Freed US hostage Jill Carroll praised Iraq's insurgents and predicted their victory in an interview conducted by her captors before they released her today, according to a video posted on the internet. The footage, which could not be independently verified, appeared to have been filmed shortly before the freelance journalist was released today nearly three months after being kidnapped in Baghdad.
"Did you think the American army or the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) would save you at any time?" a muffled male voice asked Ms Carroll in accented English.
"Sometimes I thought maybe that they might come, they might find me, they might find a way to know where I am and come get me," she answered, dressed in the same baggy dress and headscarf she appeared in after her release.
Ms Carroll, 28, who worked mainly for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, was dropped at the door of the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in Baghdad's western Amiriyah district today after being abducted on January 7.
Her Iraqi translator was shot dead.
"Why did not they save you?" asked the man.
"I think the mujahideen (Islamic holy warriors) are very smart and even with all the technology and all the people that the American army has here, they still are better at knowing how to live and work here, more clever," she said.
"Does this mean something to you?" asked the man.
"It makes very clear that the mujahideen are the ones that will win in the end," said Ms Carroll.
She was kidnapped by a group calling itself the Brigades of Vengeance, which had set numerous deadlines threatening to kill her if US-led forces failed to release all female detainees in Iraq.
The eight and a half minute tape, digitally stamped with the groups's name, starts with the man addressing the journalist as "dear Carroll" and asking her to describe how she had been treated by her captors.
"They treated me very well, like a guest given good food, kept safe, treated very, very well," she said.
"What will you tell the American people about the mujahideen when you go back to America?" asked the man.
"There are a lot of lies that come out of the American government calling the mujahideen terrorists, I think it is important that the American people hear from me that the mujahideen are only trying to defend their country," she said.
The man then asked Ms Carroll if she had a message for US President George W. Bush.
She smiles before saying: "He needs to stop this war. He knows this war is wrong ... He needs to finally admit that to the American people and make the troops go home.
"He does not care about his own people and the people here in Iraq. He needs to wake up and the people in America need to wake up."
Ms Carroll then said she felt guilty being set free while many women remained imprisoned at Baghdad's US-run Abu Ghraib prison.
"I feel guilty ... It shows the difference between the mujahideen and the Americans, it shows the mujahedeen are good people fighting an honourable fight while the Americans are here as an occupying force treating the people in a very bad way," she said.
At the end of the tape, her interrogator read out a statement in Arabic.
"The mujahideen in the land of the two rivers announce the liberation of the journalist Jill Carroll ... after the US forces and the CIA failed to find her making their ineptitude obvious to the whole world," he said.
"We liberate this journalist today after the American government met some of our demands by releasing some of our women prisoners."
Because they know that the American media are being accused of being sympathetic to the terrorists. And now we have Jihad Jill, the Journalist. This is as bad as the CBS stringer going on trial for inciting the mobs.
The media will sanitize this story. Watch.
It looks like Bush's WOT in Iraq is working because the mujahedeen (terrorist) are looking more and more like beaten dogs.
American reporter Jill Carroll speaks during an interview with APTV after her release, Thursday, March 30, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. Carroll was set free Thursday, police said, nearly three months after she was kidnapped in a bloody ambush that killed her translator. Her editor said she was "fine." Carroll, 28, was handed over to the Iraqi Islamic Party office in Amiriya, western Baghdad, by an unknown group, Police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said. She was later turned over to the Americans and was believed to be in the heavily fortified Green Zone, he said. (AP Photo/APTV, Baghdad Channel) Height (pixels): 410 Width (pixels): 512
La journaliste américaine Jill Carroll a été libérée jeudi à Bagdad où elle a été détenue en otage pendant près de trois mois à la satisfaction des autorités américaines, de sa famille, de son employeur et d'un parti sunnite irakien où elle a été recueillie. AFP JOURNAL INTERNET - 30 mars 23 h 13
Dans une conférence de presse après sa remise aux autorités américaines, M. Hachémi a indiqué que la journaliste était arrivée dans l'une des permanences de son parti dans l'ouest de Bagdad avant d'être transférée à son siège principal. AFP JOURNAL INTERNET - 30 mars 23 h 13
AFP JOURNAL INTERNET - 30 mars 23 h 13
Tariq al-Hashemi, Secretary General of the Iraqi Islamic Party, gives American reporter Jill Carroll, right, a gift Thursday, March 30, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq in this image made from television.Height pixels: 353Width pixels: 512 AP - 30 mars 21 h 01