Jill Carroll

For the last two days I’ve been reading the account of Jill Carroll’s 82 day hostage ordeal. This woman first had some real guts going to Iraq to be a freelance journalist in the first place. That in itself is not an easy job. She explains that she didn’t want to be stuck in a cubicle writing articles, so instead went to cover the war in Iraq.

To get her stories in Iraq she would have to brave riding around to interview government officials as well as everyday Iraqi citizens. With people being kidnapped, and bombs blowing up cars on a daily basis, you’ve got to be a pretty strong individual.

One of the many videos Jill made pleading for her life.

To help you understand this even more, moments before Jill was taken hostage she was leaving an interview appointment that never actually happened. A truck was backing out making it impossible for her car to leave. Men appeared with guns by this large truck, and at first Jill thought nothing of it. Seeing men with guns was a regular occurrence as far as she was concerned. But these men with guns weren’t trying to get this truck backed out, they were there to take Jill hostage. In a few moments her translator was killed right in front of her, she was kidnapped, and no one knew exactly where she was for the next 82 days.

Jill Coming Home -- AP PHOTO

If you have the time, I highly recommend you read Jill’s account of what happened at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/ojilloneintro

If you do anything, watch the last three video clips on this page. They are very short, but very powerful.

http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/multimedia/part9.html