Posted on 04/02/2006 10:14:16 AM PDT by TexKat
BOSTON - Jill Carroll, the U.S. journalist held hostage for 82 days in Iraq, returned to the United States on Sunday aboard a commercial flight to Boston.
The 28-year-old was accompanied on the Lufthansa flight by a colleague from her employer, the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, according to reporters on the plane.
Carroll declined to comment while on the flight. She left the airport in a black limousine escorted by state police. Her destination was unknown.
She was released Thursday after nearly three months in captivity. She was seized Jan. 7 in western Baghdad by gunmen who killed her Iraqi translator while the two were on the way to meet a Sunni Arab official in one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods.
Carroll left the Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany on Saturday after arriving from Balad Air Base in Baghdad. She strongly disavowed statements she had made during captivity in Iraq and shortly after her release, saying she had been repeatedly threatened.
In a video recorded before she was freed and posted by her captors on an Islamist Web site, Carroll spoke out against the U.S. military presence. On Saturday, she said the recording was made under duress.
"During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me I would be released if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. So I agreed," she said in a statement.
"Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not."
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., who was held prisoner for more than five years during the Vietnam War, on Sunday said Carroll found herself in "a terrible, terrible position" and said Americans should view her taped statements critical of the U.S. military presence in Iraq in that context.
"We are glad she's home. We understand when you're held a captive in that situation that you do things under duress. God bless her, and we're glad she's home," McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
McCain said he would not take seriously anything Carroll said while she was being held captive.
"I would not take them seriously, I would not any more than we took seriously other tapes and things that were done in other prison situations, including the Vietnam War," McCain said.
Carroll, who has studied Arabic, attracted a huge amount of sympathy during her ordeal, and a wide variety of groups in the Middle East, including the Islamic militant group Hamas, appealed for her release.
Aside from the short interview aired on Iraqi television upon her release, Carroll had otherwise not shown herself in public prior to a brief appearance Saturday.
The kidnappers, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 or Carroll would be killed. U.S. officials did release some female detainees at the time, but said it had nothing to do with the demands.
In the statement, Carroll also disavowed an interview she gave to the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni Arab organization in whose offices she was dropped off upon her release. She said the party had promised her the interview would not be aired "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," she said. "Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: One — that I refused to travel and cooperate with the U.S. military, and two — that I refused to discuss my captivity with U.S. officials. Again, neither statement is true."
The remarks have drawn criticism from conservative bloggers and commentators, but the Monitor said "Carroll did what many hostage experts and past captives would have urged her to do: Give the men who held the power of life and death over her what they wanted."
Carroll has said her kidnappers confined her to a small, soundproof room with frosted, opaque windows.
In her statement Saturday, she condemned her captors, although she did not address the war in Iraq.
"I will not engage in polemics. But let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes," she said.
Carroll thanked those who had helped secure her release and said she wanted time to recover.
"This has been a taxing 12 weeks for me and for my family," she said. "Please allow us some quiet time alone, together."
i'm anxious to see if the press hounds "its own" as much as it hounds the rest of us to get a story.
Jill who? (shrug)
McCain was in 'Nam? Who knew.
I want them to leave her alone for awhile. The truth and her real opinions can wait. We'll find out soon enough.
She has stated that her video remarks were coerced, and she has now publicly retracted everything those thugs made her say.
Yes we will. Many conservatives start out as liberals who were mugged. Ms. Caroll has most certainly been mugged. Her capacity to learn from her experiences will be tested in the next few weeks/months.
I've heard John Kerry was, too.
Has anybody else heard that?
I'm starting to believe her. After all, the statement she made immediately after her release was in the islamic or Sunni part headquarters. I suspect that I wouldn't be very trusting there either.
Hey, Associated Press, I went to the EXTREME to defend her. ;-)
Really? John Kerry? Did anything unusual happen to him while he was there? You don't mean Bob Kerrey, do you?
Admitting on tape is one thing, but I bet if the threat was made that you actually had to do it, you'd probably be begging to start the sawing yourself
I think he got a paper cut and they awarded him three Purple Hearts or something like that. It's all kind of fuzzy...
I would offer that after a time to absorb her experience she should address the media in a serious way to establish exactly what her positions are. This is not accomplished in full by an interview of five muntes with Matt aluer either!
This gal could be a valuable asset in turning the tide of the left. She can be a 'posterchild' for how wrong ( at least how selective) she really was with the attitude she took into Iraq and how right she is after being truthful about what happened to her before she left Iraq.
Is that just me... or is that how others see it?
Ah, notoriety, that is the essence of the American Dream! Limos and police escorts, while the wounded Americans arriving on the same flight get shunned.
Hmm, there were too many questions in these three months that I'm not buying anything she saying now.
Wait. There just may be a strategy here. We could end this war.
let me get Rummy on the phone...
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