Jill Carroll, the freelance journalist held in Iraq for three months, has made a statement from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Today’s statement is a complete reversal of the things she said immediately following her release — with good reason.

Protected by the U.S. military and far from the country where she had been held hostage, Jill Carroll strongly disavowed statements she had made during captivity in Iraq and shortly after her release, saying Saturday she had been repeatedly threatened.

[...]

“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.”

[...]

[F]earing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear, I said I wasn’t threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times,” she said. “Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: One — that I refused to travel and cooperate with the U.S. military, and two — that I refused to discuss my captivity with U.S. officials. Again, neither statement is true.”

This statement is a breath of fresh air, and speaks well of her. Nothing I, nor most people, have experienced can give any idea of what she went through. No one should be surprised at the contrast between her words following her release, and her words now — safe and on her way to her family.

“I want to be judged as a journalist, not as a hostage. I remain as committed as ever to fairness and accuracy — to discovering the truth — and so I will not engage in polemics. But let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes,” she said.

Well said.

See also: Wizbang, PoliBlog, Dr. Sanity, euphoricreality.net, Big Lizards, Captain’s Quarters

UPDATE II: Dr. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report has a greatly detailed post on Carroll’s release.

AP is reporting:

Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll has been freed in Iraq and is healthy, a Monitor editor said Thurday.

“She was released this morning, she’s talked to her father and she’s fine,” said David Cook, a monitor editor in Washington.

He said the paper had no further details immediately and just learned of her release abou[t] 6:15 a.m. EST.

UPDATE: News is just begining to come in. Here is part of an expanded story from the AP:

Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped on 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.

[...]

Police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said was handed over to the Iraqi Islamic Party office in Amiriya, western Baghdad, by an unknown group. She was later turned over to the Americans and was believed to be in the heavily fortified Green Zone, he said.

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. The date came and went with no word about her welfare.

Fox News is reporting that her father, Jim Carroll, “wants to thank the thousands who have prayed.”

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