Posted on 04/02/2006 10:14:16 AM PDT by TexKat
BOSTON - Jill Carroll, the U.S. journalist held hostage for 82 days in Iraq, returned to the United States on Sunday aboard a commercial flight to Boston.
The 28-year-old was accompanied on the Lufthansa flight by a colleague from her employer, the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, according to reporters on the plane.
Carroll declined to comment while on the flight. She left the airport in a black limousine escorted by state police. Her destination was unknown.
She was released Thursday after nearly three months in captivity. She was seized Jan. 7 in western Baghdad by gunmen who killed her Iraqi translator while the two were on the way to meet a Sunni Arab official in one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods.
Carroll left the Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany on Saturday after arriving from Balad Air Base in Baghdad. She strongly disavowed statements she had made during captivity in Iraq and shortly after her release, saying 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. On Saturday, she said the recording was made under duress.
"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.
"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."
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., who was held prisoner for more than five years during the Vietnam War, on Sunday said Carroll found herself in "a terrible, terrible position" and said Americans should view her taped statements critical of the U.S. military presence in Iraq in that context.
"We are glad she's home. We understand when you're held a captive in that situation that you do things under duress. God bless her, and we're glad she's home," McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
McCain said he would not take seriously anything Carroll said while she was being held captive.
"I would not take them seriously, I would not any more than we took seriously other tapes and things that were done in other prison situations, including the Vietnam War," McCain said.
Carroll, who has studied Arabic, attracted a huge amount of sympathy during her ordeal, and a wide variety of groups in the Middle East, including the Islamic militant group Hamas, appealed for her release.
Aside from the short interview aired on Iraqi television upon her release, Carroll had otherwise not shown herself in public prior to a brief appearance Saturday.
The kidnappers, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 or Carroll would be killed. U.S. officials did release some female detainees at the time, but said it had nothing to do with the demands.
In the statement, Carroll also disavowed an interview she gave to the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab organization in whose offices she was dropped off upon her release. She said the party had promised her the interview would not be aired "and broke their word."
"At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear, I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times," she said. "Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: One — that I refused to travel and cooperate with the U.S. military, and two — that I refused to discuss my captivity with U.S. officials. Again, neither statement is true."
The remarks have drawn criticism from conservative bloggers and commentators, but the Monitor said "Carroll did what many hostage experts and past captives would have urged her to do: Give the men who held the power of life and death over her what they wanted."
Carroll has said her kidnappers confined her to a small, soundproof room with frosted, opaque windows.
In her statement Saturday, she condemned her captors, although she did not address the war in Iraq.
"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.
Carroll thanked those who had helped secure her release and said she wanted time to recover.
"This has been a taxing 12 weeks for me and for my family," she said. "Please allow us some quiet time alone, together."
In post 78 you name call? That indeed is a sign of a troll right? Someone that cannot defend there positions?
Look ma'am Your position is that troops being there area a cause of the problem. You stated that quite clearly. Am I wrong there? Please state how I am wrong or how I took that point out of context.
I state again that the problem is the folks that will kill anyone to instill fear so that they may hold power and oppress the people they seek to have follow the path of allah. That problem exists wether or not our troops are there. Care to diagree? By all means lay out why you disagree and show me how our troops there are a cause of the problem and how their exit would end the problem.
By the way, what that means:
Well kind of. The reasons Bagdahd is not so safe to hop around without force protection rather than the fact it is that way.
It is not the presence of American ( and other) forces that make it this way but some really hold the view that this is the reason. I suspect that this gal used to think the former but has had.....what do you call it.....an 'attitude adjustment'.
Please notice that the first bit was what you take issue with and the second part explains it. You speak of out of context.....and now you project it.
ROTF all you want to..... but in a nutshell, you see our forces there as a part of the problem and I see them as part of the solution. Accept your own position and live with what you have posted here. I am willing to do so Are You?
Hummm, undies in a wad debboo?
When does a contigent from FR get there to tar, feather, and burn her at the stake?
To: BlueStateDepression
It is not the presence of American ( and other) forces that make it this way...
Well, yeah, that is one of the reasons it is dangerous here.
I love it when people try to tell me what it's like in Baghdad.
59 posted on 04/02/2006 1:29:16 PM CDT by Allegra (No mosques were entered or damaged during this post.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
Post 59 says it quite clearly allegra. I am so sorry that you cannot accept what you yourself wrote. That is not my problem. Indeed it is one for you to address with yourself.
Hey.....how come she isn't wearing her burkah, hmmmmmm?
Every picture I saw of her while she was running around in Baghdad showed her in a burkah with her hair covered.
What gives?
Has she become a Sunny Day Patriot?
Inquiring minds want to know!
No....Allegra is...and knows what it is like. Why this hostility towards Allegra?
It wasn't a burka she had on...
I'm glad to see that she made her hair appointment.
Lets lock you up for three months....and let your hair get ratty...so people can take cheap shots at your appearance on a web site.
Triple bag...twelve-pack...wall to wall porno.
Anything is possible.
The sooner the better.
I returned what I was given dog. I take issue when folks say our troops are part of the problem...part of the reason it is unsafe in bagdahd.
Notice I did not call allegra a troll but allegra called me that, notice that allegra called me an idiot not the other way around.
Post 59 was as clear as it gets. Allegra stated clearly that it IS unsafe in bagdahd because of our troops presence there. I disagree and explain why I disagree.
That explanation being that regardless if our troops were there or not the same problem would remain. This is because the problem is the folks that will kill anyone,including civilians by the dozens, to force the masses into worship of allah.
I stand firm that our presence is part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Since she's being in the middle east she ceased being a journalist. A commentator perhaps. An Amanpour wannabe perhaps...objective journalism? NO. Just look at some of her writing from there.
I just checked back to see who's winning. I was catching up from the last post up and getting concerned for a minute. I'm glad that wasn't you the guys were talking about:')
Meaning just what? What is the difference between that and this: "?!" ? It's not a trick question.
A Libertarian friend (opposed to the war) and I discussed the case yesterday. To me one of the most troubling aspects of this case is the demand: "Release all your female POWs." To me it sounded like it originated in the lounge of the women's studies program at Amherst, not in the war room of the Sunnis.
My friend asked me how many Arab homes I had visited, and was not qualified to say what was out of character for them. Well, I haven't been in the homes of any FBI agents either, but I knew the Confederate Roundup video of the last decade was a fake as well.
I've done some more asking around about whether the demand was in character...one answer I found acceptable was that the Arabs don't like infidels handling their women, and would execute them upon receipt.
Surely the women would know this, and then not return.
So why demand release of someone that will not return to you?
I admit that I have a difficulty explaining the execution of the interpreter. If she's responsible for that, then yes, she's psychotic. I'm thinking that she did agree to be kidnapped beforehand but did not think that execution of her interpreter would be part of the deal.
- Jill, dear, the call's for you. Overseas. - Thanks, mom. Hello? Ah, Wonderful. Wait I'll put you on the speaker phone. - Mom, dad, say 'hello' to my fiancee Ahmet Ahmed...
Later.
- So what does Ahmed do, Jill? Is he a lawyer, doctor, nuclear scientist? - Ahmet, daddy, his name is Ahmet! He's a freedom fighter. He was tortured by these awful Bible thumping Southern rednecks at Abu Ghraib. They put a store brand WAL MART T-shirt on his head, can you imagine that? - Store brand? That's humiliating. Outrageous! Does Senator Kennedy know about this?
Remember in that picture she just got off a US military flight where "Carroll was seated in the cockpit of the plane, which was also carrying several soldiers wounded in Iraq." I wonder if she got the jacket from the US military? A die-hard America hater would not be seen in something like that. Maybe spending time with US soldiers did her come good. If so, good for her.
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