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The News Behind Jill Carroll's Kidnapping

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (Jan. 31) - The U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, weeping and veiled, appeared on a new videotape aired Monday by Al-Jazeera, and the Arab television station said she appealed for the release of all Iraqi women prisoners."

Most news accounts report in such a way as to make American angry with the Iraqis for making war on women. But in fact, it appears that, as usual, WE STARTED IT. They are demanding the release of women in prison, and most of assume that they are in prison for a good reason. But is that so? AOL News ran another story on Jan. 27 under the Headline:

"Documents Show Army Seized Iraqi Wives as Tactic"

"(Jan. 27) -- The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of 'leveraging' their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.

" 'In one case, a secretive task force loocked up the young mother of a nursing baby,' a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of the second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him to 'come and get his wife'....

"The documents are among hundreds the Pentagon has released periodically under U.S. court order to meet an American Civil Liberties Union request for information on detention practices.

"In one memo . . . 'During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target's surrender,' wrote the 14-year veteran officer.

"He said he objected, but when they raided the house the team leader, a senior sergeant, seized her anyway.

" 'The 28-year old woman had three young children at the house, one being as young as six months and still nursing,' the intelligence officer wrote. She was held for two days and was released after he complained, he said."

For every action, there is an equal reaction. We cannot start detaining women as a war tactic and then demand that the other side not do so. Of course, one can argue that Jill Carroll is an innocent news reporter, while the women that the U.S. army has detained are the wives of insurgents. But we would be even angrier if some Iraqis came to America and kidnapped the wives of American servicemen.

Let's just admit that it was a stupid idea to make war on the wives of Iraqi insurgents. But having done that, we ought to apologize for doing it, humble ourselves, and release those women immediately.

For further information on the AOL News article, read it for yourself at:

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060127135209990001&cid=