Jill Carroll: I Was Not Harmed

American reporter Jill Carroll's three-month hostage ordeal ended Thursday when she was left on a Baghdad street in front of a Sunni political party office. She appeared composed and eager to talk about her 82 days held captive in a tiny room.

"It's important people know that I was not harmed," she said.

Wearing a green Islamic head scarf and a gray Iraqi robe, Carroll was dropped off at midday near an office of the Iraqi Islamic Party. She walked inside and was then driven 20 minutes to party headquarters, where she called her family and gave an interview to Baghdad Television before being handed over to U.S. authorities.

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports that Carroll appeared remarkably composed and healthy despite her weeks of captivity.

The 28-year-old freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor said her kidnappers confined her to a small, soundproof room with frosted windows but treated her well.

Although the captors issued televised threats to kill of the 28-year-old journalist if U.S. forces did not release female prisoners, Carroll said she felt safe.

"I was kept in very good small safe place, a safe room, nice furniture; they gave me clothing plenty of food. I was allowed to take showers, go to the bathroom when I wanted. Very good — (they) never hit me, never even threatened to hit me," Carroll said emphatically in the Baghdad Television interview.

Carroll said she did not know who her kidnappers were, where she was held or why she was set free. Shortly before she was released, the journalist said, "They just came to me and said, 'OK, we're letting you go now.' That's all."

When Carroll was abducted, her Iraqi interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, was shot to death.

An American embassy spokeswoman said 13 Americans, many of whom have dual Iraqi and American citizenship, are still being held hostage. There are also thousands of Iraqis who have been taken hostages. U.S. officials in Iraq believe that between 100 to 200 Iraqis are kidnapped every week, and many of them end up dead, Logan reports.

After spending time with her, one of Carroll's friends told Logan, "she's a great woman, you cannot believe how she held it together."

"It was difficult," Carroll said in the television interview. "I didn't know what happened happen to me. ... The room had a window but the glass was, you know, you can't see, and curtains and you couldn't hear any sound so I would sit in the room. If I had to take a shower, I walk two feet to next door, take a shower, go to the bathroom, come back. That's all. So I don't know what — where I was or what was going on. ... I once did watch television. But I didn't really know what was going on in the outside world. I got some news — here and there I would get some news. One time they brought me a newspaper so I got some news from a newspaper once, but that was about it."

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, said there was no ransom paid by the American embassy, but his remarks left open the question of whether "arrangements" were made by others. None of the kidnappers was captured, he said.

"No U.S. person entered into any arrangements with anyone. By U.S. person I mean the United States mission," Khalilzad said.

He also said there was no connection between the recent release of several female Iraqi detainees and Carroll's freedom.

"What we did before had no connection with Jill Carroll," Khalilzad said. "We still have a few female detainees — four — and that's all I can say on that."

German authorities have arrested a man who is accused of trying to extort $2 million from the Monitor by promising to win Carroll's freedom.

The Monitor's editor, Richard Bergenheim, said no money had been exchanged for Carroll's release. "We simply know she was dropped off at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters," he said.

Tariq al-Hashimi, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, also denied knowledge of a ransom payoff or his party's involvement in negotiating Carroll's release.

"The Iraqi Islamic Party did not take part in this," he said. "There have been no contacts with anybody. We don't know whether the newspaper paid a ransom or not. Our role was clear in appealing for her release."

"As I said, she's in great spirits" Khalilzad said. "I did spend some time with her and she's anxious to get home and we will do all that we can to help her get home as quickly as possible."

Logan spoke with one of Carroll's closest friends and colleague, Scott Peterson, who has been in Baghdad working for her release every day since she was kidnapped and spent most of today with Jill. He told Logan that when he saw her, he felt so blessed to see her smiling face, adding "We've waited a long time for this."

Carroll's father Jim, standing on the porch of his home in Chapel Hill, N.C., said he was asleep when the phone rang at about 6 a.m. "Hi, Dad. This is Jill. I'm released," the voice on the other end said.

"Obviously we are thrilled and relieved that she has been released," he said.

CBS correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports that Carroll's mother celebrated her daughter's release in private, but had her cousin read a statement.

"My cousin, Mary Beth Carroll, Jill's mother, and all of our family are delighted, thrilled, ecstatic that Jill has been released," said Peter Alonzi.

Carroll's aunt told Bowers that she was relived. "As thrilling as it is, I hope we never have to go through something like this again. … There were so many scary points throughout."

Bowers reports that one day earlier, Carroll's twin sister, Katie, appeared on Arab TV. "I hope someone listening to me now has information that will help Jill," she said.

On Thursday, the sisters also spoke by phone.

"She called me because she remembered my number. I was dreaming that this would be the way I'd find out — that she'd call me in the middle of the night like this," Katie said, according to the Monitor. "She sounded great."

President Bush said he rejoiced at the news. "I'm just really grateful she was released," he said. He thanked those "who worked so hard for her release. I'm glad she's alive."

With Carroll's release, there are no more foreign journalists held hostage in Iraq. However, two Iraqi journalists kidnapped on Feb. 1 are still being held.

Carroll was abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad's western Adil neighborhood while going to interview Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her translator was killed in the attack about 300 yards from al-Dulaimi's office.

About 12:15 p.m. Thursday in west Baghdad's Amiriyah neighborhood, Carroll was dropped near a branch office of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Carroll walked into the office, carrying a letter in Arabic from her kidnappers instructing the party to help her.

She "introduced herself as Jill Carroll ... and gave us a written letter in Arabic that asked the Islamic Party help her," Alaa Maki, a party member, told reporters.

Carroll was then taken by an armored car to the party's headquarters, where she was interviewed by the party-owned Baghdad Television and given a copy of the Quran, the Islamic holy book, which appeared to be covered in gold leaf.

Her comments Thursday were a marked contrast to videotapes released by the kidnappers to Arab television stations.

Carroll wept in a Jan. 30 tape on Al-Jazeera television, and the voiceover of the video said she appealed for authorities to free all women prisoners in Iraq to help win her release.

Ten days later, in a video dated Feb. 2 and aired by a private Kuwaiti TV channel, Carroll spoke in a strong voice, saying she had sent a letter to prove she was alive and now was appearing on television for the same purpose.

"I am here. I am fine. Please just do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is a very short time. Please do it fast. That's all."

Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn't happen.

Carroll is the fourth Western hostage to be freed in eight days. On March 23, U.S. and British soldiers freed Briton Norman Kember, 74, and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, from a house west of Baghdad. But a fourth member of the Christian Peacemakers Teams group held hostage, American Tom Fox, was killed earlier.

Thirty-nine journalists have been kidnapped in Iraq since April 2004, when insurgents began targeting the press, said Ann Cooper, the executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Six of them were killed.

"As journalists are being kidnapped, detained and killed, it becomes exceedingly hard for them to do their job in Iraq," Cooper said, "and it is we, the general public, who lose from it."