I'm extremely pleased that this reporter's life was spared. I offer my sympathy to the families of the translator and the many other victims who have suffered at the hands of the insurgents.

But I have some discomfort with the reporter's words. She can slaim she was unharmed, and treated well. But for God's sake she was held captive against her will. That, in my opinion, is at the basest level of NOT being treated well.

Her comments after being freed diminish this great slight, the theft of her liberty. It's almost as if now people should say "kidnapping isn't so bad after all, they treated Jill well!"

I would prefer for her to speak honestly, and I do not believe she is speaking honestly. If she were, I have a feeling she would say something more like:

"It was terrible. I was captive. I couldn't talk to my family or friends. I didn't know if I would be alive the next day, or even the next hour. No I wasn't harmed, but the everpresent possibility, to complete lack of independence over my own life, was excruciating."

And if her experience wasn't all that bad, then what does that say about her that she values her individual freedom so low.

I always make a point of reading the prior letters before I post, just in case prior posters have expressed my point already... in this case it was a mistake. I will now take a deep breath to free myself of Sandra M.'s negativity and focus on the awesome, welcome news, the denouement (if not the ending) of a story that I haven't found to be over-covered in the media at all...

Jill Carroll is free! and alive!

And to address the sad death of her translator (and how many other thousands of people on both sides in Iraq)... all the more reason to be pleasantly surprised at this good outcome coming out of that hellhole. Finally something went right for someone.

I am so happy for Jill and those who love her.

Ah, the holier-than-thou brigade of media criticism has shown up already! I, for one, am happy that Jill Carroll is safe and mostly sound. Sandra M, I hope that if you are held hostage in a room in a war zone for months, that someone will worry about you too and rejoice when you're freed.

Here's a story for Broadsheet, though: Inexplicably, the (male) right wing of the blogosphere has let loose with all kinds of speculations about Carroll because she apparently wasn't one of them. The best of them seem to think that she must have been part of a hoax/extortion scheme (http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2006/03/jill-carroll-christian-science-monitor.html).

Some of them, in their infinite 101 Fighting Keyboarder wisdom, think that a silly girl who has spent the last two years regularly putting herself in all kinds of danger must be incredibly naive if she doesn't share their views: "Her father was just interviewed on FNC. He seems like a really nice guy. Sounds like a rebellious daughter."

But what's truly, jaw-droppingly horrifying is that the worst of them appear to be using her to fulfill their vilest fantasies, arguing that she must have been "treated well" in exchange for sexual favors to her captors (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/30/144840/465). Where the hell is all this coming from?

Please do not keep us posted as more details emerge. This story already has an ending written, to wit:

"In a short interview with a Baghdad TV station, Carroll said: "I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped." She also said that she was never beaten by her captors, or threatened with beatings. She was kept in a room with a window and had access to a shower, she said, but didn't know where she was."

I wish the media would resist milking the inherent drama in the situation and for once, ONCE, not write and air repetitive stories that go over and over the same details with new adjectives. There's nothing new to learn here. There is no more NEWS here.

Except maybe how the translator's family is doing - and maybe raising some money for them? That guy was just murdered execution style. So why does he get only a few words, while Jill, safe and sound, will doubtless have thousands more poured out on her behalf - not because the public demands it or even *wants* it, but because in an era of 24x7 news, tiny things become big, big things become huge, huge things become all-consuming.

Enough. Salon covered the story. She's released. She sat in a room w/ a shower and ws not harmed. There's no more story here. Let's move on - there IS still a war.