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:
Okay,
All you friends of Jill
Who wants to launch a “GET JILL” rescue operation?
I met Jill in Cairo over the summer. I’m with you guys.
To everyone posting concerns for Jill, Thank you so much. I know her very well and I am so scared right now.
We need to keep her in the media. Please, if you are a journalist, write about it. We can’t forget to think about her in a positive light every day. We can’t let her story fade as another day passes.
I am saddened to hear of Alan’s death. I pray his family will get through this.
Natasha,
This shit keeps hitting closer and closer to home isn’t it?
God I hate islamist terrorists!
Natasha, as everyone else, I wish for your friend’s safe return. I am so sorry.
Carmen, as someone else said above, you need to think before you speak (write). Your comment has no relevance nor does it relate at all to Natasha’s views and/or take on politics. It discredits you to just be looking for an opportunity to go off on your own rhetoric like this, instead of showing compassion for a fellow human being.
Luai’s link takes you to an Ann Arbor paper that has a tiny bit of a local angle on things. But they are kind of rehashing this thing picked up by the Associated Press from CSM that suggests Jill was an “aggressive” reporter. I’m growing tired of seeing this. It suggests she was reckless. She was not. As I mentioned in comments following the AP story that began this misrepresentation, Jill was anything but “aggressive.” She was focused and determined with a goal she was bound and determined to realize. She was finding a higher purpose.
http://tinyurl.com/7aoaw
Iam sorry i hope and pray for safe returns .
I hate to say this, but often, when it is someone who is working to really get the truth out… I wonder, did my own government(or some unknown part of it) have a hand in this? I am from the USA.
Insha’Allah, she is released safe and sound.