Oh my God. I’m in utter and complete shock. My hands are trembling as I’m writing this. My very good friend Jill Carroll has been kidnapped while on assignment in Iraq for The Christian Science Monitor!!
She is one of the kindest, most sincere, honest people I have ever met. She is a very motivated journalist who always went out of her way to seek the truth. I’m speechless. My words escape me at this moment. The knot in my stomach is more than I can bear. I pray to God to protect her and bring home safely. She really doesn’t deserve this. She has been working hard for years to report the true side of the story.
I met Jill while working at The Jordan Times three years ago. She has become a dear friend since then. She attended my wedding and was even a supervising usher working hard to make our big day a success. Please, God, return her home safely!
Update 1: According to the Associated Press, the Iraqi police are currently looking for Jill. AP also ran a profile of Jill here.
Update 2: This Iraq-based reporter and blogger is a friend of Jill’s there and has written an emotional post about her. Another blogger who knows her personally is also traumatized by her capture. The Washington Post has also run a story on Jill’s abduction and put Jill on the front page.
Update 3: Jeff and I gathered together links to some of the articles that Jill wrote while working in Iraq, four from CSM and one from American Journalism Review that’s quite revealing. We were so proud to see her byline, we tried to never miss highlighting her stories there:
I also hope for her safe return. And that the folk who kidnapped her are dealt with appropriately.
Natasha and Jeff, I am so sorry that someone so dear to you has been kidnapped. It is horrible every time, but when you have shared life with them (as other commenters here have)you are really with them in it.
I will join you in praying for Jill’s safety, protection and return.
Natasha and Jeff,
I am so sorry and I hope and pray your friend returns home safely.
God save us all.
lets hope this desperate and senseless act is righted by her immediate safe return.
but realize – THIS is the face of militant Islam, not the consequences of fighting it. these people are not “freedom fighters” as Michael Moore and Cindy wacko Sheehan have stated, they are vicious subhuman murderers waging a war on decent people trying to spread information and equality.
Natasha and Jeff, so sorry to hear this news about your friend. I hope and pray she is released safely.
Carmen, what are you smoking? Who do you think you are to come here and presume to know what Natasha or I think about the issues you espouse. You think that it took a bomb in Amman before we thought al Qaeda was whack? Get a grip. You make that presumption just because Natasha is Jordanian, just because she is Arab? Why is it that you assume she supports all these things? Blindness? Stupidity?!? Look around this blog, see who befriends Natasha and who Natasha befriends. Know that she is not your stereotype.
Worse, this has nothing to do with what you pop off about. Jill came to Jordan and worked as a reporter for dirt, scraping by paying her rent. She wanted to get to know the culture and understand the people. She went to Iraq to tell a real, true story. It scared the hell out of us but she was determined, no matter the risk. She didn’t do it for money or for glory — because neither was promised nor given — but for this slowly dwindling journalistic ideal of telling an important story, of helping us to understand one another — without stereotype or hyperbole. Thank you Carmen, but we don’t need your caveats; take your sorries elsewhere.
Natasha, I am very sorry to hear about your friend. I will be praying for safety and strength for her and her family at this difficult time.
P.s Carmen, I did not want to dignify your comment by an answer. However, I must say that you should have kept your mouth shut at this time. Apparentely, you do not care about this journalist as much as you care about your own people. However, you want us all to care about your cause and your people than own people. May be you should practise what you preach.
Jill Carroll is now “slave status” per the Quran. She is spoils of war aka:booty. Muslims can’t and won’t deny this fact.
I love the hypocrisy. This is what Israel deals with every day, savage animals that only know death and destruction. Everyone is pro-Palestinian because they only kill Jews, but when the gun is turned around and starts destroying English buses or abducting Christian innocents, then suddenly everyone has a bleeding heart. If a child in at a pizza place in Israel gets blown to bits no one cares because its Israel’s fault. But when your journalist gets taken Im supposed to care? The fact that Al-Queda needed to blow up your hotels in order for your country to finally admit that they are terrorists says it all. Be careful which terrorists you support, because its only a matter of time before they make the same argument against you and go after your family.
Golda said it best when she said “we’ll have peace with the Arabs the day they love their children more then they hate us.”
I wish her a safe return, but remember, the next time you crave the Palestinian view on the world, I want you to crave the view of those that abducted Jill as well. Their arguments are just as valid. Be careful who you stick up for, because ultimately they run out of enemies, and then youre next.
Sorry to hear this about your dear friend – it really makes no sense and will not help move the kidnappers’ agenda forward at all.
Best,
M