Jazeera airs video of kidnapped U.S. journalist

[ECH1969]

The abductors of U.S. journalist Jill Carrol have threatened to kill her if the United States does not free Iraqi women prisoners within 72 hours, Al Jazeera television said on Tuesday.

The station aired a brief video apparently showing Carroll speaking to the camera, without broadcasting her voice.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060117/ts_nm/iraq_journalist_dc_1

[Postmanx]

1. How Barbaric

Kidnapping civilians.

[951-Riverside]

3. How Barbaric

Bombing, raping & torturing civilans... Oh wait if its being done by the good old US of A its not the same.

[Postmanx]

4. Thanks for putting things into perspective

Now I see that both the US and its military are evil and the terrorists are actually the good guys.

All kidding aside, we are clearly fighting an amoral enemy.

[freefall]

5. And all kidding aside, we are clearly fighting them amorally. n/t

[PassingFair]

6. Welcome to DU, freefall!

Funny that those whom we dub "terrorists" in Iraq
would be viewed as "the resistance" if WE were
under occupation by a foreign power.

Funny that some people CANNOT see beyond their own noses.

[brentspeak]

14. Wrong

Did the Minutemen take and murder hostages? Blow up civilians?

The war is wrong and stupid from our end because of the insurgents; we're there knowing insurgents will put civilians between themselves and us. The insurgents will continue to slaughter the Iraqi population long after we're out of there.

The bizarre romanticizing of the insurgents from the left goes on...

[951-Riverside]

17. "...Did the Minutemen take and murder hostages? Blow up civilians?"

What the hell does that have to do with iraq?

The bizarre romanticizing of the insurgents from the left goes on...

Thats far from the truth but whatever you say FRriend.

[Chemical Bill]

24. Did our forefathers make slaves out of people?

Did we attack Indian villages and leave no survivors? What did the Puritans do with "witches" in Salem Massachusetts? We are not without sin, either in history or in our handling of the Iraq war. Just being there in the first place, with no justification but lies, is immoral.

Bill

[Postmanx]

7. I disagree

If anything, we have bent over backards to fight an overly moral war.

[Don Claybrook]

8. Oh really?

First of all, exactly what in the hell is a moral war? I am not under the impression that a war can be moral.

Next, why do WE kidnap civilians in Iraq with regularity? Why do WE torture people to death in Iraq? Why do WE torture kids in the presence of their parents in Iraq? You're obviously not equipped to answer these questions, so take them as rhetorical and go do some reading.

[Postmanx]

12. I see zero evidence for your claims

What I do see is a military that goes out of their way to protect civilians and to treat civilians and prisoners with respect and dignity.

[951-Riverside]

13. Where have you been getting this from?

Rush Limbaugh/Right Wing Radio?

Next you're going to tell us Abu Gharib never happened because the U.S Military "goes out of their way to protect civilians and to treat civilians and prisoners with respect and dignity", right?

[brentspeak]

15. For the most part, U.S. soldiers go out of there way

to avoid shooting civilians. This despite the insurgent's usual strategy of trying to put civilians between themselves and our troops.

Abu Ghraib notwithstanding, the typical American troop are honorable men and women.

[PassingFair]

16. Abu Ghraib notwithstanding!

:rofl:

Fallujah NOT withSTANDING

White Phosphorus

Torture

100,000 Iraqi citizens

Tell it to the ghost of Hugh Thompson.
It is hard NOT to "put civilians between the troops when you are dropping BOMBS on neighborhoods.

It is time for civil disobedience.

It is PAST time.

WE have opened Pandora's box. A non-returnable theocracy is inside.

[High Plains]

22. They need to try a little harder.

They are killing civilians at checkpoints and on highways every week.

They are bombing homes and villages every week.

They may be honorable, but it looks more like they are scared shitless and shooting anything they think is a threat.

[bpilgrim]

18. and we got the pictures to prove it...

more...
http://news.globalfreepress.com/gallery/index.php?cat=2

peace

[wordpix2]

19. the military is doing best it can in face of * outsourcing to KBR, Hallib

burton & the like. These private warriors are screwing things up for the military, the contracts are out of control and no one is accountable.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/

[High Plains]

23. Are you out of your mind?

[lumpy]

27. We have devistated a country

and killed thousands of innocent people based on lies about leadership activities. What the hell is an overly moral war ?

[lumpy]

26. You forgot kidnapping

and jailing thousands of civilians,(including children) without charge and legal recourse. This admonition of US practices does not mean that kidnapping of any nature by anyone is condoned.

[stellanoir]

2. thank god she is still alive

Consider praying for her as you know the "misadministration" won't give a flying flop.

OMG I hope she survives to tell the tale.

If anyone can send to Al Jazeera ( I can't) send them riverbend's most recent post regarding Jill and her interpreter.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com

[INDIA]

10. Every time that someone criticizes the insurgency

for being barbaric or without morals, it is the knee jerk response to say that U.S. forces are just as bad or worse. I've seen it a dozen times and I'm tired of arguing about it. It's just plain stupid.

[Don Claybrook]

11. I've been in your position before

And you'll notice that I spent my post above talking about what we in the US have done and continue to do. In this particular case, it's because the poster apparently refuses to see that we have done lots of things just as unsavory as what the insurgency has done. I think what it comes down to is that bad is bad, no matter who is doing the deed. As a progressive I can and will call out anyone who is doing wrong, whether Sunni, Shia, Democrat, Republican, athiest, Christian, whatever.

I remember once responding about the story of an execution that took place in Iran. I made some sort of commentary condemning the barbarism with the disclaimer "if this is true". I spent a few posts after that explaining that yes, I realized anti-Iranian propaganda is out there and that we might not have the full story, and that the US has committed countless atrocities since its inception. That still didn't change the fact that, if true, the Iranian story in question was appalling and inexcusable. The same holds true here. If the people holding the reporter are who we think they are, and if they do her harm because of their hatred of the US, then their actions are reprehensible and inexcusable.

However, you'll surely see the need to occasionally point out the hypocrisy of the US acting like the "guys in white hats" to those who have never before thought in those terms. After all, most of us here who are Americans grew up believing, knowing, that we were the good guys and other countries were either allies or bad guys. It takes a little time to grow up and find out that we're not the heroes our national mythology would have us believe. So don't get too sick of it; this is necessary medicine if we're to survive as a nation.

[goforit]

9. I guess this is the World War Cheney's been looking for.

[wordpix2]

20. we need a total shakedown of BushCo

[951-Riverside]

21. *kick*

[DeepModem Mom]

25. WP: U.S. Journalist (Jill Carroll) Shown as Hostage (on al-Jazeera)

U.S. Journalist Shown as Hostage
Kidnappers in Iraq Threaten to Kill Her, Demanding Female Prisoners Be Freed
By Nelson Hernandez and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 18, 2006; Page A10


BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 -- The captors of an American journalist kidnapped in Baghdad 10 days ago threatened to kill her in three days unless authorities freed all female prisoners in Iraq, according to an Arabic television network that aired a brief video of the woman Tuesday night.

Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter based in Baghdad, was shown speaking, but there was no sound with the video shown by al-Jazeera. Her skin was pale and her dark hair was pulled back from her face and straying in untidy strands. She appeared to be exhausted, but her face remained composed as she spoke.

The clip was the first sight of Carroll, 28, since she was abducted by gunmen in Baghdad as she left the office of Sunni Arab politician Adnan Dulaimi on Jan. 7. Her Iraqi interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, was shot and killed.

CBS News reported that the name "Vengeance Brigade" appeared on a banner partially obscured by al-Jazeera's logo when the tape aired. A group by that name kidnapped a Swedish Iraqi politician in early 2005 and released him after demanding millions of dollars in ransom. It was not known if any ransom was paid in that case. Groups in Iraq often adopt and change names at will, and it was not known if the same band was responsible for both abductions.

Insurgent groups in Iraq often include among their demands the freeing of female detainees held by U.S. forces here. Shortly after the Carroll kidnapping, protesters at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad -- which had been raided by U.S. and Iraqi forces -- spoke angrily of what they said was the U.S. detention of a Sunni woman and her young daughter from the community of Abu Ghraib just outside the capital. U.S. authorities have not confirmed such a detention....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/17/AR2006011700793.html