STILL NO WORD
UMass journalism graduate held captive in Iraq
By Dan O'Brien, Collegian Staff
January 31, 2006 (Spring 2006 semester's "Back to School Issue")
Nearly four weeks after being kidnapped in Iraq, the whereabouts of journalist and University of Massachusetts graduate Jill Carroll are still unknown. But investigators may be closer to finding her.
United States authorities released five of the eight female Iraqi prisoners being held by the government on Thursday. Carroll's captors demanded that the prisoners be released or the journalist would be killed.
The U.S., which holds a policy of not negotiating with terrorists, claimed the release of the prisoners had nothing to do with Carroll's abduction.
In other recent developments, an Italian newspaper reported last Tuesday that three suspects had been arrested in connection with Carroll's disappearance.
"An interior ministry statement said the arrests were made during a raid by the security forces in the Adel neighborhood where Carroll was seized," the Adnkronos International newspaper reported.
Carroll, 28, was working as a freelance journalist in Baghdad for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor when gunmen ambushed her car on Jan. 7, killing her translator, 32-year-old Allan Enwiyah. She was on her way to interview a Sunni Arab official in a notoriously dangerous section of the city.
Enwiyah's body was found later that day in the same neighborhood where the ambush occurred. He was shot twice in the head, according to law enforcement officials contacted by the CSM.
Carroll was kidnapped 300 yards away from the office of Adnan al-Dulaimi, the politician she intended to interview. Al-Dulaimi never showed up, and as Carroll and two other men began to leave, their car was stopped.
"It was very obvious this [kidnapping] was by design," Carroll's driver, who withheld his name, told the CSM. "The whole operation took no more than a quarter of a minute. It was very highly organized. It was a setup, a perfect ambush."
Various news organizations, including the Associated Press, did not report Carroll's kidnapping for nearly two days after the incident occurred. The AP honored the "black out" after government agencies said reporting the story might hurt the chances of finding her alive.
No one knew Carroll's status until Jan. 17, when her captors released a 20-second videotape to the Al-Jazeera news network. There is no audio on the tape, but she is seen speaking to the camera. The tape also shows three of her captors standing over her, wearing masks and holding machine guns. She appears tired and pale in the video.
A message with the video sent to Al-Jazeera said the U.S. had 72 hours to release eight female prisoners in Iraq or Carroll would be killed. That deadline has come and gone with no word on Carroll's well-being, even with the release of the five prisoners Thursday.
Since the video was aired, a group calling itself "Brigades of Vengeance," claimed responsibility for Carroll's abduction, according to CNN.
Media, politicians speak out
Several Arab leaders and media outlets have called for Carroll's release. Many media outlets mention her commitment to telling the true story of Iraqis to Americans, a story which is often overlooked by mainstream media.
"We... appeal to the kidnappers of the American journalist Jill Carroll to release her," the Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement. "Jill... and her colleagues have come to Iraq to report the events to the world, reminding everyone of the hardships faced by the Iraqi people under occupation."
"She put her life at risk by struggling to convey the voices of Iraqis to American public opinion, which was showered with wrong information about the developments in Iraq," said Ayman Al-Safadi, editor of the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad, Al-Jazeera reported.
Local politicians have also called for Carroll's release. U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch, a Democrat from South Boston, traveled to Baghdad Jan. 22 to meet with Sunni Arab members of Iraq's parliament to push for her release.
The next day, in a phone interview with the AP, Lynch reported that Carroll has the support of Iraqis.
"It's got everyone's attention," said Lynch of Carroll's kidnapping. "I think that's because of the work she was doing. She built a reputation with these people and I think they're responding to that."
UMass commends Carroll for her work
Carroll graduated from UMass Amherst in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She was the news editor of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian from 1998 to 1999.
Karen List, a journalism professor at UMass who used to teach Carroll, says Jill was a fun person to be around. "Jill is... full of energy and tremendous enthusiasm for everything she does. She laughs a lot and has a great sense of humor," List said.
She said Carroll always wanted to work as a foreign correspondent. "Jill didn't 'ultimately' want to become a foreign correspondent. She wanted to be a foreign correspondent now.
"She told me this on the first day of the first class she ever had with me. I tried to tell her that these were positions that you worked up to after years of zoning board meetings. I didn't know at the time she wasn't listening to me," List said.
Shortly after graduating from UMass, Carroll briefly worked for the Wall Street Journal before being laid off. A short time later, she moved to Jordan and worked for the Jordan Times. While living there, she became fluent in Arabic and immersed herself in Middle Eastern culture.
"What impresses me about Jill's work there is that she did not 'cover' Iraq from her hotel or from an armored car. She covered Iraq from the street, talking to average people and trying to give them a voice," said List.
Carroll's former employer, the Jordan Times, printed an editorial Jan. 15, which said Jill's kidnappers chose a "wrong target."
"The kidnappers who abducted her could not have chosen a more wrong target. True, Jill is a U.S. citizen. But she is more critical of U.S. policies towards the Middle East than many Arabs," the editorial said.
Joe Quinlan, an adjunct journalism professor at UMass and Assistant District Attorney for Franklin and Hampshire counties, has fond memories of Carroll and fellow journalism student Casey Kane.
"[Jill] was in a group that really stood out," Quinlan said. "They were really into reporting and were hustling."
Kane, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Collegian from 1998 to 1999, died of leukemia in 2004. Quinlan says the two were good friends and "extremely dedicated" to the newspaper, often prioritizing writing news articles above doing homework.
Matthew Despres, a 2003 UMass graduate, worked at the Daily Collegian with Carroll and Kane as a sports writer. He described Carroll as the "absolute heart of the newsroom" and "a natural leader."
"She always cast a critical eye on her own work and work ethic - always working and wanting to be better," Despres said. "There is no doubt she inspired, in both significant and subtle ways, everyone at that paper to be better at their own job."
Despres is still shocked by the news of her abduction.
"There is no way to process news like this," he said. "I'm praying for her, her family, and friends."
Since the beginning of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, more than 70 Iraqi and foreign journalists have been abducted in Iraq, according to Reuters.
Carroll's parents spoke on CNN as recently as Jan. 22, pleading for the release of their daughter.
"Jill started to tell your story, so please, let her finish it," said Jim Carroll, Jill's father. "Through the media, if necessary, advise her family and me of how we might initiate a dialogue that will lead to her release."
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Copyright Daniel O�Brien and the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. This article may not be redistributed without written permission under United States law.