Posted on 01/11/2006 10:34:30 AM PST by Yaelle
Outgoing, gung-ho and gregarious.
As the picture of kidnapped reporter Jill Carroll emerges, a school friend from her days in Ann Arbor says it's those same qualities that will help her survive.
Communities in Ann Arbor and Amherst, Mass., where Carroll, 28, attended the University of Massachusetts, are struggling to come to terms with her disappearance. Carroll was freelancing for The Christian Science Monitor when she was kidnapped Saturday. She had been on her way to meet a Sunni Arab official in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods when gunmen ambushed her car and killed her translator.
U.S. and Iraqi soldiers raided a Baghdad mosque looking for her over the weekend, prompting protests there Tuesday by several hundred Sunni Arabs, according to reports in The Monitor. The demonstration formed after worshipers emerged from the Umm al-Qura mosque, where they heard a sermon about the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
Carroll grew up in Ann Arbor and graduated from Huron High School in 1995.
Patterson said she was close to Katie Carroll, but swam, lifeguarded and played water polo with Jill Carroll. She said Jill started the swim team her freshman year as not the best of the swimmers. But she worked hard at it over the summer before her sophomore year and quickly ascended.
Carroll is "just one of those kind of outgoing people who talks a mile a minute. She always wanted to get out of this state and experience new things. She is that kind of person who embraces anything.''
"She was so gung-ho and willing to do this freelance work,'' said Moilanen. "As I remember it, she could have had work anywhere here, but she really wanted to be a foreign correspondent.''
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
Prayers here, too.
ping
Yes, this one has me very worried.
"She had been on her way to meet a Sunni Arab official in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods when gunmen ambushed her car and killed her translator."
STUPID!!!!! I would never venture into one of those neighborhoods without the backup of an infantry company. When are these idiotic MSM reporters going to learn that some places in the real world outside the USA is dangerous and not all that appreciative of any American, no matter what you believe. If that so-called leader ereally wanted to talk to her, he would have come to a neutral site, not insist that she come into his lair.
I nominate her for a 2006 Darwin Award.
Why not nominate her BOSSES for the award? She is so young. Me, I am more focused on praying for her safety.
Ann Arbor and Amherst, she must have been a very well-rounded thinker. Except for the rational, common sense thinking that helps humans stay alive. Bet she had a firm grip on John Kerry's line of thinking.
May God protect and save her.
Ann Arbor, MI and Amherst, Mass must be great places to train for being kidnapped by monsters you are trying to "understand".
2) She was fired from the Wall Street Journal, and was drifting.
3) Other stories mention her parents, but don't identify them in any way. The press is usually not this circumspect/deferential. I wonder what's so special about them?
4) As noted in earlier threads, the press is happy to expose American operations and personnel to slaughter, why are they so sensitive to the plight of this girl, to the point where some (gasp!) suppressed the story in the US?
5) Of course I don't want her to suffer a la Danny Pearl, and want her back, hopefully a bit wiser.
I don't know about Amherst, but Ann Arbor is THAT kind of place. The first amendment has been suspended there, only liberal opinions are allowed. Conservatives face explusion from the University of Michigan once they're caught.
To Ann Arbor moonbats, there are no bad people, only insensitive Americans who won't understand them.
"If that so-called leader ereally wanted to talk to her, he would have come to a neutral site, not insist that she come into his lair."
My first thought is that her abduction was setup by this Sunni Arab official.
Jill Carroll sounds like a very aggressive journalist who is willing to put her life on the line for her job. My prays are with her.
My sentiments exactly.
I doubt any organized news service was sending her anywhere. It was her choice and, perhaps, her naivete that contributed to her abduction.
That being said, prayers for her safety. Maybe someday these people (reporters, overly compassionate moonbats, etc) will get it....these terrorists want ALL of us infidels dead. Even the infidels who are really on the terrorist's side.
I didn't know she was fired from the WSJ, and I figured she was probably a lib, but she still probably a la Daniel Pearl thought she was OK doing what she was doing. I hope she wises up too -- and not by a sword at the throat.
Aye, prayers for her safety.
I'm not really one to dump all over someone because they are a liberal. She's a human being. She's an American. She's in a damned serious situation.
Hope she gets out of it.
Thanks for the ping, Yaelle.
I've been praying for her.
I can't find any definitions that exclude freelancers or stringers from being called reporters if that is their occupation.
I just read something by her in US News the day before she was abducted, so the name rang an instant bell. She looks a lot like Janeane Garafalo, not that there's anything wrong with that.
I was both. Believe me, there is an ENORMOUS distinction in prestige, pay, support, credibility....
I've heard similar accounts from my friend who worked as a reporter and editor at NYT and WP. Some of the "prima donnas" he worked with had a condescending attitude toward most of the other reporters - including the full-timers.
Thanks for the ping.
Why is this not being talked about on the radio news?
Odd and odder.
I'm not hearing anything about this anywhere, just the usual write-throughs.
If you were to hear this on the media, it would mean that they were admitting that we were at war.
I did not get the impression that Jill was one of the
ant-war crowd, so therefore, she is not news.
It would make the enemy look bad, to tell the truth.
(my opinion)
"Jill Carroll sounds like a very aggressive journalist who is willing to put her life on the line for her job. My prays are with her."
Do you really think she was actually "willing to put her life on the line for her job." like our troops are doing every day?
I hope she survives, but the Muslim world has a very low opinion of their own women....western female "infidels" don't even register on their value scale.
Her Iraqi interpreter was killed, but her Iraqi driver escaped unharmed.
Betcha you cant guess who was the insider on this story....?
"Do you really think she was actually "willing to put her life on the line for her job."
Of course, Jill Carroll went to Iraq, a very dangerous place, to do a job. I don't know her political leanings, but that doesn't matter - she is a brave American who has put her life on the line to keep people at home informed.
Very bad news has surfaced in the news. Ms Carroll's captures have issued a set of demands that can not be granted. They will kill her in a few days unless we free their terrorist partners.
You may not believe she is a hero in the same light as a US soldiers, but you should pray for her safe return.
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