Missing Journalist Jill Carroll
 

Is anyone else following the story of her kidnapping?

Her story

Not really. I feel like she assumed the risk of being kidnapped when she decided to go over there. Sometimes the consequences of our actions are pretty awful, but in this case, completely foreseeable.

Yeah I havae been keeping up with it. She grew up in Ann Arbor so it's making a lot of the papers here.

What he said.

That post lifesaver made in the Random thread last week comes to mind.

She goes off to WeHateAmericans-istan to thump her bibles because she wants to, gets her ass kidnapped, and now expects us to save her?

Give me a break.

I didn't realize she was doing any activist work there; I thought she simply went as a freelancer to cover the situation.

The CSM has a big office out of Boston, so there's been quite a bit of talk about it here. In J-School, I remember a foreign correspondent telling us how we could get into the field; you either get a chance with a big paper, or freelance. Freelancers can get some great stories and find a paper, but you're really taking your safety into your own hands.

It's a sad story, but she had to know what she was getting herself into.

ETA: Hopefully they'll be able to rescue her before anything worse happens.

There are a lot of journalists that came out of obscurity because of the fact that they risked their lives in a war zone.

And you know what people? I care about her and I'm happy to see the US government and the Iraqis do as well.

-Rudey

It is great that so many people have tried to come to her aid - no one should have to face the situation that she is facing right now.

Or the situation faced by her rescuers that will have to risk their lives if they find out who is holding her. Not only does her stupidity put her own life in peril, it could possibly imperil that of others. Her translator is already dead.

You're right. We should essentially have all the journalists leave Iraq and allow for government memos that will be declassified in 50 years to keep us informed.

-Rudey

So do we not have any freelancers out there? Do we only rely on the journalists in the "pool," or as Rudey noted, the information that won't be released for a generation?

It's not an ideal situation, and these freelancers (and all journalists) know the risks they are encountering. I wish these terrorists weren't randomly kidnapping innocent journalists in the first place; then we wouldn't need rescuers. For those who are putting their lives on the line to save her (as well as other hostages), my thoughts go out to them, their families and all who know them.

Wouldn't her rescuers be assuming the risk like you say she did? Aren't they, as well as her translator, adults who are responsible for their own decisions? Why would you feel worse for them than you do for her?

People in the military are following orders. There is the assumption of risk when they enter the military, but should they be placed in harm's way by irresponsible civilians?

I feel a little less sorry for the translator, he probably had a better appreciation of the risk than anyone.

Freelance journalists should be free to go where they please, but in doing so, they shouldn't expect any sort of special treatment when things don't work out as planned.

Well, if they didn't want to be placed in harm's way by irresponsible civilians, they shouldn't have joined the military. There will always be irresponsible civilians, right? So they assumed the risk.

I guess I don't understand the point of feeling less or more bad for people based on how culpable you think they are. Call me a hippie freak, but I really don't think anybody should be kidnapped, tortured, killed, or have otherwise horrible things happen to them, for any reason.

You're entitled to your opinion valkyrie as I am mine.

I doubt that there are a lot or political things which we'd see eye to eye on anyhow :)

BUMP- she's been released, amazingly