Jill Carroll Statement

[OKNancy]

Jill Carroll Statement

http://www.csmonitor.com/earlyed/early_world040106.htm

RAMSTEIN AIRBASE, GERMANY — I'm so happy to be free and am looking forward to spending a lot of time with my family. I want to express my deep appreciation to all the people who worked so long and hard for my release. I am humbled by the sympathy and support expressed by so many people during my kidnapping.

In the past few days, the US military and officials have been extremely generous, and I am grateful for their help. Throughout this ordeal, many US agencies have committed themselves to bringing me safely home.

My colleagues at The Christian Science Monitor have worked ceaselessly to secure my release, and worked with security consultants to do so. Many other news organizations, both inside and outside of Iraq, as well as many officials from Iraq and other countries, worked hard to bring about my freedom.

<snip>

During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me they would let me go if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. I agreed.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Why does Jill have to apologize for surviving?

She did what she had to do to get free. She kept her head. She is free. End of story.

[Never Forget]

5. Stupid fools...

I've read of some jerks claiming that her kidnapping was a hoax. I suppose the murder of Jill's interpreter was a hoax too. :eyes:

[LostinVA]

13. A few DUers have also expressed that, too

Crazy... she's a brave young woman who did admirably in captivity.

[LanternWaste]

38. I should consider myself lucky ...

I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I hadn't read the relevant posts denigrating Ms. Carroll young lady or else I probably would have gotten myself banned from DU (at the very least).

Once again, knee-jerk, flag-waving, patriotism trumps critical thought and civility...

You're right. "Crazy" is an apt description.

[stevedeshazer]

8. Because the Radical Right says she is ungrateful

They currently run the country. For now. :)

[rodeodance]

14. you said it well,

[rodeodance]

15. Fox just said she is 'changing' her story.

[wordpix2]

23. Faux that's sponsored by UConn? Wait til I let my state rep know where

our CT dollars are going!

[OKNancy]

2. False statements

So who made those false statements? The right wing press?

Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: That I refused to travel and cooperate with the US military and that I refused to discuss my captivity with US officials. Again, neither is true.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Thank you for posting this...

I hope that Jonah Goldberg and Charles Johnson read this and CHOKE! Fucking imbeciles!:grr:

[OKNancy]

7. BWHAHAHA - Jonah Goldberg's backtrack

I went over to his site and this is all he has to say. THis is posted under a copy of her statement:

Me: In all sincereity: good for her. I take Carroll at her word and hope nothing but the best for her. I'm sure it was a terrible ordeal and I think, barring some major revelation this should put an end to the criticism of her. Leave her be.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/06_03_26_corner-archive.asp

[cantstandbush]

17. +It's time to nail Joonah Goldberg's ass to the wall along with all the

RW smearboaters, FOX "News", Imus, Hannity, and Limbaugh.

[wtmusic]

18. in all "sincereity"

he is a friggin' imbecile

[0007]

4. I glad that she is alive and well.

Of course the freepers want her dead and dishonored.

[tulsakatz]

6. I never believed her first statement anyway....

While they were holding her, a tape was released and in this tape she was crying and pleading for her life.

I know that they would have to tell her some pretty scary stuff to make her act like that.

Anyway, that's why I never believed the first story.

[WhiteTara]

9. Can't you see the slime KKKarl Rove

chuckling in the background at the "little distraction" he created. The GOP Dirty Tricks Committee is working overtime. KKKarl must be on steriods or meth.

[zbdent]

10. Note - she admits she was threatened . . . but does not change her

story that she wasn't tortured or harmed . . . I wonder how many freepturds would shit themselves and fold at the first sight of nail clippers . . .

[Mz Pip]

11. Being threatened with death

sound pretty harmful to me. I can't imagine how awful it must have been for her not knowing whether or not she would survive another day; waking up to that fear for 3 months.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[OKNancy]

12. I imagine that seeing Alan Enwiya murdered

during her capture was pretty threatening too. I have no doubt that she feared for her life.

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Agreed. This is one young woman who kept her head while she feared for her

life. IMO, she deserves nothing but credit for her courage during and after what she endured. As far as I'm concerned, she was as brave and is as well spoken as they come.
:yourock:

[Mike Daniels]

37. The fact that she wasn't tortured or harmed doesn't give the kidnappers

any claims for humanity.

They still shot her interpreter in cold blood and that says all I need to know about the people that took her hostage.

The only reason she's alive is because the kidnappers knew they'd destroy their cause by harming her in any way. Nothing alturistic about it.

[barb162]

16. More facts will come out; just glad she's back safe and sound

[Mr_Spock]

19. Carroll disavows statements against U.S.

By Matt Moore, Associated Press Writer | April 1, 2006

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --Protected by the U.S. military and far from the country where she had been held 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 in a statement Saturday, she 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."

...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/04/01/former_hostage_carroll_happy_to_be_here/

[The_Casual_Observer]

20. She isn't a military officer or anything, she could do whatever she

felt she needed to do to get the hell out of there. She is very lucky imho.

[Hekate]

21. Jill will be a long time healing from this ordeal

I'm grateful that she got out alive and in one piece. That's big.

But the trauma of living like that for three months and of being coerced into making those videos, could well be with her forever.

I hope the good folks who wish her well make their thoughts known... Some of the broadcasts I caught today seemed to indicate that her colleagues get it.

Hekate

[Caria]

24. Anyone who criticizes this woman

has had a nice, secure life. I do not see how anyone who has ever felt the threat of violence, even for a few minutes, could possibly fault her.

This in no way compares to what Jill Carroll has just gone through, but when I was attacked I said things I did not mean & I made promises I had no intention of keeping. Because of that, I'm alive and the criminal who attacked me is in jail.

[rfkrfk]

25. why does anyone believe any of this?

Rule 109
hear everything, believe nothing

we just don't know what really happened

[Quantess]

26. So you don't believe she was held hostage?

Are you equally skeptical of everything, or do you have a reason for not believing it?

[rfkrfk]

27. this is just, not knowable

could be anything.
I have no specific reason to doubt,
but I don't believe it either

[New Government]

28. Hmmmmm

Couldn't this be said about almost anything? I mean, literally, anything - that you don't personally witness and have a first-hand account?

[rfkrfk]

30. consider, self-serving ex-culpable claims

my skeptisism is that, there may have been some colusion,
at one time, between the 'kidnapers', and 'kidnapees'

I just don't know.

after the fact statement, sometimes mean something,
sometimes they don't.

I certainly believe one of the four, is dead.

[Bridget Burke]

32. "ex-culpable"?

Yes, more Right Wing talking points.

[rfkrfk]

33. when released, why say anything?

[Bridget Burke]

34. One wonders why some people....

Say anything at all. Ever.

[Garbo 2004]

39. She was "released" into the custody of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party.

(Not exactly a neutral third party.) They said wanted to make a video "for their records," not for broadcast. It's not inconceivable that she did not feel entirely free to safely refuse or that she could speak freely at that time while in the custody of the IIP.

The IIP then played their exclusive "interview" on its TV channel and the international news media picked that up and played it over and over, giving the impression that Carroll had given a news conference after being released.

[HuffleClaw]

29. she's being excoriated for one reason.

she's showed that the iraqis are HUMANS, not the evildoing animals the press would have us believe.

on edit: as the story points out: "Unlike most Europeans, Americans are convinced that they are at war with a relentless and inhumane enemy."

[Bassic]

31. She apologizes for being free. What does that tell you about

the right wing? This story is simply ridiculous. I just can't understand what the fuck these morans are thinking. I'd like to see how they would hold up to months of captivity and uncertain survival. God damn evil pawns.

[Bridget Burke]

35. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell me anything about the right wing...

That I didn't already know. And I can hear some of those talking points right here at DU.

[Bassic]

36. Are you serious?

I haven't seen them yet, and I'm kind of comforted by that.


Edit: I've been spelling like a Freeper.