The Christian Science Monitor today released the first portion of Jill Carroll's story about her 82 days of captivity in Iraq. The 11-part series will be published chapter by chapter in the coming weeks. Snip:
We drove to the second house, which appeared to be the home of one of the kidnappers.
They took me upstairs to the master bedroom. Within a few minutes an interpreter arrived, and an interrogation began.
They wanted to know my name, the name of my newspaper, my religion, how much my computer was worth, did it have a device to signal the government or military, if I or anyone in my family drank alcohol, how many American reporters were in Baghdad, did I know reporters from other countries, and myriad other questions.
Then, in a slightly gravelly voice, the interpreter explained the situation.
"You are our sister. We have no problem with you. Our problem is with your government. We just need to keep you for some time. We want women freed from Abu Ghraib prison. Maybe four or five women. We want to ask your government for this," the interpreter said. (At the time, it was reported that 10 Iraqi women were among 14,000 Iraqis being held by coalition forces on suspicion of insurgent activity.)
"You are to stay in this room. And this window, don't put one hand on this window," he continued. "I have a place underground. It is very dark and small, and cold, and if you put one hand on this window, we will put you there. Some of my friends said we should put you there, but I said, 'No she is a woman.' Women are very important in Islam."
Link to main page for series. There's a video trailer about it here. Interviews with Jill, her family and colleagues (videos). Jill answers questions from readers (video). Cast of characters here. Listen to a podcast of the story (Audible.com). (thanks, Hugo K. Smoter)
Previous BoingBoing posts about Jill Carroll: Link.
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