How Shall We Think of Jill Carroll?

“I regret that I have but one life to give to my country.” Nathan Hale.

“Now I’ll show you how an Italian dies.” Fabrizio Quattrocchi

Abdul Rahman refuses to renounce his Christianity even when faced with the death penalty for his faith.

Jill Carroll shows up in at least four videos begging for her life, begging for terrorists to be released in exchange for her release, denouncing the policies of her country and supporting the Islamofacists who are murdering thousands of innocent people.

She is now free of her “captors” and claims that her statements were made under duress. This may well be true. But it remains to be seen what her actual beliefs are.

In any event her statements do not reflect well on her. She is an unfortunate young woman who is willing to say anything and do anything to live. In that respect, she is in the company of many people who are not heros.

We should give thanks along with her family that she is now free of her physical captivity and that she is alive. Her captors certainly have made a habit of murdering their victims in brutal ways. Apparently she has shown enough sympathy for them in her previous reporting that they decided that killing was not in their best interest.

So, she is not a hero, simply a recently freed young woman. I wonder what she will take away from her experience.

UPDATE:

Before we jump to any more conclusions and switch from condemnation to praise for Jill Carroll we should think carefully about what kidnap captives do under duress. I have always had reservations about anointing anyone who survives captivity with the appellation “hero.”

The war in Iraq has created a very high level of antagonism and vitriol among those who are ostensibly on “our” side. The members of the MSM have mostly taken a position that is either above the fray, or is actively antagonistic to the American effort.

So, while we should be happy for her and for her family that she has been released alive and unharmed, it is worth while to examine what she has done and said during her captivity and afterwards.


Let’s begin with her videotaped message to George Bush after she was released. She claims that she was afraid of retribution

Voice: Do you have a message for Mr. Bush?

Carroll: (Laughs) Yeah, he needs to stop this war. He knows this war is wrong. He knows that it was illegal from the very beginning. He knows that it was built on a mountain of lies and I think he needs to finally admit that to the American people and make the troops go home and he doesn’t care about his own people.


Jill: 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.

Not exactly a Nathan Hale or Fabrizio Quattrocchi statement but let it go. She is a young woman fearful for her life.

Jill: Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views.

“Accurate?” She denounced the American effort to bring democracy to Iraq and said that the terrorists would win. To say that this is not “accurate” strikes me as suspicious. If, on being accused of murder I respond that the indictment is “not accurate” you can be reasonably sure that I killed someone.

Jill: They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Alan Enwiya are criminals, at best. They robbed Alan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and my friends--and all those around the world, who have prayed so fervently for my release--through a horrific experience. I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this.

I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be aired on television, and broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times.

So she is retracting the part about being well treated, not the part where she denounces our efforts in Iraq?

Jill: 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.

Forgive me for picking at nits, but having experienced a President lying by parsing the meaning of “is” and the MSM’s determination to give Islamofacism the superior moral ground, I am waiting to hear Jill Carroll state unequivocally which side she is on. Until then, I remain a skeptic about whose side she is on.

UPDATE:

Debbie Schussel links to some articles that pre-date Jill Carroll’s kidnapping, here and one that follows it here.