Give Jill Carroll a Little Time Before Condemning Her Latest Statements

Give Jill Carrroll some time before being too concerned about her public pronouncements saying nice things about the terrorists who held her.

Too many seem to be assuming either that recently released hostage Jill Carroll is now a terrorist sympathizer or a victim of "Stockholm Syndrome" in which she has come to identify with her captors.

Many of these claims are based on statements recorded before Jill Carroll was released, obviously under the implied threat of death.  Those statements should be ignored as the product of duress. 

Even some of Carroll's post-release statements are surely colored by the real fear that she could be kidnapped again or assassinated if she says the "wrong" thing.  Her sense of personal safety has undoubtedly been shattered.

Jill Carroll has just spent three months saying whatever her terrorists captors wanted her to say, for obvious reasons.  Give her some time to shake the habit and find her own thoughts again.

Even when she does begin to work her way back to her own thoughts, she will have to deal with the embarrassment of realizing that she willingly told lies or wildly exaggerated her opinions in order to save her life.  It was not wrong for her to do so; all of her statements during her captivity were made under duress.  Yet it still will be uncomfortable for her to admit publicly that she lied about anything if she is normally the kind of person who does not lie at all.  In such a situation, it's almost easier on the psyche to just stand by whatever you said until the passage of time allows the whole horrible experience to fade. 

Added to that, Caroll may feel herself bound by promises made she may have made to her kidnappers under duress.  She is not morally or legally bound any any promise she made in order to secure her release or avoid her death, but it may take her a long time to realize that.

This is very unlike the recent experience in which leaders of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, three of whose members were rescued from kidnappers by U.S. and U.K. troops, went out of their way to condemn the United States and conspicuously failed to thank the soldiers who rescued them until they were forced by public outcry to do so.  In that case, the spokespersons who made the outrageous statements were not hostages themselves.  They had no excuse.

So maybe Jill Carroll will come through with moral clarity about the terrorists who held her, given a little time and distance or a lot of time and distance.  That will be seen. 

By the same token, anyone who believes in the truth of any statements made by Jill Carroll at the behest of the terrorists, or considers them relevant to any public policy debate, is (a) foolish, (b) pro-terrorist, (c) anti-American, or (d) all of the above.

For now though, let Carroll enjoy her freedom again and save your anger for the terrorists who committed the barbaric crime of kidnapping Jill Carroll, killing another person in the ambush, and threatening for three months to kill Jill Carroll.

Update 3/31/06:  Michelle Malkin has a good roundup of opinion, including some who share the view expressed here that we need to wait before condemning Carroll.  All Things Beautiful has an even more exhaustive roundup of opinion.  All anyone really knows is that time will tell. 

Jill Carroll's capacity to think and speak freely and objectively regarding the terrorists who held her was denied during her captivity under threat of death.  Now that she is free, that capacity is like an injured seedling that needs time and patience to recover.  Pulling the plant up by the roots every five minutes to check on its progress is not recommended and may stunt the plant's growth.  Unfortunately, that is exactly what may happen if Carroll succumbs to pleas from the media to make the immediate rounds of the television interview circuit.

Update 4/1/06:  The Christian Science Monitor confirms that Jill Carroll was forced to make the propaganda video praising her captors and attacking the United States as a condition of obtaining her freedom, and after having been told by her captors that they had already killed another American hostage.

Update later 4/1/06:  Safe in Germany, Jill Carroll has come through with crystal clear moral clarity even sooner than I had hoped.  Read her statement here making it clear that she has no sympathy whatsoever for the terrorists who held her hostage and is grateful to everyone who helped to bring her home.  If I may be permitted a moment of celebration, I was right in cautioning that Jill Carroll's early pro-terrorist statements should not be taken at face value and in urging patience. 

Earlier Posts:

• Jill Carroll Released
• Jill Carroll Public Service Announcement
• Nothing Yet on Hostage Jill Carroll, But Here's...
• Jill Carroll: The Little We Know Right Now
• A Message for Jill Carroll's Captors
• Kidnapped U.S. Reporter Jill Carrol Alive; ...
• Jill Carroll: Another Victim of Terrorism

Comments

[Rick Moran]

Gina:

Nice piece - wish that more people had read it before jumping off the cliff.

[circlethewagons]

Sometimes people want to believe the worst - or want their stereotypes to be validated. I always felt that the way in which a number of conservatives were reacting to Carroll was a sad example of this. Despite the fact that we simply did not have enough information at the time to properly judge.

Thankfully, not all reacted in this way (you being a nice example).