The case of Jill Carroll, captive

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor ERIC T. LORETIZO Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

There seems to be a big mystery in the story of Jill Carroll. The American journalist who was seized by Iraqi rebels in Baghdad shortly after the New Year and held captive for almost three months, 82 days, to be exact. For a while her whereabouts were unknown and her family and co-workers back in the United States remained apprehensive over the fate that she might have suffered.

Then late last week, Jill Carroll, 28, was suddenly freed by her captors and left near the Baghdad office of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Up to the time of this writing, few details, and only unimportant ones, have come out as to the circumstances leading to her release.

A representative from her newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor, denied having done any negotiation to secure her release, and stressed that neither they, her family, or the U.S. government had paid any ransom for her.

The mystery, however, is that, before she arrived in Germany, where she had been initially taken from Iraq, a video was shown with her speaking favorably about her captors, praising them, and even scoring her fellow Americans. At the same time, it showed her predicting victory in the end for the mujahedeen.

Carroll has since repudiated the contents of the tape that had been posted on an Islamist website. She said she had been forced to say the things she did because she was bargaining for her freedom, maybe even her life.

There is logic in what the young journalist is saying, given the circumstances she had been in for so long. However, there is also reason for those who have to debrief her to be aware that there is such a thing as the so-called "Stockholm Syndrome" in which a hostage or captive could be so influenced by those holding or keeping her, that she absorbs and fully subscribes to their beliefs or policies. That may be a simplistic way of defining it, but it has been acknowledged and confirmed in several cases. We sympathize with Jill Carroll, being a member of the same profession, but this is an angle worth looking into, both for her own security and that of her country.*