Four Iraqis Arrested in Kidnapping of 'CSM' Reporter Jill Carroll

By: Joe Strupp U.S. Marines have arrested four Iraqi men in connection with the kidnapping of U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, who was freed last March after 82 days in captivity, a U.S. spokesman said Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the four, who were not identified, were arrested in Anbar province west of Baghdad but he did not say when. Carroll, who works for the Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped on Jan. 7 and held 7 miles west of Fallujah. She was released in Baghdad on March 30.

Her kidnapping drew worldwide attention as numerous human rights and journalism groups urged her release. The Monitor has since revealed that she was moved nine times during the ordeal.

Her abductors, a formerly unknown group calling themselves the Revenge Brigade, who had demanded the release of all Iraqi women prisoners several times, dropped her off at a political party office with no explanation. Since her release, Carroll has maintained a low profile, declining requests for interviews and even avoiding invitations to appear for awards and other accolades.

Monitor Managing Editor Marshall Ingwerson told E&P he got first word that arrests were coming last night. "I couldn?t tell you exactly when," he said. "I heard it was happening yesterday, we heard it was coming down."

In a statement, Monitor Editor Richard Bergenheim said, "Jill Carroll and her Monitor colleagues are very grateful for all of the efforts the U.S. government made to secure Jill's freedom after she was held against her will for 82 days. Like reporters everywhere, we are reassured to hear that several of those who held Jill have been apprehended. The daily threat of kidnapping in Iraq remains acute for all. Everything possible needs to be done to relieve Iraqis and others of this scourge."

Caldwell said a lieutenant from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment decided to investigate a house which he had read about in intelligence reports. He and his Marines entered the house and detained the owner.

"After questioning that suspect, Marines identified additional locations where Jill Caroll was believed to have been held," Caldwell said.

Caldwell said Marines went to a second location and arrested one person. Three others were arrested at yet another place and two hostages were freed.

"U.S. and Iraqi authorities are currently discussing prosecutorial options and will make the determination shortly," he said.

Ingwerson did not believe that Carroll had been involved in the search for her captors, or in any way had been asked to identify them so far. "Not to my knowledge," Ingwerson said. "I don't know of any specific involvement. It was a military operation, as far as I know."

The arrests of her alleged captors comes just days before the Monitor is set to publish an 11-part series on Carroll's ordeal, which will begin Monday. Each story also will be posted on the paper's Web site, along with video from a recent interview of Carroll.

The Monitor is promoting the series heavily, with a short video commercial for the series on its Web site, as well as allowing readers to sign up to receive daily e-mail reminders to read each day's installment.

"It's an unusual project because it involves one of our own," Ingwerson said. "We are closer than we would like to be to the story. It is a tremendously high-interest story."

Carroll, who had worked for months in Iraq as a Monitor freelancer, had been made a staff employee of the paper shortly after her abduction. No information has been revealed about what her future assignment may be beyond the personal story.

Ingwerson said she remains on staff, working in the Monitor's Boston newsroom editing stories on the international desk. "I don' t think she has made any decisions," he said about her future assignments.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Related E&P stories:

-- Jill Carroll Kidnapping Story To Be Told In 11-Part Series Next Week.

-- June 23: Jill Carroll's Story Completed.