing, rehearsing Macbeth?
LOL!
Why was she turned over to "The Americans" and not the American Embassy? What Americans? If they are talking about American Soldiers then I wonder why. She has nothing to do with the American Soldiers and they have nothing to do with her. She should have been turned over to the IRAQ Government for their actions, IMO.
Winner!LOL!
Thanks for the ping! I was just thinking of her the other day when those "peace" activists got rescued. I'm very happy for her and her family that she is OK.
nuh but im sure the captors were impressed and let her go she seems assimilated enough
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