KIDNAPPED REPORTER JILL CARROLL MAKES ANOTHER PLEA

Feb 9, 11:01 PM (ET)By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll appeared in a video aired Thursday on a private Kuwaiti TV station, appealing in a calm, composed voice for her supporters to do whatever it takes to win her release "as quickly as possible."

Carroll, wearing traditional Arab attire, said the date was Feb. 2, nearly a month after she was seized in Baghdad by armed men who killed her Iraqi translator. She was shown sitting on a chair in front of a wall with a large floral design.

The 28-year-old freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor said she had sent one letter and was sending another to "prove I am with the mujahedeen."

"I sent you a letter written by my hand, but you wanted more evidence," she said. "I am here. I am fine. Please just do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time. Please do it fast. That's all."

The 22-second video was carried by Al Rai TV, a private Kuwaiti channel, and included audio, unlike two previous videos of Carroll that were broadcast by Al-Jazeera television.

The tape was delivered earlier Thursday to Al Rai's Baghdad office and was aired in its entirety, Hani al-Srougi, an editor at the station's headquarters in Kuwait, told The Associated Press. It was accompanied by a letter written by Carroll.

The newscaster said on the air that the station would hand the letter over to authorities, but would not disclose the letter's content.

Tania Anderson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, said: "I assume that Al Rai has given the material they received to the Kuwaiti authorities, who I am confident will take the appropriate action at the earliest possible time. The embassy customarily works closely with our contacts with the Kuwaiti government and will seek their cooperation on this matter as well."

The Christian Science Monitor said it was seeking more information about the letter.

"It is always difficult to see someone speaking under coercion and under these circumstances," the Monitor's editor, Richard Bergenheim, said in a statement. "We remain in constant contact with Jill's family and are still doing everything possible to obtain Jill's release."

A producer at Al-Jazeera said the station had not received any letters with the videos it aired.

On Jan. 30, Al-Jazeera showed Carroll veiled and weeping, and the station said she appealed for the release of female Iraqi prisoners. The first videotape of Carroll was aired Jan. 17 by Al-Jazeera, which said her abductors gave the United States 72 hours to free female prisoners in Iraq or she would be killed.

Earlier Thursday, an Iraqi deputy justice minister said U.S. forces are expected to release about 450 male Iraqi detainees on Feb. 16. None of the four or five women believed to be in custody is expected to be freed, Busho Ibrahim Ali told the AP.
Reporters Without Borders urged Arab media and Muslim dignitaries to intervene on Carroll's behalf.