Posted on 04/01/2006 2:57:46 AM PST by SkyPilot
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - Smiling broadly, journalist Jill Carroll arrived Saturday under U.S. military protection in Germany, the first stop on her return to the United States after 82 days in captivity in Iraq.
28-year-old U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, left, is welcomed by Base Commander, Col. Kurt Lohide after she landed at the U.S. Airbase in Ramstein, southwestern Germany, Saturday, April 1, 2006. Carroll was a hostage in Iraq for 82 days and was released last Thursday. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Gone was the Islamic headscarf and dress robe she had worn as a hostage. Instead she was wearing jeans, a bulky gray sweater, and a desert camouflage jacket.
Col. Kurt Lohide, commander of the 435th Air Base Wing, welcomed her to Ramstein.
"I'm happy to be here," she said.
Carroll, a 28-year-old freelancer for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, was seized Jan. 7 in western Baghdad by gunmen who killed her Iraqi translator.
She was dropped off Thursday at an office of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab organization, and later escorted by the U.S. military to the Green Zone, the fortified compound in Baghdad protecting the U.S. embassy and other facilities. She was said to be reluctant to go to the Green Zone because her kidnappers had told her it was infiltrated by insurgents.
A U.S. Air Force C17 Globemaster brought Carroll from Balad Air Base near Baghdad to Ramstein Air Base in western Germany. Carroll was seated in the cockpit of the plane, which was also carrying several soldiers wounded in Iraq.
As the aircraft came to stop, she cast a bemused look at the bevy of television cameras waiting on the tarmac. That expression had changed to a big grin, though, by the time she got off the plane.
She was wearing the usual Western garb _ jeans and sneakers _ and carrying a flight bag. Her hair _ uncovered _ was pulled back in a ponytail. As journalists watched from a distance, Lohide escorted her to a waiting van.
Ramstein officials said she was taken to a hotel at the air base but was expected to leave for Boston later Saturday on a flight out of Frankfurt.
After she was gone, the wounded soldiers were brought out of the rear of the plane on stretchers for transport to the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
It wasn't clear why the kidnappers, who called themselves the Revenge Brigades, released Carroll. They had demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26, and said Carroll would be killed if that wasn't done.
U.S. officials did release some female detainees at the time, but said it had nothing to do with the kidnappers' demands. On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States is still holding four women.
Carroll has said her kidnappers confined her to a small, soundproof room with frosted windows but treated her well. Although her captors issued televised threats to kill her if American forces did not release women prisoners, she said she was never threatened or harmed.
On Friday a video posted on an Islamist Web site showed her speaking out against the U.S. military presence.
"Tens of thousands ... have lost their lives here because of the occupation," she said in the video. "I think Americans need to think about that and realize day-to-day how difficult life is here."
She said the insurgents were "only trying to defend their country ... to stop an illegal and dangerous and deadly occupation."
The Monitor's editor, Richard Bergenheim, said that Carroll's parents, who spoke to her about the video, told him it was "conducted under duress."
She was never threatened? She was never harmed? She was abducted, confined, forced to film videos, and broke down in tears before the camera saying she had only a few days left.
Never harmed? Is she still making excuses for the animals as a good liberal, or is she still brainwashed?
I would say the former, since she was publishing anti-US stories long before her abduction.
It is pathetic that our US military has to host this woman and treat her as a distinguished visitor. She should be ashamed.
Makes ya want to puke, Doesnt It?
It's amazing how ungrateful these folks are. I'd of told them you got yourself over here you can get your selfs back home. Problem is she will wire a book and make boocoo money off it selling it to here lefty friends.
She should make a statement clarifying her comments.
The media is working overtime to sanitize this woman. How they must hate for this pathetic creature to be the face of the media in Iraq.
She demonstrated no courage, no intelligence, no loyalty, no judgement, and no patriotism.
The media is actually trying to spin the story to Jill is fragile, Jill was pressured to make statements.
Looking back, I'm now thinking of how the media reacted to her kidnapping and I'm beginning to think that she might have had the reputation of a flake before she was kidnapped. Wasn't she fired from the Wall Street Journal, and wasn't she only a stringer?
You are on the mark. It looks like the military was forced to host her at the Cannon Hotel at Ramstein. This not the standard lodging on Ramstein Air Base, but an exclusive hotel that is reserved for high level dignitaries, very high ranking officers, and visiting heads of state.
I hope she in enjoying herself. Maybe she can issue a press release telling us all again how "thousands have died because of the brutal occupation by the United States."
Carnack predicts a book deal, and I wonder how truthful this whole episode really is.
I remember how the left mocked Jessica Lynch. By comparison she looks pretty darn good. She won the admiration of her captors, never said anything negative about the US, was grateful to her rescuers, and surprisingly, seems more intelligent than the elite, but foolish, Carroll.
I guess she wasn't too upset about her interpreter being killed.
I was suspicious when she was released unharmed and when she said she was "treated well" I KNEW this was a setup. We knew from her few previous articles she's a yerrorist sympathizer. The only thing that's changed is she got a promotion to major propaganda disseminator.
She wasn't in the military so she wasn't required to follow the Code of Conduct. It's a good idea for anyone to follow, but not required for civilians. I have a feeling that there is a lot more to this story that has yet been revealed.
I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.God bless our military who follow this honorably. I wish more civilians would learn this before they entered war zones.I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.
If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.
If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me, and will back them up in every way.
When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give only name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.
I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.
"Tens of thousands" to quote the quoter, Matt Moore AP.
I would like to know exactly what the truth is about this woman. She talks out of both sides of her mouth and I, for one, don't believe a thing she says!
Where's her burqa?
She denounced the U.S. only to win her own freedom and save her life. I challenge you to say with your hand on your heart that you can be 100 percent sure you would not have done the same thing in the circumstances (if you are capable of imagining what Jill has gone through in the past 82 days).
In addition, she had been threatened with reprisals from the moment of her release until she left Iraqi airspace. She believed that the Green Zone had been infiltrated by insurgents.
I am grieved by the complete lack of compassion on Free Republic.
If you had actually read Jill's stuff you would have found that she was, on the whole a balanced reporter and one most unlikely to participate in some bizarre conspiracy.
HUH?
WHY? is her "peace" mission over?
I read her Dad was telling us all that she "SUPPORTS PRESIDNET BUSH" and we should all just "Wait 'til she speaks to us before we accuse her of slamming Bush." Wonder how dad feels right now?
Was he lying- covering for his daughter because even he knows she is making no sense- or is he as disgusted with her as the rest of us?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Book deal at the very least--but probably there's already a movie of the week in the works, and appearances on Oprah, The View, and other sobsister interview shows.
I am grieved by the complete lack of logical skepticism by some Freepers. We'll see who's right, but certainly there's a history of phony hostages--three Japanese (who had to repay the Japanese government for their hoax), an Italian woman, a German woman--I'm sure others will chime in with other cases as well.
Of all these, it seems only the hoaxers were released (note--not rescued but released) with their heads still attached to their bodies.
Shame on all y'all that won't accept this for now. Until any evidence can show otherwise, we should believe it.
You know, I'd give five bucks to know what Col. Lohide was thinking the very moment that picture was taken. That's a forced grin if I've ever seen one.
How about: Thanks for the ride....at least.
That's b/c the Lifetime movie of this hasn't come out yet.
I served 20+ years in the military. They would have had to severely tortured me before I would make statements denouncing my nation.
As to your "challenge", I accepted it the moment I was commissioned, and in every war I fought in (three of them).
Moreover, I have read her published articles.
"Balanced" is not the word I would use.
And when did she get her hair hennaed? Did the terrorists have a beauty salon for her too?
She was never seen in a burqa AFAIK.
I don't know, but good question. It appears she had her hair done.
Nothing much logical about it, because much of it was unleashed too darn quick and with too much darn fury to be rational.
Maybe in a couple days we'll have something meaty to sink our teeth into . . . one way or the druther.
Look at my post, #29. She's dressed as a "black ghost" (what we used to call them) right there
That's right where's her Hijab?
I watched it. Several times.
What did you take from the deadened, numbed look of her eyes, even as she laughed? Not a sparkle nor glint of life in them.
"They would have killed my ass before I denouced my country. I figured that out that very early on in SERE school."
She probably didn't go to SERE school. Cut her some slack.
There is the off-chance that she really was in fear for her life for 82 days. Let's give her some time to decompress and see what happens.
"She's till brainwashed, or perhaps brain dead, which is the main symptom of the disease of liberalism. Amazing that she STILL doesn't get that they hate us. They hated us BEFORE 'The Occupation'. The's why 'The Occupation' exists today. Idiots like her will never understand that situations like this do NOT happen in a vacuum."
I'm beginning to think that having the troups over there is a mistake. It's more obvious with each day that they are needed home, to take care of seditionists like these "anti-war" types. The enemy is a home.
I think that if civil war does happen, it will be preceded by two things. The launching of a nuclear weapon on a western nation. We are too polarized to respond appropriately to such an event. And second, I think civil war will happen in Israel first. They are a microcosm, and ahead on the terrorist curve so to speak. There are many leftists in their country too who wish their nation would end.
The good thing about such a conflict on the homefront? The good guys like to own guns.
I suggest she return to Iraq. If she does and again is kidnapped I will know that she will receive first class accommodations from her friends in the insurgency.
From her own mouth, in an interview. She lauded them for her lovely room, nice furniture, and of course, she was "never threatened." She gained weight. Note--other hostages noticeably LOST weight, were bruised, obviously brutalized--but not this one. HINO.
"Of course we can start the argument that Arabs are not ready for self rule yet and must live under the iron fist of a dictator or Imams."
Or a modern day MacArthur. Which, I thought, was the whole point to begin with.
And when did she get her hair hennaed? Did the terrorists have a beauty salon for her too?
I don't know, but good question. It appears she had her hair done.
From her own mouth, in an interview. She lauded them for her lovely room, nice furniture, and of course, she was "never threatened."
Statement by a typical leftist nutcase reporter who trusts her brethern beheaders rather than her protectors. Why do we give publicity to this churning sewage.
Even if it suits you to believe she was saying it "under duress" do consider what your own eyes can tell you. How did she look? Did she look thin, emaciated, bruised--in any of the videos? How many other hostages came out of it looking as healthy or healthier than they did going into it?
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