As I noted last week, the Christian Science Monitor is running Jill Carroll’s part-by-part narrative of her kidnapping ordeal in Baghdad. She’s up to Part 6 (as of Sunday night).
It’s clear from Carroll’s account thus far that her captors were (and are) hate-filled sociopaths, not the “freedom fighters” of extreme-left imagination. This piece by Dan Murphy bounces off Carroll’s hostage diary with a closer look at the Mujahideen Shura Council, the group that apparently held her. The MSC, according to Murphy, is a Zarqawi/al Qaeda-aligned group that has tried to put an indigenous Iraqi (Sunni) face on the foreign al-Qaeda presence in Iraq. During her captivity, Jill Carroll received a visit from Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, who’d been chosen to lead the MSC as an Iraqi figurehead in place of Zarqawi. This man was a senior officer in Saddam Hussein’s air force — a Baathist insider all the way. There are conflicting accounts of his actual importance, however.
Be sure to scroll down for the sidebar that accompanies Murphy’s piece. It blows apart the argument that the native Iraqi “resistance” is somehow nobler than the foreign Zarqawi force, or that the two are entirely distinguishable:
Evan Kohlmann, an expert on Al Qaeda propaganda, says that the political statements of Carroll’s captors are interesting because they indicate that some powerful Iraqi Sunni insurgent groups staunchly support Zarqawi’s tactics of using suicide bombings, targeting Shiite civilians, and launching terror attacks beyond Iraq’s borders.
“It’s not just Al Qaeda and it’s not just foreign fighters” who support terrorist attacks on civilians, says Mr. Kohlmann. “It’s Iraqis, too, who are doing it, and that’s a big problem.”
Also don’t miss the description of Abu Ahmed, a senior planner for the MSC, taking time out from a busy day of slaughter to read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
The Monitor has set up a fund not only for Alan Enwiya, Jill Carroll’s murdered translator, but also Adnan Abbas, the driver who managed to escape the scene of the kidnapping. Information below.
—
Alan Enwiya is one of nearly 100 journalists and media assistants killed in Iraq since March 2003. Alan (left side of photo) is survived by his wife, Fairuz, his two children, Martin and Mary Ann, and his parents. They have left Iraq and hope to move to the US where they have relatives.
Jill Carroll’s driver, Adnan Abbas, is a witness to Alan’s murder. He, his wife, and their four children (including a newborn) have also fled Iraq for their own safety.
In response to readers, the Monitor has established funds to help each family start a new life. Donations may be sent to:
The Alan Enwiya Fund
c/o The Christian Science Monitor
One Norway Street
Boston, MA 02115
The Adnan Abbas Fund
c/o The Christian Science Monitor
One Norway Street
Boston, MA 02115
Donations can also be made online.
Comments are closed.