Conversation Point

In This Moment

Jill Carroll

As of this writing, reporter Jill Carroll, kidnapped Saturday morning in Baghdad, is still missing.

There is no word on her whereabouts. No one has claimed responsibility for her abduction, or the murder of her translator, who was found in the same neighborhood from which she disappeared. Although shot twice in the head, he lived long enough to tell authorities that Carroll was to interview Adham al-Duraimi, a leading Arab Sunni politician at ten that morning. After a twenty-five minute wait, they were informed al-Duraimi was not in his office. The ambush occurred three hundred yards from the building in which al-Duraimi's office is located. Carroll's driver, pushed from the car before he could put the vehicle into neutral, believes the attack was orchestrated because it took less than a quarter minute to accomplish. Carroll, with people crushed in around her in the back seat, was sped away. Despite the escalating violence in an unstable country, and that this latest kidnapping of a Westerner occurred in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods, the fact remains that each person killed or injured or kidnapped as a result of United States or Iraqi political agendas, is an individual, someone with friends, family, and a God who loves them.

Jill Carroll is no exception.

When Carroll was laid off from her job as a reporting assistant for The Wall Street Journal several years ago, she decided to pursue her dream. "All I ever wanted to be was a foreign correspondent," she wrote in the February/March 2005 edition of the American Journalism Review. "It seemed the right time to try to make it happen." Jill moved to Jordan six months prior to the beginning of the Iraqi War to learn as much as possible before the fighting began. A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, she had been working as a journalist for three years, and at the time of her abduction was reporting for The Christian Science Monitor. She has also posted stories with other U.S. publications and an Italian wire service, and has been interviewed by National Public Radio. Carroll was an aggressive reporter, but was careful, Monitory Managing editor Marshall Ingwerson said. "She's a very professional, straight-up, fact-oriented reporter." Ingwerson said. Richard Bergenheim, also of The Monitor, is quoted as saying,"Jill's ability to help others understand the issues facing all groups in Iraq has been invaluable." Her sister, Kathryn, would agree, having hosted a blog keeping friends and family aware of Jill's work since being in the Middle East. The blog has been pulled since Jill's abduction.

Knowing the risks doesn't always prevent the worst from happening. Jill Carroll had choices in her life, she made them to the best of her ability, and has become a victim of the war she has been clarifying for us here in the United States. What Jill saw was an opportunity to understand this international tragedy from the perspective of the Iraqi people, these victims who had no choice but to try to hone their survival instincts in a home lost to terrorism. There is grace in what Jill Carroll's life choices have meant to the Iraqi people as she has told their stories. We pray tonight for her safe return so that we may continue to be blessed by her gifts and her courage.

Until next time, God's blessings.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 7:44 PM