Reporter Jill Carroll has been freed in Iraq, coming close on the heels of the release of the Christian Peacemaker Team members last week. In what amounts to another bizarre story, Carroll said of her situation:
“I was treated well, but I don’t know why I was kidnapped,” Carroll said in a brief interview on Baghdad television.
In the CPT situation, reports suggested the hostages were treated well, allowed to watch television once or twice, and even left unbound for periods of time. We see the same situation in the Carroll kidnapping:
She said she was allowed to watch TV once and read a newspaper once.
She also seemed to appear more and more Muslim with each video appearance. Perhaps that was the intent, who knows. The whole thing is clouded in mystery.
The initial demands were to release all female Iraqi prisoners. We did release a few, but refused to attribute such to Ms. Carroll. Since we’ve not heard of any subsequent reports of prisoner releases, perhaps the kidnappers merely succombed to local Sunni and international pressure to let her go. That explanation would surely represent a victory for the Coalition’s “no negotiation” policy. But somehow it seems we’ve not heard ‘the rest of the story’ regards both Ms. Carroll and the CPT.
UPDATE 4/1
It appears Ms. Carroll’s statements taken from the video were coerced, which is certainly understandable given her circumstances. The question remains open as to why she and the previous CPT group were released without their respective kidnappers’ demands being met, and whether that amounts to a trend.
