Marines Arrest 4 In Carroll Kidnapping
Troops Tracked Down Locations Where Journalist May Have Been Held Captive
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Play CBS Video Video Carroll Kidnap Suspects Caught The suspects wanted in the kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll in Iraq are in custody, according to the U.S. military. Manuel Gallegus reports.
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Video Jill Carroll Kidnap Arrests CBS News RAW: U.S. Commander Gen. William Caldwell briefed journalists on the recent capture of four men believed to be responsible for the abduction of American journalist Jill Carroll.
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Video Reaction To Iraqi Arrests CBS News RAW: Christian Science Monitor editor Richard Bergenheim discusses journalist Jill Carroll, whose suspected kidnappers were just arrested in Iraq.
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Jill Carroll appeared in a silent 20-second video aired Jan. 17, 2006, on Al-Jazeera. (AP Photo/Al-Jazeera)
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An empty kitchen of the house where Jill Carroll is thought to have been held captive, in a rural area outside a U.S. air base, in Taqqadum, Iraq, Friday, May 19, 2006. The image was released Wednesday Aug. 9, 2006, by U.S. marine Corps. (AP)
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U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, left, is welcomed by Base Commander, Col. Kurt Lohide after she landed at the U.S. Airbase in Ramstein, Germany, on April 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
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Jill Carroll, appearing on television during her captivity. (CBS)
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Iraqis inspect the destruction at the Shiite mosque Husseiniya, which was targeted by a powerful mortar shell, according to a statement from the Baquba city police directorate, in the restive city north of Baghdad, Aug. 9, 2006. (Getty Images/Ali Yussef)
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Interactive Reporter's Ordeal Track events surrounding the kidnapping of Jill Carroll, the journalist who spent 82 days in captivity in Iraq.
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Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
"We knew it was a limited time window. It was our best shot at it," said 1st Lt. Jake Cusack, 24, of Grand Rapids, Mich., who matched together the intelligence reports that led to the home.
Marines who arrived at the suspect's house tried to present their stopover as a regular visit. While several Marines spoke with the suspect in his living room, others quickly searched the rest of the home.
Inside, Marines confirmed that the house matched their intelligence reports. They found a slip of paper with Carroll's name written on it, $3,600 in cash, and an AK-47 hidden in a car outside. A false ceiling in the shower, said to hide explosives, was also found.
"Hey, sir, don't react but this is it," recalled Cusack radioing to the commanding officer, who was still chatting with the suspect.
Marines said the suspect calmly responded to their questions — until one Marine mentioned how a recent span of kidnappings in the area had angered him.
"He blanches, just for a second, then (a Marine) says, 'All right, you're coming up with us,"' recalled Cusack.
Three male suspects from the home were detained, including one man now accused in the abduction of Carroll. Marines said they were confident they had found the right home because it specifically matched their intelligence reports.
"I'm more sure about this than any other detention I've had in Iraq," said Cusack. "I'm 100 percent sure he's the guy."
The FBI announced the four arrests Wednesday, saying that it had worked closely with Carroll's family as well as the Baghdad-based Hostage Working Group and the Departments of Defense and State.
Special Agent Richard Kolko said in a release that the matter remains an ongoing FBI investigation. He did not answer any questions about "potential prosecution" of those arrested for taking Carroll hostage.
The suspect's home lies just within view of a fence that surrounds the Taqqadum air base. Each day the surrounding communities can hear dozens of U.S. helicopters and planes flying into the logistics hub that serves Marines in volatile western Iraq.
"They didn't seem to worry that they were that close to a military base. Maybe they thought it'd be the last place anybody would look," Reed said.
On the day of her release, Carroll was dropped off by her abductors at the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party. There she was interviewed by the Sunni party's television station before she was retrieved by U.S. forces.
Though she had been shown weeping on a tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television weeks before, Carroll said she was never hurt or threatened by her captives.
"I was kept in a very good, small safe place, a safe room, nice furniture," Carroll said. She said she was given clothing and plenty of food.
An editor for the Christian Science Monitor said the newspaper was aware of the announcement in Baghdad and expressed gratitude for U.S. efforts to win her release.
"Like reporters everywhere, we are reassured to hear that several of those believed to have held Jill have been apprehended," editor Richard Bergenheim said. "The daily threat of kidnapping in Iraq remains acute for all. Everything possible needs to be done to relieve Iraqis and others of this scourge."
The kidnappers, a formerly unknown group calling themselves the Revenge Brigade, had demanded the release of all female detainees in Iraq, saying Carroll would be killed otherwise. U.S. officials did release some female detainees but said the decision was unrelated to the demands.
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- I am extremely pesimistic about the situation in Iraq. We were wrong to go in, and now that we're there, we've no idea how to get out without tremendous loss of life.
There must be a dramatic change in Washington in order to bring this country back to where it should be -- as the competent, trustworthy leader of the Free World! - Reply to this comment
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