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The Real Story Behind Jill Carroll's Release
It's a real shame that the real story behind Jill Carroll's release is not at all being discussed. While controversy is brewing over her forced statements, it seems like the heaviest criticism is being levied on "Right-wingers," according to the UK's The Telegraph.
The freed American hostage Jill Carroll arrived home after 83 days of captivity in Iraq yesterday - to a barrage of criticism from Right-wingers who accused her of showing too much sympathy for her kidnappers.
Miss Carroll has been under sustained assault from some on the pro-war Right. Bloggers and hosts on the country's influential talk radio stations have attacked her for stating that she had not been threatened during her confinement.
Others attacked her for wearing Muslim dress and the news channel CNN carried an interview suggesting that she was suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome", in which victims begin to sympathise with their captors. One blogger called for Miss Carroll to be arrested for treason.
This is quite clearly an attempt by the left wing media (not exclusively the Telegraph, though they are included) to hide the real story behind Jill Carroll's release and her disavowed statements. Frankly, the liberal mainstream media doesn't want the action line of the story to be that the terrorists forced Jill Carroll to sound like a bleeding heart liberal.
The real story that is being avoided is that Jill Carroll read a script at the terrorists' gun point that could just as easily been written by Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Ted Kennedy, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, George Soros, Sen. Russ Feingold, or Michael Moore. You may also to that list: Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, Saddam Hussein, and all the cowardly masked terrorists you see in videos released by al Jazeera. The real story here is that the terrorists used Jill Carroll to spread their propaganda, the same propaganda that is commonly professed by the anti-war left wing of the United States, including prominent Democratic members of Congress.
The criticisms of Jill Carroll's statement were made prior to having known that she was forced to say things. On top of that, she said what she said so she could be released. Without knowing the nature of the comments and the conditions under which they were made, the questions that were asked about the statements were valid. Once the truth came out, that she was under duress, that she was just trying to be released, that changes the story, but doesn't mean that apologies are necessary. There were legitimate questions that arose from her bizarre comments, and upon her release, we got the answer behind the comments. People were right to question the comments, and as it turned out, there was something questionable about what she said: she was told she would be released if she said these things, and like many of us, she did what she thought she needed to do to get out of the situation alive. It worked. (Do you have any doubt that if Jill Carroll came out tomorrow and said that the War in Iraq is just, and we must defeat terrorism, that liberals would call her Kool-aid drinking right-wing lunatic? Of course they would.)
I know some folks out there are suggesting that Jill Carroll should not have said those things as a barter for her release. I, however, will give her a pass on that. As a journalist, she did not go to Iraq to risk her life, though by going she did put her life at risk. She's not expected as a journalist to die for a cause--our military, however, know that they are putting their lives on the line, and you would expect a nember of the military to endure far greater hardships (i.e., torture) before breaking. I do not castigate Jill Carroll for do what she could to be released.
It's time to make this story what it ought to be. The left wing media is trying to make this story about how evil the right wing is, when in fact, the story should be about this latest example of how ideologically aligned the liberals are with terrorists. This is not the first example, and it certainly won't be the last.
It's a real shame that the real story behind Jill Carroll's release is not at all being discussed. While controversy is brewing over her forced statements, it seems like the heaviest criticism is being levied on "Right-wingers," according to the UK's The Telegraph.
The freed American hostage Jill Carroll arrived home after 83 days of captivity in Iraq yesterday - to a barrage of criticism from Right-wingers who accused her of showing too much sympathy for her kidnappers.
Miss Carroll has been under sustained assault from some on the pro-war Right. Bloggers and hosts on the country's influential talk radio stations have attacked her for stating that she had not been threatened during her confinement.
Others attacked her for wearing Muslim dress and the news channel CNN carried an interview suggesting that she was suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome", in which victims begin to sympathise with their captors. One blogger called for Miss Carroll to be arrested for treason.
This is quite clearly an attempt by the left wing media (not exclusively the Telegraph, though they are included) to hide the real story behind Jill Carroll's release and her disavowed statements. Frankly, the liberal mainstream media doesn't want the action line of the story to be that the terrorists forced Jill Carroll to sound like a bleeding heart liberal.
The real story that is being avoided is that Jill Carroll read a script at the terrorists' gun point that could just as easily been written by Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Ted Kennedy, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, George Soros, Sen. Russ Feingold, or Michael Moore. You may also to that list: Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, Saddam Hussein, and all the cowardly masked terrorists you see in videos released by al Jazeera. The real story here is that the terrorists used Jill Carroll to spread their propaganda, the same propaganda that is commonly professed by the anti-war left wing of the United States, including prominent Democratic members of Congress.
The criticisms of Jill Carroll's statement were made prior to having known that she was forced to say things. On top of that, she said what she said so she could be released. Without knowing the nature of the comments and the conditions under which they were made, the questions that were asked about the statements were valid. Once the truth came out, that she was under duress, that she was just trying to be released, that changes the story, but doesn't mean that apologies are necessary. There were legitimate questions that arose from her bizarre comments, and upon her release, we got the answer behind the comments. People were right to question the comments, and as it turned out, there was something questionable about what she said: she was told she would be released if she said these things, and like many of us, she did what she thought she needed to do to get out of the situation alive. It worked. (Do you have any doubt that if Jill Carroll came out tomorrow and said that the War in Iraq is just, and we must defeat terrorism, that liberals would call her Kool-aid drinking right-wing lunatic? Of course they would.)
I know some folks out there are suggesting that Jill Carroll should not have said those things as a barter for her release. I, however, will give her a pass on that. As a journalist, she did not go to Iraq to risk her life, though by going she did put her life at risk. She's not expected as a journalist to die for a cause--our military, however, know that they are putting their lives on the line, and you would expect a nember of the military to endure far greater hardships (i.e., torture) before breaking. I do not castigate Jill Carroll for do what she could to be released.
It's time to make this story what it ought to be. The left wing media is trying to make this story about how evil the right wing is, when in fact, the story should be about this latest example of how ideologically aligned the liberals are with terrorists. This is not the first example, and it certainly won't be the last.