Posted on 04/01/2006 1:34:16 PM PST by ricks_place
Former hostage Jill Carroll strongly disavowed statements she had made during captivity in Iraq and shortly after her release, saying Saturday she had been repeatedly threatened.
In a video, recorded before she was freed and posted by her captors on an Islamist Web site, Carroll spoke out against the U.S. military presence. But Carroll said the recording was made under threat. Her editor has said three men were pointing guns at her at the time.
"During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me I would be released if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. So I agreed," she said in a statement read by her editor in Boston.
"Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
"
This is my opinion if she has been so sympatric to the middle east why has she not gone into Iraq when S.H. was in charge? Why has she not gone into Iran and reported what is truly happing there?
"
For one thing we allow a lot more freedom of the press than what was ever allowed under Saddam or is allowed in Iran. She'd have legtimate reason to fear for her life if she ever did any real reporting then. I don't agree with her political bias and think she seems a little bit naive but this thread has in my opinion reflected very poorly on a lot of Freepers. Every single one of them would have read any statement asked of them if it meant they'd be able to escape with their life and see their loved ones again. Every single one. So I won't crucify this woman for being politically naive. I'd imagine she has a very different opinion of the "religion of peace" after seeing it in all its glory first hand.
My dad (quoting someone, I'm sure) said that a liberal is a conservative who hasn't been mugged yet and a conservative is a liberal who hasn't been arrested yet.
Do you think so?
Do you not think that a person who believes in this religion of peace would change theirs minds?
Would one not make excuses such as these were radicals this is not truly the heart of the Islam?
I would be curious of how one could write off the attitude of the Afghan leadership with the guy who converted to Christianity saying we wont behead him well instruct the people to tear him apart after we release him cause we are a people of peace.
You should be on here more often.
And you should read your own posts...
Whether Jill baby knows it or not her Treasonous Statements Againest the US goverment on television even under duress would compare her to Jane Fonda and her famous speech from Hanoi North Vietnam in the early 1970s.
I HOPE SHE KNOWS SHE WAS A USEFUL IDIOT AND IT WOULD HAVE SERVED HER RIGHT IF SHE HAD HER HEAD DECAPITATED.
I hope she is not stupid enough to go back to Iraq because that type of environment is not for stupid and clueless elitist female snobs who do not have a clue about how the other half lives.
Hanoi Jane voluntarily went to Vietnam, aided the enemy, supported the enemy, freely acted on film for the enemy, and only many years later had any regret.
Jill Carroll voluntarily went to Iraq but was taken hostage, had her friend murdered, was coerced to make statements and immediately upon freedom rejected those statements. The comparison is weak if even comparable.
Her ORIGINAL statement says clearly that she was NOT tortured, NOT threatened, NOT harmed, was treated very well, and NO she did not refute the part about being threatened, she said she was in a threatening environment, she does NOT say she was threatened, there's a big difference. Unlike you, I do not have a comprehension problem. You're reading what you want to read and NOT reading the FACTS. The night before she was released she was basically told if she betrayed her country and made a propaganda tape she would get her freedom, she was NOT told if she betrayed her country she would be not be killed, there's a big difference between going home and getting killed and unfortunately you can't comprehend the difference.
You have your opinion, I have mine, let it rest.
I've lived long enough to learn that things are not what they first appear to be.
The media is presenting her some like heroine for surviving kidnapping and being a hostage.
I am not buying the cover story. If she was useless, she would have been killed long ago by her kidnappers. She has proved useful.
"Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Alan Enwiya are criminals, at best."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190225,00.html
I can totally comprehend the difference between going home and getting killed. I think you would have done the same as her in the situation. I think most would, whether they admit it or not.
She's a journalist, so I don't believe anything she says. Why did the terrorists release her, when they torture, mutilate and murder most of their victims? The terrorists released her because she represents the media, and the media will therefore cover the story extensively. The terrorists correctly assume that the morons in the media will paint them as rational, considerate, misunderstood people with a legitimate cause, so more liberal lunatics in the U.S. will say we should not be fighting the war on terror.
"There are too many on this forum that give no room for people to change, and learn. They already indicted her on her first statement while still a captive."
I was one of those and I now retract that. The 'wait and see' crowd was right on this, I was wrong.
She now says ...
"I will not engage in polemics. But let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes," she said.
I dont know how much was real, how much was intimidation, how much was Patty hearst syndrome. at this point I dont really care; she is safe.
She retracted it, and says it was done out of fear. Good enough. her words are not to be considered and we should drop it.
The media is indeed LARGELY to blame ... they took a disgusting propaganda video and reported it AS NEWS.
DoD has press releases out of the wazoo and cant get time of day, but a bunch of thug kidnappers gets a kidnap vicitm to say idiotic and false things and *that* gets reported widely, as if it meant something.
MSM showed themselves to be channels of Jihadist agitprop.
"AP via Yahoo: Former hostage Jill Carroll strongly disavowed statements she had made during captivity in Iraq and shortly after her release, saying Saturday she had been repeatedly threatened."
Good catch, ThirstyMan.
This is specific and clear case of AP repeating Jihadist lying propaganda as truth. And it is is exactly that lie which confused many of us.
My goodness, I sure hope you don't ever serve on jury duty. LOL I'm sure you probably realize that there are MANY Americans and folks from other countries as well, who are living and working in Iraq. So if that is one of the reasons you do not believe her story, you might want to re-think that one.
Also, we all saw the video where she was "practically in tears because she was being threatened", and then her video before her release where she praises her captors. Now, isn't it possible that she was scared to death in the first video, and trying to get out of her situation alive by saying what she did in the second video?
I think is some what disingenuous to compare the actions of US Navy men to a female reporter. Especially considering that the world knows how the brave men of the USS Pueblo were beaten miserably after the N Korans caught on the the meaning of "The Hawaiian Friendship Sign"
Now, the best I could be in Iraq would be a civilian contractor of some sort. (Of course no job in that sand box would tempt me do do so no mater what the pay and I admit, I have a price)
If given the choice of between doing the Funky Chicken at the wrong end of a Sears Die-hard battery or doing a video, well just catch me on the evening news.
Easy to be brave tapping on a keyboard at home in the states, less so looking at a AK47 in Iraq.
Good catch, ThirstyMan.
This is specific and clear case of AP repeating Jihadist lying propaganda as truth. And it is is exactly that lie which confused many of us.
Why Thank You!
It now all makes more sense, doesn't it? The AP liars wanted us to believe that Jill was spouting the jihadist's praises after she was freed. Too many of our own took the bait too. Mike Gallagher made a whole show out of her "shameful video". (To be fair he changed his tune and did a whole show on how it was made under duress when he saw the light)
But there were so many contradictions in her pre-release video that were impossible to reconcile with what she had just been through.
Now that she is free she has made that quite clear.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.