This morning a spokesperson for the US military announced that four people that were connected to the kidnapping of my good friend Jill were arrested in Iraq. Here is a piece of the AP story:
Marines have arrested four Iraqi men in connection with the kidnapping of U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, who was freed last March after 82 days in captivity, a U.S. spokesman said Wednesday. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the four, who were not identified, were arrested in Anbar province west of Baghdad but he did not say when.
Richard Bergenheim, the editor for Jill’s paper, The Christian Science Monitor, issued a statement:
Jill Carroll and her Monitor colleagues are very grateful for all of the efforts the US government made to secure Jill’s freedom after she was held against her will for 82 days. Like reporters everywhere, we are reassured to hear that several of those believed to have held Jill have been apprehended. The daily threat of kidnapping in Iraq remains acute for all. Everything possible needs to be done to relieve Iraqis and others of this scourge.
I’m glad that those that put my friend through this terrible ordeal and murdered her translator Alan are finally going to be brought to justice. For those following all this, make sure to take a look at Jill’s story told in her own words when it is published in a series of articles in the Monitor starting this Sunday.
maybe all this will help us not forget there are more kidnappers out there.
Like a group who still have Iraqi journalists Rim Zeid and Marwan Khazaal
see http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18519
from Reporters sans frontières. there is a link to a petition for their release.
While not a psychologist, I suspect writing about it in this form is a good thing, a way of taking back those 82 days and seizing control of the relevant memories by deploying them for your own purposes.
Personally, I’m really looking forward to reading about what happened to Jill next week in the Christian Science Monitor.
I really hope that if these guys played a role in Jill’s kidnapping that they are brought to justice in its entirety. I also pray that this will help give Jill at least some semblance of closure. She seems like an incredibly strong woman and I’m glad that she’s alive and well enough to share her experiences with those of us who were in her corner throughout the whole ordeal.
Give me a break “josephus”.
Yeah, you know, we wouldn’t want “veangeance brigade” suspects to actually suffer now. I mean, they only kidnapped and threatened to kill a civilian for months.
Prisoner abuse (guantanamo/abu gharib) IS wrong, but as far as this case goes, I have no sympathy for the people who did this (or could be tied into this). I guess that is why I don’t get picked for jury duty. We must remember how people who would slit your throat (if given the chance) are people too.
Before you label me a neoconservative, let me also state how guilty the American military is here too. I was especially shocked at the case of American soldiers raping and killing a 14-year old Iraqi civilian girl and her family. I hope those American soldiers pay the worst possible sentence for their crimes.
I’m going to end this by saying how happy I am that the people who did this to Jill can finally be brought to justice. I don’t know Jill personally, but I have been following her story all throughout 2006. It is very fortunate that she returned home safe, and I look forward to hearing what she has to say when she details her struggle.
I think we should all hope and pray that those four Iraqi men don’t end up doing time in “Gitmo,†the infamous Guantanamo Bay hoosgau, for kidnapping Jill.