Graciousness and Class

Well, so much for Jill Carroll needing time to catch her breath. So much for Jill Carroll being a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. So much for Jill Carroll being anything other than a smart, articulate young woman under horrifying circumstances who was smart enough to figure out what her captors needed from her before they would let her go alive.

She releases a statement that explains clearly and explicitly that the words she spoke were not the words she would have freely chosen, that she is grateful to everyone who worked and prayed for her release, that she has her full wits about her, and that she has a measure of class I find stunning from someone who has been through what she's been through and has had so little time to gather herself.

The only question left, as I've noted before, is whether the press corps now honors her request for privacy in the days ahead. They should -- clearly it's the right thing to do -- and I believe they will.

And when they do, out of respect, because she's their friend and one of their own, it will be tacit acknowledgment that they realize how disrespectful their behavior is towards "regular" people in similiar circumstances, or, if their arguments are correct that such behavior is simply necessary for them to do their job, then it will be a hypocritical refusal to do their job when one of their own is involved. They can't have it both ways, particularly since -- given her status as a journalist -- so much more attention has been paid to Carroll's kidnapping than to any other.

Was that because as a journalist her kidnapping was more newsworthy? In that case, they can't pull back now, if they believe what they say about their methods being acceptable. Or was it because she was their friend?

Update: Something I meant to mention this morning and forgot to: many articles and stories will, of course, mention the large number of kidnappings that have taken place in Iraq since the war began.

Let's not forget to take a moment to thank the government of the Phillipines, who caved to threats early on, and by doing so convinced every terrorist, insurgent, and simple thug in Iraq that kidnapping foreigners was, at a minimum, worth a shot.

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