Attacking a Victim

It’s sad to say: right wing boosters of the disastrous Iraq War couldn’t help themselves. They all but accused journalist kidnap victim Jill Carroll of treason based on her obviously forced interview – given at the point of a gun to her captors – and released to the media last week as Carroll herself was let go.

Leading the Carroll witchhunt was Charles Osgood on New York’s WCBS 880 this past Friday.

Osgood couldn’t wait until Carroll was out of Iraq, or even free of her captors, before accusing her of being a mouthpiece of the terrorists, i.e., “telling their story” because of the interview she was forced into. He even implies they let her go so she could be their spokesperson!

Here’s Osgood in his own shameful words (emphasis is mine) ...

Posted: Friday, 31 March 2006 1:48PM Charles Osgood Reporting

Why did they let her go?

Why did the terrorist kidnappers of Jill Carroll who shot her Iraqi interpreter not kill her too as they threatened to? Richard Bergenheim, editor of the Christian Science Monitor, says no ransom was paid. And that pressure from Muslim leaders might be one reason they let her go.

"The chorus of Muslim leaders condemning this kidnapping has been larger and louder than has been heard for some time," said Bergenheim.

Jill's family did all they could. Sister Katie was on Iraqi radio as recently as this Wednesday. "I hope that someone listening to me now has information that could help Jill," said Katie Carroll.

Some other relatives directed their pleas to the kidnappers themselves.

"Jill started to tell your story, so please let her finish it," said a relative.

And in that regard Jill has wasted no time, telling their story.

"I feel guilty, honestly. I've been here, treated very well, like a guest. Given good food, never, never hurt. All those women are in Abu Ghraib, terrible things are happening to them," said Jill Carroll.

Telling their story that the Mujahadeen are winning.

"Everyday there are soldiers killed. Everyday Humvees are blown up. Helicopters are shot down, everyday. It's very clear the Mujahadeen have the skills and the ability and the desire and the good reasons to fight and they'll ensure they will win," said Jill Carroll.

A freed Jill Carroll on President Bush:

"Hopefully somehow he'll get the message and that this war was wrong, and the continuing occupation is wrong, and that he could change his policies," said Jill Carroll.

President Bush on the freeing of Jill Carroll:

"Just really grateful she's released and I want to thank those who worked hard to release her," said Bush.

I suppose Carroll became a target for right wingers like Osgood because 1) she was a journalist 2) she was seen in photos before and during her kidnapping dressed in a burqa and 3) they're too dense to know propaganda from the truth, which is why they're Bush supporters in the first place.

Carroll must have been a terrorist sympathizer in the us-against-them mentality of the Cult of Bush. They were probably excited about it! These Repugs are always more hateful of their fellow Americans who dissent, like Michael Moore or the Dixie Chicks, then they are of the terrorists themselves.

In Carroll’s gunpoint interview and burqa-wearing, they sensed a traitor in their midst and went after her with their media plants, like you-know-who at CBS Radio.

But if Osgood and other salespeople for the Iraq disaster had only waited until Carroll was at liberty to express herself, this is what they would have heard ...

"During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me I would be released if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. So I agreed," she said in a statement read by her editor in Boston.

"Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not."

Charles Osgood owes Jill Carroll an apology! So does every other blogger, commenter and “journalist” who attacked her based on the terrorists’ propaganda. You all were suckered by the enemy into attacking a woman and a good American.

If the brainwashed goons who attacked Carroll had any understanding of the kind of professional journalistic integrity she has, they would have understood she would never have given such a partisan opinion in the context of an interview.

UPDATE 4/4/06: Osgood dedicated his Monday braodcast on WCBS to Carroll, taking pains to point out she was under duress during her earlier statement. But he didn't mention his attack on Carroll, nor did he apologize.