A Shaft of Light Breaks Through the Murk

Journalist Released Unharmed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - American reporter Jill Carroll was set free Thursday, nearly three months after she was kidnapped in a bloody ambush that killed her translator. She said she had been treated well.

Carroll, 28, was dropped off near the Iraqi Islamic Party offices. She walked inside, and people there called American officials, Iraqi police said.

"I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped," Carroll said in a brief interview on Baghdad television.

Her family thanked "the generous people around the world who worked officially or unofficially" to gain her freedom. No details were given about the circumstances surrounding her release. The U.S. ambassador said there was no ransom paid by the American embassy, but his remarks left open the question of whether "arrangements" were made by others.

Excellent. The other part of this story that really fills me with hope is that at no time was Carroll tortured or abused. Of course, you could always argue that keeping someone against their will is torture enough... but I'd much rather have that than "frat pranks" like waterboarding or being attacked by dogs.

The previously unknown Revenge Brigades claimed responsibility. Even though the group threatened twice in videotapes to kill Carroll, she said, "They never hit me. They never even threatened to hit me."

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that Carroll underwent a medical checkup at the American hospital in the Green Zone.

During the TV interview, Carroll wore a light green Islamic headscarf and a gray Arabic robe.

"I'm just happy to be free. I want to be with my family," she was heard to say under the Arabic voiceover.

Carroll said she was kept in a furnished room with a window and a shower, but she did not know where she was.

"I felt I was not free. It was difficult because I didn't know what would happen to me," she said.

She said she was allowed to watch TV once and read a newspaper once.

Asked about the circumstances of her release, she said, "They just came to me and said we're going. They didn't tell me what was going on."

Treated humanely by her captors. What is this world coming to?

I'm sure Rove and his team of spinning elves will somehow mutate this story into a tale of daring rescue wherein Dubya himself dives out of a helicopter with nothing but a bowie knife clenched between his teeth to single-handedly rescue Carroll by... oh... sometime this afternoon.

In the meantime, welcome home, Jill. A spot of sanity in this war is something we all need at this point.

UPDATE: The Wingnuts have begun shrieking "Stockholm Syndrome!" You'd think these scumbags would be a little more happy to hear about some of the "good news from Iraq" that they've been whining about.

Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry... "good news" that matches their twisted agenda.

My mistake.

(Energy Dome tip to The Green Knight.)

(Good morning, cross-post, the earth says hello!)