Newspaper Pleads for American Hostage's Release

Jan. 19, 2006 — -- Colleagues of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll have vowed to bring her home safely as the deadline set by her captors nears.

"We're a small news organization. It's a family. And we're intent on getting this family member home safely," said David Cook, Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor.

Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Monitor, was abducted Jan. 7 in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods. On Tuesday, al Jazeera television aired a silent, 20-second video that featured Carroll and that said her abductors were giving the United States 72 hours to free female prisoners in Iraq or she would be killed.

On Wednesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Carroll's safe return was a priority of the administration, but he did not further elaborate "because of the sensitivity of the situation." Meanwhile, there have been reports that the United States will release six female Iraqi detainees.

"Our people on the ground say it's unclear if it's related or not," Cook said.

Yesterday, al Jazeera aired more footage from the video of Carroll.

"The good news is she's alive, and we're grateful for that," Cook said. "She looks somewhat strained as we would expect."

As for Carroll's family members, he said they have been "remarkably poised."

The Monitor has had experience with abductions before. In 1995, a reporter working in Bosnia was kidnapped. The newspaper secured his release.

In the Monitor's first on-camera statement regarding Carroll yesterday, Cook went on al Jazeera, al Arabia, CNN International, and the BBC to plead with her abductors to release her.

"I asked them to show mercy and justice," Cook said. "I explained that Jill is an innocent person who is only a journalist. I asked them to return her so her family and her friends and her colleagues could be with her again."

Also, Iraqi clerics and politicians have made statements on Carroll's behalf, which Cook said were helpful.

"All people who know her know she's not a hot dog, she's a serious journalist," Cook said.

"If journalists who are trying to [have] a fair and balanced job are silenced, that's not a good way to get the story out," he added.