Raids in Jill Carroll Search Come up Empty

By: The Associated Press and UPI Iraqi police are stepping up the search for kidnapped U.S. journalist Jill Carroll but report no new developments as the deadline set by her captors for the U.S. to meet their demands draws near.

The 28-year-old freelancer for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor was kidnapped in Baghdad on Jan. 7 and last seen in a videotape broadcast this month by the private Kuwaiti television station Alrai.

Station owner Jassem Boudai said the kidnappers set a Sunday deadline for U.S. and Iraqi authorities to meet their demands or they would kill her. The kidnappers had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq but Boudai indicated the group had provided more specific conditions which he refused to reveal.

On Sunday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said an extensive search was underway for Carroll but had so far failed to find her.

"Our forces raided some suspected places, but she was not there," Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi said. "We are watching the situation closely."

Since Wednesday, Iraqi security officials have been preoccupied with the grave security crisis that erupted when two bombs destroyed the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, which is revered by Shiite Muslims.

The destruction of the site triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics and pushed the country to the brink of civil war. Stepped up security including daytime curfew and vehicle bans in the capital have calmed tempers but the situation remains tense.

Three Iraqi journalists were slain Wednesday while covering the shrine bombing.

Two days before a deadline set by her kidnappers, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a public appeal for the release of Carroll.

"Many leading Arab and Muslim journalists, scholars and others have come out publicly calling for her release and we join them in their appeal," the New York-based nonprofit organization said in a statement Friday.

The CPJ also called on kidnappers to release two Iraqi journalists, Marwan Ghazal and Reem Zaeed of Iraqi Samaria TV, who were abducted in Baghdad on Feb. 1.

Groups as varied as Hamas to the student newspaper at the University of Massachusetts have called for the release of Carroll, elevating her abduction to a matter of international concern.

But as violence escalates in Iraq, and a second deadline approaches, friends and colleagues have adopted a reserved tone.

"We know our journalistic colleagues will understand why we need to exercise great care in commenting on Jill's situation," David Cook, the Monitor's bureau chief in Washington, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Thomas Houlahan, an associate of the William R. Nelson Institute for Public Affairs, has contributed this plea, distributed via United Press International. It follows in its entirety.

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Like most of the people on the planet following this story, I pray that Miss Carroll, a young lady who loves the Iraqi people deeply and has clearly done nothing to deserve what has happened to her, will be returned safely to her family and to her work.

Unlike most of the people, I am a journalist, and have the opportunity to address her captors. So, I`m taking that opportunity to ask them to consider a few things.

First, the Iraqi women her captors are concerned about are well on their way to being released from U.S. custody. Harming Jill Carroll won`t speed up the process, and would almost certainly slow it down.

Iraq`s Deputy Prime Minister Abed Mutlak Juburi has been critical of U.S. detention policies. He has said that 'The detention of Iraqis is not good for U.S. forces and is harming the political process in Iraq.' Juburi has also said that a plan to release prisoners in groups of 500 was in the works, with the goal of releasing 1,500 per month.

Juburi has been especially critical of the arrest of Iraqi women and their use as leverage by U.S. forces. 'I am against the detention of all women, no matter where they are from,' he said. 'Women should not be used as instruments of pressure and I am against their abduction, whatever the reason.'

He has been working toward gaining the transfer of all women currently held by U.S. forces to Iraqi custody and the release of those who are innocent. Four have already been released.

The release of the women from U.S. custody is clearly just a matter of time.

Second, I would urge Miss Carroll`s captors to consider that neither she nor her loved ones are responsible for this policy, which they find so offensive.

Once, when another reporter blamed the Iraqi people for Iraq`s problems, Jill Carroll replied: 'Don`t blame the Iraqis. You should blame the governments for what they do.'

I would urge her captors not to punish Jill Carroll for the policies of the U.S. government that offend them. She undoubtedly finds the detention of innocent women as leverage against wanted male family members offensive. I certainly do.

Third, and this point is so obvious it almost isn`t worth making, but I`ll make it anyway, the Brigades of Vengeance cannot decry the detention of innocent women as leverage, then kidnap and kill a completely innocent woman.

If Jill Carroll is killed, her captors will be denounced by Muslims worldwide for murdering an innocent woman. In short, they will have handed their enemies a huge propaganda victory.

Fourth, as Claude Salhani of United Press has pointed out, many in the West argue that Islam is a 'violent religion,' and violent actions by Muslims strengthen the hands of Islamophobes and raise the level of Islamophobia in the West.

It is a valid point, and I can only hope that whoever has Jill Carroll recognizes that harming her would strengthen the hands of their enemies.

Fifth, if Jill Carroll`s captors are really concerned about abuses of power like the improper detention of Iraqi women, people like Jill Carroll are their best protection.

Harming Jill Carroll would undoubtedly result it the near collapse of the kind of independent journalism that would safeguard Iraqi civil liberties.

This is something Miss Carroll`s captors should consider carefully if they are truly concerned about abusive behavior by authorities in Iraq.

It seems that most abuses in Iraq are resolved only after they are uncovered by the press. For example, I believe that had it not been for the press, Iraqi prisoners would still be getting led around naked on leashes at Abu Ghraib Prison. Authorities changed procedures in the prison under pressure from the American media.

Because of the danger involved in covering events in Iraq, there is already a severe shortage of American reporters covering it. Most of the ones who are there are so daunted by the danger that they go nowhere unless they are surrounded by American troops.

Harm to Jill Carroll would virtually guarantee that the overwhelming majority of journalists in Iraq would be 'embedded,' going where U.S. officials wanted them to go, and seeing what U.S. officials wanted them to see.

In short, that`s another victory Jill Carroll's captors would be handing their enemies by harming her.

So, if members of the Brigades of Vengeance are reading this, here`s my suggestion: You have made your point. Now, there are a number of people, including Sunni religious leaders, trying to make contact with you to find out how they can get Jill Carroll back, safe and sound. Talk to them, and let an innocent woman return to her loved ones and to her work.