Brant
August 17th, 2006,
(P.G.) Exhausted, Jim Carroll walked the streets of Washington, headed back to his hotel. He'd hardly eaten all day, so he ducked into a bar for dinner. He hadn't been there long when his cellphone rang. It was the FBI. They wanted to know the family's decision.
The previous day, Jan. 17, a video demanding the release of Iraqi women prisoners had aired on Al Jazeera. A 72-hour deadline was given.
This wasn't going to be pleasant. "We're not going your way," Jim told his FBI contact. "We're going to go with the sympathy statement."
What do you say to your daughter's kidnappers? It was a question Carroll felt woefully unqualified to answer. He was a software person, an entrepreneur, not a hostage negotiator. Insurgents had seized Jill Carroll in Baghdad 11 days ago; it was time for her parents to publicly plead for her life. But how? That was something on which experts - all well-meaning - couldn't agree.
The FBI wanted the father - him - to shake his fist, in essence; to go on TV and address the men who held Jill as murderers and thugs.
In Baghdad, Jill's colleagues at The Christian Science Monitor thought that would misfire in the Middle East. They said the words should reflect how much Jill's family loved and missed her. And the message should come from Jill's mother, Mary Beth.
Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics, and related links (http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0817/p01s04-woiq.html)
Videos related to this article (http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/multimedia/part4.html)
The previous day, Jan. 17, a video demanding the release of Iraqi women prisoners had aired on Al Jazeera. A 72-hour deadline was given.
This wasn't going to be pleasant. "We're not going your way," Jim told his FBI contact. "We're going to go with the sympathy statement."
What do you say to your daughter's kidnappers? It was a question Carroll felt woefully unqualified to answer. He was a software person, an entrepreneur, not a hostage negotiator. Insurgents had seized Jill Carroll in Baghdad 11 days ago; it was time for her parents to publicly plead for her life. But how? That was something on which experts - all well-meaning - couldn't agree.
The FBI wanted the father - him - to shake his fist, in essence; to go on TV and address the men who held Jill as murderers and thugs.
In Baghdad, Jill's colleagues at The Christian Science Monitor thought that would misfire in the Middle East. They said the words should reflect how much Jill's family loved and missed her. And the message should come from Jill's mother, Mary Beth.
Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics, and related links (http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0817/p01s04-woiq.html)
Videos related to this article (http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/multimedia/part4.html)