Journalist Jill Carroll in Iraq Released

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Shirleypal
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Journalist Jill Carroll in Iraq Released

Post by Shirleypal » 03-30-2006 12:04 PM

U.S. Military Not Involved In Jill Carroll's Release
Carroll Was Abducted Jan. 7 After Translator Killed

POSTED: 6:27 am EST March 30, 2006
UPDATED: 11:57 am EST March 30, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military isn't taking the credit for the release of American journalist Jill Carroll in Iraq.

A Pentagon spokesman said the military wasn't involved in Carroll's release Thursday, three months after she was kidnapped.

The spokesman also said it isn't clear whether the military will help transport Carroll out of Iraq.

During her time as a hostage, Carroll's kidnappers demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq. A short time later, five female detainees were released.

The Pentagon spokesman said there are still five female prisoners being held in detention centers in Iraq.

Word of Carroll's release came Thursday from the Christian Science Monitor and from the leader of the Islamic Party in Iraq.

Carroll, 28, was reporting for the Boston-based newspaper when she was kidnapped in Baghdad on Jan. 7 by gunmen who killed her translator.

Carroll appeared on a tape Jan. 17 with a message that she would be killed in 72 hours if all female Iraqi prisoners in U.S. custody were not released.

A police official in Baghdad said Carroll was handed over to the Islamic Party office in Amiriya by an unknown group. The official says she was later turned over to the Americans and is believed to be in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

In an interview on Baghdad television, the Christian Science Monitor reporter said she was treated well but still doesn't know why she was kidnapped. The group holding her threatened twice on videotape to kill her, but Carroll stressed repeatedly that she had been treated very well and her captors never hit her or even threatened to.

She said she’s happy to be free and just wants to be with her family. She said she didn’t know where she had been held, saying she was in a confined space. She said she was only allowed to move between her room and a bathroom to shower and use the facilities. She said she even once got to see a newspaper and another time got to watch a bit of TV.

Carroll's father, Jim, released a statement Thursday on behalf of his family that read, "We are thrilled and relieved at the safe return of my daughter. We want to thank the thousands of people that prayed and kept her image alive."

The editor for the Christian Science Monitor said Thursday that Carroll was in good condition. After her release, Carroll told officials that she was treated well during her 82 days in captivity.

"As you can imagine, this is just one of the most exciting days for all of us. We were thrilled to hear that Jill Carroll was released and will be back with her family. People all over the world have been praying and working for this," Christian Science Monitor editor Richard Bergenheim said.

"Today is just a wonderful day of rejoicing. Jill's friends at the Monitor can't wait to see her and there is no way to thank everyone -- everyone at the press, everyone around the world, all government officials, all Iraqi people, our hearts go out to you in thanks. Bless you all for all that you have done to give Jill and her family this tremendous, wonderfully happy day," Bergenheim said.

"The chorus of Muslim leaders condemning this kidnapping has been larger and louder than has been heard for some time. We earnestly hope these voices of opposition to this crime will continue on behalf of all hostage victims until this practice stops," Bergenheim said.

The release came one day after the journalist's twin sister pleaded for her release on Arab television. Katie Carroll said her sister is a "wonderful person" who is an "innocent woman."

At the time of her abduction, she and her translator were heading to an interview with Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. 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.

Carroll is a University of Massachusetts at Amherst graduate. Carroll worked for the Wall Street Journal, then was laid off and moved to Iraq in 2003 and has been filing reports from there ever since.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking from Germany, said Carroll's release is a "great delight and great relief" for the United States.

SETIsLady
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Post by SETIsLady » 03-30-2006 12:57 PM

This is good news :)

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Lockhart77
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Post by Lockhart77 » 03-30-2006 03:59 PM

Yay!!!:)
"there are moments when, even to the sober eye of reason, the world of our sad humanity may assume the semblance of a Hell"
Edgar Allen Poe

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lunacat
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Post by lunacat » 04-03-2006 01:41 AM

Wow...is this the first time a hostage has been released and unharmed? The Revenge Brigade seems to be setting a precedent. Hopefully other groups won't make an example of them for that.

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