The Christian Science Monitor's 11-part series on journalist Jill Carroll's abduction in Iraq continues today with part 3:
After dinner they told me to put on a track suit they'd given me two days earlier, and remove my head scarf. I wanted to wear my hijab if they were going to film me; they said no, they wanted to make my hair messy, make me look bad.
They brought me back into the sitting room, and men began filing in, carrying AK-47s and RPGs.
Then the leader turned and coached me intently. I must say that they were mujahideen fighting to defend their country, that they wanted women freed from Abu Ghraib prison, and the US military, particularly the Marines, were killing and arresting their women and destroying their houses.
And I must cry, on cue.
I started to give my speech. A man standing behind the camera ran his fingers down his cheeks, to signal that I needed to cry.
It took me a while to work up to the crying part. But I had a lot of pent-up emotion and stress, and by the time we finished, I was crying for real.
As the taping ended, I put my head down and I just kept crying. I heard Abu Rasha behind me go, "ughh", in a sympathetic way, like he felt bad that I was sitting there crying in front of them.
Ink Eye's reaction was different. He showed no sympathy. And I knew his opinion of me – my personal character – might make the difference in whether I lived or died. He said, "We have to do this again."
Link to "The First Video," and link to yesterday's installment — part two, "A Spy With a Homing Device." Link to previous BB posts on Ms. Carroll.
