Jill Carroll’s War
I’m thinking a lot right now about Jill Carroll, the young American journalist being held hostage in Iraq. On Tuesday, her captors released a video to Al Jazeera saying she would be murdered in 72 hours if women prisoners were not released from Iraqi prisons.
Carroll is a 28 year old freelance reporter, working primarily for the Christian Science Monitor, who was kidnapped by gunmen on January 7 in a dangerous part of Baghdad just as she was leaving the office of a Sunni Arab political leader.
Her translator, Alan Enwiyah,was killed in the ambush that led to her capture.
The Monitor, with quite literally a religious mandate to provide excellent international coverage, has traditionally stretched its modest budget by seeking out the sort of scrappy and enterprising stringer that Carroll is. Foregoing elaborate security schemes and bodyguards and refusing to live in the Green Zone bubble, Carroll navigated the treacherous streets of Baghdad for what I can assure you was very modest compensation.
Her parents have issued a message, posted on the Monitor web site, pleading with her captors to let her go. I can only hope that their plea be granted. Or that sometime in the next few hours, official efforts achieve the same goal. Or that the U.S. troops hunting for the kidnappers find them in time.
I can starkly recall the handful of times in my own career when I felt my life was immediately at stake: escaping Chile after the 1973 coup; getting picked up in 1976 by Argentinean Federal Police (i.e. the death squads) during the Videla dictatorship; being in the middle of an 1982 urban shoot-out in the Salvadoran guerrilla war when the cameraman next to me was fatally wounded; getting arrested by Salvadoran soldiers in 1989 who accused my TV team of collaborating with insurgents; being encircled by Chilean militarized police in 1983 as they attacked a political funeral (and maybe I should add having been rushed with a case of severe vertigo to the emergency room of the Saddam Hussein Al Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad on the very eve of Gulf War One in 1991).
None of these dust-ups even remotely compares with the horror to which Carroll is being subjected. And yet, in each one of the incidents above, I felt the cold terror of mortality running down my spine. I know if I were in Carroll’s shoes tonight, I would be delirious with fear. Uncontrolled panic would have overcome me from the first hours of captivity.
Carroll is a hero among journalists. She thrust herself into one of the single most perilous spots on the globe knowing full well what was at risk but nevertheless willing to take the chance. Compare her example with the sort of flotsam celebrated in our TV culture: millionaire imposters who merely play reporters on camera, cheaply and shamelessly attaching themselves to whatever story their marketer-managers think will generate the sharpest audience spike.
I’m thinking tonight of Jill Carroll. Of the other 40 plus foreigners currently being held hostage in Iraq. Of the tens of thousands of nameless Iraqis who contemplate their own myriad terrors born of war. Of the young American soldiers sent by men they’ve never met to fight a war that should have never happened.
January 18th, 2006 at 2:03 am
Marc, let me add a couple of footnotes to your very eloquent post about Jill:
The news media has been describing her as a freelancer, which is technically true, but for the past months she had been the Monitor’s main correspondent in Iraq and they had acknowledged her as such (often calling her Correspondent in her bylines.) Since “freelance” is seen by some as pejorative, this is another example of the critical role played by independent journalists.
Also, as far as I can tell, the Monitor has been playing an exemplary role in its efforts to free her. I only wish her case were getting as much attention as Judith Miller’s did.
January 18th, 2006 at 2:19 am
Here’s a good LA Times piece on Carroll:
http://tinyurl.com/c6e38
Although she obviously traveled with a translator, she knew Arabic, which sets her apart from most of the rest of the Western journalists in Iraq. (Not to mention most of the occupiers and administrators attempting to prosecute the war.) A search of the CSM archives substantiates what MB writes above. She was covering the war and politics in Iraq consistently for the Monitor, and it would appear very knowledgably and in depth – which is the standard CSM generally sets for itself in covering global affairs. An exemplary reporter. One can only pray for the best.
January 18th, 2006 at 2:50 am
“millionaire imposters who merely play reporters on camera”
While Carroll – fluent in Arabic and committed to her craft – risks her life, no doubt for peanuts in pay, to tell the story of the Iraq war, CNN executives come up with the bright idea to add trash-talk mic jock Glenn Beck to their stable of “news” talent (knocking Nancy Grace from her perch as most noxious motormouth on the network.) Obviously a “downward spiral” into the vermin-infested gutter where FOX has claimed supremacy with luminaries like O’Reilly and Gibson. Some of these news whores and opinion pimps are such an obvious joke, it almost makes one forget that ex-correspondent Wolf Blitzer is also currently quite comfortable in his post of “millionaire imposter playing a reporter on camera”.
January 18th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Jill Carroll also had the guts to go into dangerous territory to do her job. In other words, she didn’t have “other priorities.” Which brings us back to the important point that her situation is getting too little attention from the MSM, and why? Could it be a reminder that they didn’t do THEIR jobs?
January 18th, 2006 at 9:53 am
The news media have been emphasizing ‘freelancer’ in describing Jill Carroll partly in response to requests from her family and colleagues, for fear that the ‘Christian’ in her employers’ name would not be helpful to efforts to free her. Right after her abduction U.S. news organizations also maintained a three- or four-day blackout on her identity for similar reasons. Her sister’s blog, which had posts about Carroll’s work in Iraw, was taken down.
Now the CSM has gone public, but I believe some of the lack of coverage has been due to the fears/concerns generated in those first days.
There has also been very little continuing coverage of the four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams who were taken in late November, and last seen on tape December 8.
The best site for those who are interested in following their situation, especially those willing to act to support their release, is
http://freethecaptivesnow.org
January 18th, 2006 at 10:01 am
For some reason Greg Mitchell’s republication of Riverbend’s remembrance of Allen Enwiya has no link to her blog:
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com
Iraqi and U.S. bloggers are fundraising to support Enwiya’s widow and children:
http://gorillasguides.blogspot.com/2006/01/lost-in-land-that-cannot-provide.html
January 18th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Martin Smith’s last visit on frontline gives one a pretty good idea of the danger involved. And he isn’t a “freelancer.” What that generally means is you can’t get hired. One would wonder why the risk is worth it? Truth doesn’t come cheap.
January 18th, 2006 at 11:07 am
When one chooses to cover a story in a land full of scum of the likes who kidnap and murder innocents, then that person not only puts himself at risk but also the soldiers whom he depends upon for possible rescue. Is it worth it? Does the press have some obligation to avoid unnecessary deaths that exceeds the obligation to get a story?
January 18th, 2006 at 11:15 am
P.S. With Marc’s numerous brushes with capture and death, one has to wonder if he is a slow learner. After one episode like that, I would look for some safe accounting job back home.
January 18th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Nell says:
“There has also been very little continuing coverage of the four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams who were taken in late November, and last seen on tape December 8.”
Yes, this is odd. I hope it is not because their families are worried about the “Christian” thing, because experience shows that the more publicity the more likely it is that abductees will be released.
btw the news about Jill Carroll was out on the Sunday morning after her capture when the French weekly Journal du Dimanche did a big story with large photo of her. The CSM then came out with its own story the next day, after which everyone else did too.
January 18th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
I hope Jill Carroll is brought to safety.
I just wanted to make one comment, though. Having no knowledge of Jill Carroll’s reporting, I generally don’t find the Christian Science Monitor’s international coverage to be “excellent” at all.
Sometime in the 1990s the Christian Science Monitor underwent a wholesale neoliberal makeover, which has been reflected in much of their reporting ever since. Prior to that, I remember it being a much better and less ideologically-driven paper.
January 18th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
I agree with Woody…it’s too risky for reporters to go cover what’s actually happening on the ground in Iraq. They are unnecessarily putting our soldiers lives at risk. Just like Edward R. Murrow risked the lives of the London firefighters and rescue teams by grandstanding on that rooftop during the blitz, microphone in hand. What if they had to go dig for him in some burning rubble and bumped into some unexploded ordinance ? (Frankly, it would have been good riddance if his commie ass had taken a hit and they’d just left him there to rot in his pink trenchcoat.)
And what the hell are these self-appointed scribblers for the Liberal Media trying to find out that they couldn’t get from an official Green Zone or DOD press release, anyway ? If wandering around Baghdad and yakking it up with a bunch of ungrateful Iraqis was essential to Americans knowing what they need to know about the war, Bill O’Reilly would be over there telling those people to shut up in Arabic if they don’t like freedom. And he’s not. So it isn’t.
(One exception to this rule of thumb for Michael Yon, because Michelle Malkin really, really likes him.)
January 18th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Thank you for the extremely eloquent post, Marc.
Prayers.
Woody, for a person who makes his living using the logic of numbers, that’s incredibly stupid thinking. Sorry to be so harsh, but my actual thoughts on the matter are far harsher.
January 18th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Woody, I’ll add my thoughts to rosedog and reg:
an unfettered press is essential for our liberty, and that’s yours too. People like Jill are heroes.
January 18th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Woody you have a safe accounting job back home, yet advocate great heroic deeds as long as they are done by others.
January 18th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Others reporting only your party line that is.
January 18th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
“Carroll is a hero among journalists. She thrust herself into one of the single most perilous spots on the globe knowing full well what was at risk but nevertheless willing to take the chance. Compare her example with the sort of flotsam celebrated in our TV culture: millionaire imposters who merely play reporters on camera, cheaply and shamelessly attaching themselves to whatever story their marketer-managers think will generate the sharpest audience spike.â€
There have always been war reporters and there always will be—it’s imperative to know what’s actually happening and the information needs to come from a source other than the Pentagon. Jill Carroll has enormous courage, and I’m sure she knew exactly how dangerous her job is.
Any American working, reporting or fighting in the maelstrom of the Iraq war is fully cognizant of how tenuous their existence is. The Bush administration created a HELL called the IRAQ WAR and many people including Iraqis are paying the price for this DEBACLE.
SUPPORT THE TROOPS: END THE WAR NOW!
Democratic elections are tough to come by; as we all know from the U.S. Presidential elections in 2000 and 2004, so to hear that Iraq inherited our fraudulent election “genes†is not surprising; after all aren’t we cloning a “democratic†nation. Election officials had to annul about 53 fake ballot boxes because they contained too many votes. A total of 1,985 complaints were lodged overall.
Final election results have been delayed by Sunni Arab complaints of fraud.
Although leading politicians have expressed hopes a government could be formed in February, most experts and officials agree it could take two to three months. It warms my heart to see a true democracy in action, and the wonders of how a “purple index finger†can do so much in securing ballot validity. But I think that purple finger “award†should be delivered to our government with a note stating IRAQ IS A MESS AND WE NEED TO END THE WAR NOW!
There have been 2,418 coalition deaths and 2,220 Americans deaths, as of January 16, 2006.
Last week DefenseWatch released a secret Marine Corps report that determined that 80% of the 401 Marines killed in Iraq between April 2004 and June 2005 might have been saved if the Interceptor OTV body armor they were wearing was more effective. The Army has declined to comment on the report because doing so could aid the enemy, an Army spokesman has repeatedly said.
More than 100,000 Iraqis have died during the American-led occupation according to a study posted on The Lancet medical journal’s website. Previous estimates of the number of Iraqis killed during the American-led air strikes and occupation has ranged from 10,000 to 30,000—“MORE OR LESS†according to Bush.
The report in a British journal is based on the work of teams from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. The authors acknowledge that the data cited in the study might be of “limited precision.”
However, similar methodology was used in the late 1990s to calculate the number of deaths from the war in Kosovo.
The information was obtained as Iraqi interviewers surveyed 808 families, consisting of 7,868 people, in 33 different “clusters” or neighborhoods spread across the country.
In each case, they asked how many births and deaths there had been in the home since January 2002.
That information was then compared with the death rates in each neighborhood in the 15 months before the invasion that toppled president Saddam Hussein, adjusted for the different time frames, and extrapolated to cover the entire 24.4 million population of Iraq.
$$$$$ Whose counting now? $$$$$$$
The cost of the Iraq war could top two trillion dollars, far above the White House’s pre-war projections, when long-term costs such as lifetime health care for thousands of wounded U.S soldiers are included. We are spending $177 million per day, $7.4 million per hour and $122,820 per minute.
“Whether you are a critic or supporter of President Bush’s policy in Iraq, two points are clear: Iraq was a war of choice, and the United States is bearing virtually all of the cost,” said John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress. “At a time when there are many competing security priorities- ranging from strengthening our conventional military to securing weapons grade nuclear material around the world, to protecting our ports and chemical plants from terrorist attack to putting more police on the street, it’s important to recognize the opportunity cost of the choice to invade Iraq at the time and in the manner that we did.”
Columbia University economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes included in their study disability payments for the 16,000 wounded U.S. soldiers, about 20 percent of whom suffer serious brain or spinal injuries. And we’re not out yet—so there will unfortunately be plenty other seriously wounded soldiers that will require a lifetime of medical care.
They said U.S. taxpayers will be burdened with costs that linger long after U.S. troops withdraw.
Unemployment in Iraq is 60 percent. Massive unemployment creates a disenfranchised population who are eagerly enlisted into the insurgency—they have lost everything and are willing to fight to the death to remove U.S. occupation from their country.
Working on the infrastructure is almost impossible because of attacks by insurgents. Incidents have increased from 150 a week to over 700 a week in the last year.
Little is said about Afghanistan, but only the other day more than twenty people were killed and twenty wounded in a suicide bomb attack in the southern Afghan town of Spin Boldak, bordering Pakistan. Earlier, a suicide bomber hurled himself in front of an Afghan army vehicle in the provincial capital, Kandahar, 70 miles to the north, killing three Afghan soldiers and two civilians.
VOLUNTARY ARMY BUSH’S BEST FRIEND
I am convinced that if there was no voluntary army but a draft the same people who so proudly impale a sticker saying “support the troops†would be defecating in their pants if they thought “their†little Tommy or Betsy could be drafted. The streets again would be filled with the now apathetic youth, or had no time to remove their iPods to cast a vote in the 2004 election.
However, these young Americans would suddenly come to life, after receiving notification from the military that their BUTTOCKS ARE ON THE LINE! But now they can remain drowsy knowing that the all-volunteer army is doing the dirty work. And Bush and his advisors are well aware of this; and since they themselves evaded military service (Cheney’s five military deferments—and Bush’s non-service in the National Guard) and are basically cowards, they will not “readily†reinstitute the draft for fear of a nation wide civil rebellion.
But eventually they will have to risk civil disorder, in order to fill the ranks of our thinly stretched military if they plan on invading Iran. How could this beleaguered voluntary army who is now serving four and five tours of duty be furthered stretched into three simultaneous offensives on three fronts–Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan—and then what would hinder a terrorist incident from occurring in a fourth country? Maintaining a global empire is a messy job!
AND NOW IRAN
United States is gearing up for an attack on Iran, Bush will never mention oil as a reason for going to war. As in the case of Iraq, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will be cited as the principal justification for an American assault. “We will not tolerate the construction of a nuclear weapon [by Iran],” is the way President Bush put it in a much-quoted 2003 statement.
But just as the failure to discover illicit weapons in Iraq undermined the administration’s use of WMD as the paramount reason for its invasion, so its claim that an attack on Iran will be justified because of its alleged nuclear potential.
Iran occupies a strategic location on the north side of the Persian Gulf, it is in a position to threaten oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, which together possess more than half of the world’s known oil reserves. Iran also sits adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which, daily, 40% of the world’s oil exports pass. In addition, Iran is becoming a major supplier of oil and natural gas to China, India, and Japan, thereby giving Tehran additional clout in world affairs. It is these geopolitical dimensions of energy, as much as Iran’s potential to export significant quantities of oil to the United States that ultimately determines our government’s military strategy.
Iran’s nuclear facilities are scattered throughout the entire country. To launch an aerial attack, you would need many more fighter jets than were used in Iraq. How many civilians would be annihilated by missiles that don’t always have that pin-point accuracy to reach just the right target, and what further insurgencies will an attack like that incite. In addition, if these nuclear facilities were attacked, military strategists say that steps would need to be taken in order to prevent large-scale nuclear contamination from the resulting damage done to the reactors.
Bush, is not willing to rule out the use of force against the mullahs.
January 18th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Hey reg, 2 notes on our exchange of the other day regarding Hitchens (I’ve been away):
What I would do that would be to my mind “bowing to political correctness” doesn’t relate to you.
For me, that’s what it would be to totally change my mind in Iraq: acceding to a body of opinion I disagree with just because it’s easier. That’s not the case with you when you agree with the opinion. You just agree with it.
Second: I think you tend to understimate the impact of the loons on the left body politic in general. It’s like a house with termites before the owner is even aware of the problem.
January 18th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Did I make a statement or ask a question?
The press does draw its own lines regarding getting stories vs. having security, so there’s no need to moralize about the almighty goodness of journalists. If lines were not drawn by the media itself, Iraq would be filled with journalists tracking down the kidnappers to interview them instead of covering the story from a safe distance.
My question was where should be that line of courage and coverage vs. safety and supposition. It probably should be somewhere before the situation that caught Jill Carroll. I suspect that she would agree with that in retrospect.
The question is appropriate–and logical.
(But, I do have concern about people putting themselves into stupid positions and then expecting the military, which already has its hands full, risking soldiers’ lives for them. You don’t catch me walking through Watts at midnight and expecting police to come save me.)
January 18th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
I assume, Woody, that the same stringent standard applies to contractors. The military shouldn’t spend its time rescuing those moronic workers trying to build Iraqi infrastructure.
January 18th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Woody: It’s especially difficult when you have 130,000 troops where something closer to 500,000 was needed, but let’s not quibble.
January 18th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Jill Carroll’s calling – truth – is hard to explain to those who have not been in a zone of conflict before.
Despite the inherent danger, she knew that millions of people were counting on her.
Marc – you have written a beautiful piece that I hope will not become a eulogy.
January 18th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
The loons on the left are mere court jesters compared to the dangerous loons on the right actually running the country. Paul’s perception is ludicrous on its face.
“You don’t catch me walking through Watts at midnight and expecting police to come save me.”
Yeah and how wonderful to bring Watts and black folk into the picture. We know what far behind the mental times you really are. Sadly you don’t.
January 18th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Woody,
“You don’t catch me walking through Watts at midnight and expecting police to come save me.â€
Your correlation comparing walking in Watts at midnight to covering a news story in an Iraq is a perfect example as to why they need to reinstate the “SAT “section that tests ones ability to analyze ANALOGIES.
Paul,
“Second: I think you tend to understimate the impact of the loons on the left body politic in general. It’s like a house with termites before the owner is even aware of the problem.â€
If I understand this sentence correctly, you are talking about conservative loons, who don’t realize they have created political policies that are causing our country to rot like a house filled with termites–a Woody one.
January 18th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
This really is a detestible war. Everyone is a participant. No one is safe. War correspondency has always been dangerous, but glamourously so. And in all but the very worst outposts, the journalists knew where to go to lie low if they needed to. I get the sense that outside a very very tight perimeter, there is no safe haven, and any trip outside the hotel door begs trouble.
This reporter is now a chip in a game, at least as her captors see it. In the good old days, if say USSR had detained a journalist, Norman Mailer and Norman Podhoretz or whomever would put together a petition, and the left writers would dutifully petition Stalin or Khruschev [geez, I've forgotten how to spell his name] for mercy, and eventually, grudgingly, the request would be granted. But these people hate the left, they hate the right…I don’t think even the guys who have a little pull elsewhere in the middle east, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter or Andy Young would make any difference there.
In this war, from what I see and hear, the difference between and among soldiers, “contractors,” journalists and just common folks is just a matter of degree–of exposure, of commitment, of value.
January 18th, 2006 at 6:34 pm
Well Woody, Marc didn’t have to consider only an “accounting job” back home. He could have taken the easy way out like most “journalists” and simply sat around not bothering to do any hard reporting (you know, like Judith Miller. Rely on official administration people with no fact checking. Such is the state of the punditocracy that we live under).
January 18th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
“I think you tend to underestimate the impact of the loons on the left body politic in general. It’s like a house with termites before the owner is even aware of the problem.”
I’m not aware of anyplace outside of perhaps some campuses where “loons on the left” impact the body politic in general. Even in SF – where they had a small shot at electing a mayor – the Greens (perhaps not total loons to some minds, but the label works for me) are isolated and Gavin has proven himself an effective, pragmatic liberal – possibly the best mayor in America. Where else ? Berkeley, in an annoying and ultimately irrelevant sort of way, but that’s a “campus†thing. Oh, right, Cynthia McKinney’s district. But compare the Georgia Congresswoman to, say, Senator Tom Coburn, R. OK, who has praised the way AIDs victims are dealt with in Cuba (Yes, Cuba), wants the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and said “There’s a greater fear than the fear of terrorism, and that is the fear of our own government”. Find me a Democrat in the Senate who qualifies for “loony whatever†at the level of this guy who Cheney personally campaigned for.
Your sentence needs one small word change from “loons on the left” to “loons on the right” and we’re talking about a serious problem . One, incidentally, that “liberal hawks” who make common cause with Bush tend to seriously downplay even as the vermin are nipping at their own ankles. This country has been shifted so far to the right in the parameters of political discourse by authentic crackpots who reside deep in Cloud CuckooLand. The body politic has been so poisoned by this ideological hegemony of the GOP, it’s time for the alarm bells. A couple of them have started ringing, and the Emporer is increasingly looking like he’s wearing some very shoddy threads, even if he doesn’t appear totally naked to the majority… But frankly, I have to say that your assertion about the “loony left”, when you look at the power balance of left loons vs. right loons is completely ridiculous.
I’m not trying to be dismissive, just clear-headed. I’m no fan of a lot of crap that emanates from the left margins, and I detest people who start from a premise that America is “evil” or some such, but let’s get real about where the crazies come from. I mean, we’ve got an administration that actually handed adult jobs that affected the ultimate decision about whether or not to go to war over to incompetent crackpots like Douglas Feith. The extremist Grover Norquist – who’s a student of Leninism incidentally – runs a weekly strategy meeting for a gaggle of GOP operatives. We’ve got a President who’ll give “Keep up the good work!” shout outs to the likes of dishonest, unreconstructed radical propagandist David Horowitz. (I used to correspond with Horowitz for a while – or I should say I made the mistake of responding at length to one of his emails and he started using me as some sort of sounding board for what I imagine are pretty fierce demons as regards his years on the left – and he is no different from when he was a commie – possibly worse and certainly more bitter in the extremity of his simple-minded manichaen worldview. Of course, the pay’s better. Finally had to tell him to fuck off, he was such a flaming creep.) Give me a break…the current governing coalition is overloaded with extremely powerful ideologues of the far-right and their network of committed activist crazies is more powerful, better funded and more far-flung than any equally radical left groups have ever been – not even close. It’s a fact. If you’re fine with that, so be it. But to talk about liberals not seeing their house being attacked by termites, when eliminationist propagandists like Coulter and Limbaugh are preaching to their pitchfork gangs that the liberal “house” should be burned down – and with us in it – doesn’t make any sense. The eliminationist bile of that crowd is one reason I refuse to be particularly polite when responding to their adherents and apologists. (I don’t believe that fits you, but I do think you underestimate them and how much damage they are capable of.)
January 18th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
“You don’t catch me walking through Watts at midnight and expecting police to come save me.”
Unfortunately, I have a nasty feeling that the good folks who live there have equally low expectations…
What this has to do with war, journalism and terrorism in Iraq, I’m not certain.
January 18th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
I’m sorry to say I’m distantly related to Tom Coburn, although the family has historically been liberal since the late 1600s. The offshoots are wildly religious conservatives. New Hampshire specifically, and apparently Oklahoma.
January 18th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
“What this has to do with war, journalism and terrorism in Iraq, I’m not certain. ”
Apparently, it’s about bad neighborhoods and when to stay out of them. That’s a question I’d put to the US Government. Know when to say when. And where.
January 18th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
Michael B.: I hope it is not because their families are worried about the “Christian†thing, because experience shows that the more publicity the more likely it is that abductees will be released.
No, not at all. The CPT organization and the families took the opposite tack from the Monitor and Carroll family, one that has often proved more effective at protecting the captured: immediate, widespread publicity, and appeals for their release.
In particular, there were appeals from many Muslim and Arab organizations, in Iraq and throughout the middle east.
This kind of support was readily available because of the CPT’s continuous presence in Iraq from before the invasion, and their long history of accompaniment work among Palestinians under occupation.
January 18th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Michael, I encourage you to visit the freethecaptivesnow.org site, especially the first two weeks’ postings, when most of the public appeals were made. There are links there to all the relevant orgs and media.
Might you be able to interest your paper?
I tried not to get my hopes up too high recently when there was a prisoner release by the US military of about 500 people (including two or three Iraqi journalists who’d been held for months; maybe this was an effort to move back behind Burma as the country holding the most journalists in the world). 500 people freed sounds like a lot, and it is in an absolute sense, but it’s sadly a drop in the bucket among the estimated 15,000 prisoners we’re holding in Iraq.
January 18th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
It is a shame that this type of thing is happening, but like many other jobs there are risks which bring us rewards. The rewards being a free press, and the risk is great – both abroad and at home. We need more journalists of this ilk, let freedom ring! I hope that Jill is released soon.
As for Woody, I have asked myself more than a few times why Marc would allow this buffoon to bellow on. I think I finally get it – for one he (Marc) is commited to free speech; but I also think he allows this posting so we can get a grasp of the mental state (if one can call it that) of those who support this administrations current madness.
I must admit, we have a daunting task before us (dealing with characters like this) – although it is not as dangerous as roaming the streets of Iraq (some would say that is debatable), it is just another example of the type of job no one wants to do! However, Marc makes a good go at it. Bravo!
January 18th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
That last condescending comment comes to you from VJ, whose site is headed up “I get my news from the DailyShow.” Okayyyy. And, that gives you a leg up on conservatives?! Try FOX if you want news untainted by cute smirks and expressions by a comedian influenced by and enamored with the fawning attentions of the left.
VJ, it’s one thing to take personal risks for rewards. It’s another thing to risk the lives of others for your own rewards that they can’t share. With many more journalists like this, we would need another battalion in the mideast just to free them. The next time there’s a big fire in a hotel, just let all the brave journalists run in the building for an inside story forgetting the risks to themselves and the firemen. It’s one thing to take risks for a great cause. It’s another thing to be plain stupid.
I’m concerned for this journalist and pray for her, but her plight shouldn’t force discussion of journalism’s methods to be quashed–which, is exactly the opposite of the cause for freedom of expression and information that she sought.
If what I say is madness to you, it’s only because you’re limiting any willingness to expand your frame of thought and reach for solutions that might be better than those you’ve accepted so far.
January 18th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Woody, I have to admit you are amusing. Your views are about as shallow as your read of my blog. I would follow your advice except for one thing, I have no wish to visit my pre-teen naivete. Let’s just both pray for Jill and set aside our differences.
January 18th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
“Try FOX if you want news untainted by cute smirks and expressions by a comedian influenced by and enamored with the fawning attentions of the left.”
I agree, Woody. It is about time that America has a news outlet where it can get its fill of Natalie Holloway, criminal trials, missing honeymooners, and other human interest fluff “untainted” by a comedian. Wait a minute, strike that last part. Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are, at least unintentionally, much better comedians than Jon Stewart. Thank you, FOX news.
January 19th, 2006 at 1:30 am
The pattern here is sadly familiar. As in the case of Margaret Hassan, who devoted her life to the improvement of Iraq and was murdered for it, and as in the case of the Christian Peacemaker Team — whereabouts unknown—, Iraq is full of people who reject the idea of, at minimum, and to say the least, neutrality.
I would like to say that kidnapping and murdering innocents is a self-defeating tactic or strategy, but it seems to be neither. May God protect Jill Carroll and the Christian Peacemaker Team, and all the rest of the hostages, and may God do better by Iraq than He has the Sudan, not that anyone cares about genocide in the Sudan, since Bush can’t be blamed for it.
January 19th, 2006 at 8:42 am
Woody,
Whores for war like it hard!
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
January 19th, 2006 at 9:09 am
VJ, I looked at other entries on your site. Before you consider me shallow, first consider if you’re delusional.
We have no differences on wanting the safe return of Jill Carroll. What I’m saying needs to be considered is whether or not she crossed that line of pursuing a story beyond what common sense and life dictates.
This question has to answered, even informally, every day by journalists covering terrorists in Iraq, drug lords in Columbia, street gangs in inner cities (rosedog), natural disasters such as volcanos, etc. It seems as if everyone here is afraid to address that concern or that they take the position that any and all pursuit for a story is noble therefore no risks are unacceptable. I don’t accept that–especially, when the lives of unrelated parties are put at risk. If a fireman tells you to stay behind the ropes, you better do it or you’re on your own.
Why can’t many in the field of journalism see this problem themselves or at least be willing to discuss it? There is a line that should not be crossed, and that line needs to be defined and discussed before the moment comes–not at it. It’s unrealistic and unsafe not to do so.
January 19th, 2006 at 9:38 am
So your thesis is to not try to get the story. We get that. And when they do, you don’t accept it as true even when it comes straight from the mouths of affected Iraqis. Journalism is a problem, starting with trying to get a job. The pay is well, beyond dismal. The result of getting a temp job like this is you could get killed.
The only thing shills like you want is the government propaganda repeated and blessed. That isn’t what Journalists do. PR people do what you want. Painting a school that’s been blown up several times isn’t worth the risk to cover according to Lara Logan of CBS. There’s your answer to the good stories untold. They have no real value in the equation. You want that, go do it yourself.
January 19th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Wasn’t Woody part of the cheerleading squad screaming that everything in Iraq was going swimingly and reporters were just not leaving the comforts of the Green Zone because they were lazy, only focusing on the negative?
January 19th, 2006 at 9:43 am
“May God protect Jill Carroll and the Christian Peacemaker Team, and all the rest of the hostages, and may God do better by Iraq than He has the Sudan, not that anyone cares about genocide in the Sudan, since Bush can’t be blamed for it.”
May “He” indeed but if history is any measure this never happens. No small detail that. It’s the Christain Science Monitor, who seem to be trying to get her back, which, believe me no one else will.
January 19th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Neodude yes he was.
January 19th, 2006 at 10:59 am
Actually, I wasn’t.
So, everyone is afraid to address the question that I raised.
January 19th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Woody,
So you whores for wars like it hard?
KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!
And all that?
January 19th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
NeoDude, maybe you should go play “Alice’s Restaurant” and listen to the part about the induction center over-and-over until you get it out of your system.
January 19th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Woody,
So HOW do you whores for wars like it?
January 19th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
(Humming with fingers in ears, regarding the above several posts.)
The Christian Science Monitor has a site with updates on Jill Carroll. (As of right now, there’s been nothing since her mother issued a statement this morning.)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/carroll_update.html
Nell, thanks for the freethecaptives link. I’d wondered where to easily get updates on the Christian Peacemaker team that’s been kidknapped.
Also, although nell has already linked to it, I urge everyone to read Riverbend’s (Baghdad Burning) memories of Jill Carroll’s translator.
January 19th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Gadzooks. That friggin’ thing just posted without my apparent participation. Oh, well. Here’s the link again. You have to scroll down to the post titled “Thanks for the Musicâ€
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Woody, the reason I found your question so infuriating, is that it suggests that the journalists reporting on the Iraq story are doing something that’s somehow frivolous, or at the very best optional, rather than recognizing that their purpose is central to the well being of everything that we hold dearest, not just as Americans, but as humans. Namely freedom and justice. They are the eyes and ears for the rest of us, our sacred witnesses. What they are not, is not people taking needless risks, and then expecting to be rescued if they screw up by the Big Daddy Military.
About walking through Watts at midnight. As someone who, for many years, did exactly that (although usually it was East LA, not South LA), there were stories—and more important really, perspectives on stories—that I never in a million, zillion years could have gotten any other way other than being there in the middle of it all.
I had several very close calls, but—unlike Jill Carroll—no one intended to do harm to me personally. The kind of courage displayed by those who are the truly intrepid reporters now in Iraq, is one for which we all owe a debt of gratitude.
Or as the poet, Ariel Dorfman writes about the terrible aftermath of the coup in Chile that Marc has referred to so often, the one that brought Pinochet to power, and forced Dorfman, among many others, into exile:
“But how can I tell their story
If I was not there?….â€
January 19th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Send Riverbend an e-mail…she totally answers back.
January 19th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
rosedog, I never said that Carrol’s job was frivolous, but how she covers it is optional. Freedom and justice are not furthered by her being captured.
If you had been my wife, daughter, or sister: I never would have let you go out into the slums by yourself. I can appreciate the knowledge that we gain from reporters who take risks, just as I can explorers; but, I can’t recommend such jobs and can’t over-stress considerations to avoid unnecessary and dangerous risks in those jobs.
January 19th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
If you were married to rosedog you wouldn’t have a damn thing to say about it. This yet another tip off to just how far back in time you are. Freedom, a long struggle for women in case your history is rusty, doesn’t mean you dictate who does what and where, and take what job you deem safe or worthy.
January 19th, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Woody,
What does your lady think about your pronouncements and creeds on safety and freedom?
January 20th, 2006 at 12:52 am
hi to all i feel very sorry for jill and her family but its her fault also when she knew iraq is full of beheaders and kidnappers she should have never gone there why cant she be normal and get a normal job like others in the U.S atleast she would live long,
i knew a guy whos friend was working in iraq but he left his job as the war started and hes happy now even though he gets half of what he was earning but hey atleast he lives long,
coming down to the situation of war i respect Mr. bush and Mr. toni ,they have done a good thing for the christians, they stood up and thats the right way u see i have been to many muslim countries (i wont take names) and they r all terrors,i do agree some muslims r very nice family people but those r the ones that dont even come on T.V,
which man could lay another human being down and cut his neck with a knife ,
they r devils and if it was in my hands i would drop a atom bomb on them and end they evils for once and for all,
most of u now may think that hey an atom bomb will kill women and children,well listen up when they started it they should have known the future they also killed our women and children and in war and love anything goes,
an eye for an eye
thanks all
January 20th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Mark York, there you go…ending any chance of rosedog and me hooking up, despite me being married and considering what philosophies that rosedog and I have in common. Maybe in another life. (sigh) Well, at least she likes football and baseball and would appreciate the dangerous and exciting life of an accountant.
January 20th, 2006 at 9:34 am
So do Golden retrievers.
January 20th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
“Woody,
So you whores for wars like it hard?
KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!
And all that?”
God damn it. Will you cut that shit out? Is rational debate too much too ask? Fuck…
January 20th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Following a Dream –
I commend Jill Carroll for her commitment to her her trade, Journalism. I also commend and hold her in the highest respects for her passion to follow her dreams as a freelance journalist writing for the CSM. I am praying to God, weeping, and hoping that her captors release her unharmed as soon as possible. Jill was only following her dream and passion in life, which was writing and “for the love of the story”. Her dream took her to a very dangerous place in the world we live in. She knew the risks and still chose to pursue her dream. How many of us sitting on our asses, in our cubicles or offices here in the states, can say we are IMing our friends and loved ones from a combat zone. Please think about this. Please join me and pray for her and that she is released unharmed.
Adam
January 20th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Well the bottomline is we hope they let her go.
January 20th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
I guess that we’ve become so use to Islamic terrorism that we discuss the judgement of the victim and the hope that we hold for her rather than focus on the real problem–criminals and murderers guided by their religious beliefs. The kidnappers deserve more focus from us and everyone.
January 20th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
This whole thing is a religious question for sure. And the myths tend to be incorrect, Makes no difference because they believe it. Never get used to murder.
January 21st, 2006 at 9:52 am
Woody to rosedog – “If you had been my wife, daughter, or sister: I never would have let you go out into the slums by yourself.”
A reality show with me and Woody as roomates was proposed a bit back, although nobody from FX or HBO has called me about it, so I guess the idea died. For my money, it’s been way too long since Archie Bunker left the prime time airwaves. My pitch is a sitcom with a guy like Woody who’s got a wife, daughter and sister like rosedog. It would be great. I would TIVO that sucker in a minute.
January 21st, 2006 at 10:43 am
Maybe we can get Lee Goldberg to pitch it? He’s the only one with the connections I know of.
January 21st, 2006 at 12:43 pm
“My pitch is a sitcom with a guy like Woody who’s got a wife, daughter and sister like rosedog.”
Actually I think this has real promise. (Not the rosedog-specific aspect. But a Woody-like character, accountant, smart, warm, sense of humor, but ravingly conservative…..with liberal women all around him.) It would also benefit from a reg-like character (or Mark York), smart, liberal, intellectual, but at times unable to keep from becoming froth-at-the-mouth furious at the Woody character. Sister’s husband?
No, better how about neighbor, with whom Woody shares some activity—like, say, surf fishing—along with a third guy.
Okay, WHO do we know who would possibly be interesting as a model for the third guy in the surf fishing, politics-talking triumvirate….? Let’s see, fisherman….fisherman….strong opinions….rapier witted…. interestingly quirky…..
I know it’ll come to me.
Also, I think Eleanore, if she’s willing, for the local librarian….who is anything but the shy and quiet type, but knows all, sees all. (Eleonore did I dream this, or did you say you were a librarian in non-blog life….?)
January 21st, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Yeah, not only do I resemble those kind remarks, I’m also a fish biologist, but we better make it fisherman. Don’t want to get too complicated here. It’s television.
January 23rd, 2006 at 9:17 am
Errrrrrr. Brrrrrr. Drrrrrrrrr. Crrrrrrr.
January 25th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
I realize this thread is likely dead, buried, with flowers planted, but just in case anyone checks.: I certainly didn’t mean to (fictionally) relegate Eleanore only to librarian. With your breadth of knowledge, Miz E., you should probably be mayor of the town—fictional or otherwise.
January 30th, 2006 at 10:51 am
I have been searching through the Christian website to try and find some of Jill Carolls previous articles and have found nothing. I find that very strance considering that she is a correspondant of that news service. I have googled her, and to no avail. There seems to be only articles about her abduction.
If anyone could actually point me to some of her past articles that would be great. Either email me, or post some links here.
January 30th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
My heart grieves for this dear woman and her family. I was held against my will in Africa for a year; when I see her dear face on the news or in the video – my heart breaks. I feel so helpless as I read and watch her story unfold. I pray for mercy and grace and that God may answer her parents and others prayers. Godspeed Jill
February 2nd, 2006 at 6:06 pm
Dedicated To Jill Carrol
live it is an adventure, to feel is an emotion in freedom way because The Peace is my destiny
February 9th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Count me as one of the people that couldn’t care less about this idiot. She put herself in the position and I’m not so sure it wasn’t intentional. Wouldn’t shock me to find out she’s in cahoots with these “kidnappers”.
But, as I said… I couldn’t care less what happens to the woman. I haven’t any pity for self-inflicted pain.
February 10th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
I certainly hope there are not U.S. Soldiers “hunting” for Carroll. They should not have to endanger themselves strictly because an overeager journalist took an unecessary risk (especially when her reporting has not been exactly fair to Soldiers in the first place). Let her friends at the Christian Science Monitor drive around Baghdad looking for her, maybe then they’ll see the so-called “freedom fighters” for what they really are.
February 10th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
STAN your the MAN. Your so right brother. I was wounded in Iraq. But not until I evened the numbers pretty good. She chose to risk her life. She chose to defend them. I wont shed a tear for her if her head comes off. I dont have any tears left. I shed them for all the friends I lost there. There always has to be a handful of jack-ass Americans that have to EXPOSE the suffering of our enemy. Far as Im concerned she is my enemy.
February 11th, 2006 at 3:33 am
Those flaming Woody’s view about Jill Carroll probably should read the news today. Jill said “Please, just do whatever they want. Give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time. Please do it fast.”
I recall that she mentioned not wanting to be a parachute journalists, and that she had discussed about kidnapping with her parents. How arrogant. We should not negotiate with terrorists. I, too, have concern about people putting themselves into stupid positions and then expecting the military, which already has its hands full, risking soldiers’ lives for them.
February 13th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
HER TRANSLATOR WAS NOT KILLED!!!!!!!!!
On this whole “Jill Carroll Abduction” ordeal. The more I read into this, the more I can’t help but laugh and call BS. She’s either really stupid or dying to be a martyr.
Let’s break a few things down and we’ll see what we can come up with.
Her first picture: She’s still dressed as an American but does that look like the face of a woman abducted at gunpoint by terrorists? Her face looks a little routine, if you ask me. She looks like she’s getting the first stage of the hoax out of the way and she’s just making a brief appearance. If this were truely a kidnapped woman, taken at gunpoint by terrorists, my guess is she’d be crying hysterically and begging for her life. But ask yourself a few questions.
Having seen what happens to “freelance” folks in Iraq, even to some contractors, why would you venture into the middle of a war zone without a destination and without a set purpose? And if I get the libertard answer that “one person can make a difference” I’m gonna puke. Any idiot knows if they go into a war zone without a calling, their chances of getting killed are huge. So, if this is real, did she ask for this? Yes, just like Nick Berg did.
She claimed to have been kidnapped at gunpoint and that her translator was killed. Having seen yesterday’s news, we learn that, in fact, her translator was not killed. The rumor that the translator was killed sure was a good way to make this hoax look seriously real. But where’s the translator? He hightailed it outta there because this is Jill Carroll’s stage. This is her spotlight. We can’t have a woman and a translator dying for Arab women. We can only have an American woman die.
Once again, in a world, in a religion where women are hated and treated like dogs, why would “terrorists” be demanding the release of women? What’s more is if they hate women so badly, why are “terrorists” sparing Carroll’s life?
Why is the release of female prisoners such a priority if we just released 5 of them and the US is only holding 6 more? This “kidnapping” is about 6 detained females? 6 females hated by their society and religion? Can it get any more ridiculous than that?
If her “terrorist captives” hate women so badly and we haven’t met their demands, why hasn’t she been killed? I thought terrorists were hardcore killers? But they’re holding out for 6 women?
Who are these “sources close to the kidnappers” who are giving all this information?
If the captors are serious about this ordeal and she’s in such danger, why would these unknown sources reveal that she’s in a “safe house” owned by one of the kidnappers in downtown Baghdad? Can’t we trace stuff like that? Don’t we have the capability of locating a house where hostages are being held? Of course we do, so why would they reveal that much info? Because she’s not there, they’re not terrorists and this whole thing is a hoax.
What exactly is a “safe house” where terrorists hold Americans hostage and threaten to slaughter them? I didn’t hear Nick Berg’s captors tell anyone he was being held in a “safe house.”
Jill Carroll tells America to “give the terrorists whatever they want.” Right? But the report we get says the kidnappers have “more specific demands than releasing all women from jail,” ‘but refused to disclose these demands.’” Riiiiiiiiiiiight.
If you put a deadline on someone’s life that if you didn’t get all your demands met by that time you’d kill them, why wouldn’t you release the details of all your demands? Possibly because they need to think of some more? Possibly related to females in that area? Mark my words, they’ll have no other demands unless they’re related to women.
Her kidnappers say they have to kill her “according to Islamic law.” What exactly is this Islamic law and why would women freelance into this land if Islamic law requires them to be killed?
Her kidnappers claim Carroll is in “good psychological condition.” Are you kidding me? Terrorists now give a damn about a captive’s state of mind? Even after they’ve put out a deadline until their murder? And who did this psych eval? Do they have doctors in the “safe house,” tending to captives who are going to be killed?
NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE!
The report also says Carroll is “doing housework with the other women in the place where she’s being held.” Again, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?! She’s doing housework because she’s not a captive. Why would a terrorist disclose that information anyway? This sounds like Queer Eye For The Terrorist Guy. They’ve given her a makeover, she’s wearing Arab clothing now, she’s doing housework………where does it end? Will this ever begin to look like a real kidnapping?
And finally, I know my family’s response even when I was in the military and spent 277 days in a combat zone, but let’s take a civilian’s family into the spotlight this time. What would your family say to you if you came home from work one day and told them you were going to Iraq to “make a difference?” They’d beg you not to go because it’s not safe, it’s a combat zone, it’s a terrorist’s haven and you WILL GET YOURSELF KILLED!
Ignoring those facts, are you just asking to die if you’re untrained for a combat zone but go anyway? Yes. You are asking to be killed.
And mark my words, ladies and gentlemen. If Jill Carroll ends up dead, it will be because of one thing and one thing only………….
It’ll be a choreographed killing, planned out to look real but ultimately make Jill Carroll look like a martyr for the Arab Woman. I can see it now.
“Poor Jill Carroll. She was killed because 6 Arab women weren’t released from US custody. Damn that President Bush. He doesn’t give in to terrorist’s demands and doesn’t release terror suspects. He killed Jill Carroll. Poor Jill Carroll. ”
Sounds nice, huh?
She’ll die by her own hands. Sure, someone else may do the actual killing and they may even get it on video tape, but this whole ordeal is a hoax and if she dies it’ll be because she has requested it to “send a message.” My guess? The U.S. won’t give in to some lame terrorist group staging a kidnapping and Jill Carroll will miraculously escape or be rescued because they’ll finally realize they’re fighting a losing battle. She’ll either have to gather the guts of a martyr and actually die for the Arab woman’s cause or they’ll dream up some stupid rescue or escape story.
February 22nd, 2006 at 7:37 pm
1 life 2 peace 3 freedom ?
or
1 life 2 freedom 3 peace ?
July 31st, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Jill Carroll is a liar, the whole thing is a hoax, and she is still in hiding after all these months hoping that people would forget, but I didn’t and I won’t until she come out and speak up.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
[...] be – such things don’t materialize from nothing. Coverage has been extensive: Boston, a Marc Cooper blog entry with numerous links, a BBC story about the videotape shown by Al-Jazeera. AKPC_IDS += [...]
August 4th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
This is great to have out there for people to see. I think I saw this on xxxfilmjobs though.