US reporter's kidnap a mistake; ransom paid: Iraqi insurgent

[tocqueville]

1 hour, 20 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An Iraqi businessman linked to Saddam Hussein told a US television network the kidnapping of US journalist Jill Carroll was a mistake and a ransom was paid for her release.

Sheikh Sattam al-Gaood, a middleman behind Carroll's release on March 30 and self-proclaimed insurgency leader, told ABC News in an exclusive interview how her release was arranged and why he supports the insurgency in Iraq.

"They are defending their country," he said in an interview at his summer house outside Amman, Jordan. "They are an honest resistance. And sometimes they do mistakes."

One of those mistakes was kidnapping Carroll, a 28-year-old freelance journalist mainly working for The Christian Science Monitor, Gaood said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060413/wl_afp/usiraqhostagekidnapmedia

[rodeodance]

1. "They are defending their country," he said" This is very telling!!!

[Leopolds Ghost]

2. Can someone explain to me why everyone thought Jill Carroll

had a better chance of surviving than other people that the insurgents and terrorist groups have kidnapped? Right from the very first day the Christian Science Monitor were saying that efforts were being made to free her. Did they know from this person that a mediation process was going on to get a ransom for her release, but couldn't say so? Did they know that this particular insurgent group did not normally kidnap women? Or what?