The inside story on being held hostage in Iraq.

Many of you know that I am a Christian Scientist and I am sure many of you have heard of the Christian Science Monitor, a weekly international newspaper which has been in circulation since 1908 and was started through the initiative of Mary Baker Eddy who was the “discover and founder” of Christian Science.

This entry is just to alert you to an interesting 11 part series starting today the 14^th of August on Jill Carroll’s kidnapping while reporting for the Christian Science Monitor in Iraq. I will leave the details to this in-depth series but just wanted to bring it to your attention. If you have not heard of Jill a simple search of Google will bring up over seven million hits.

An excerpt from an email/letter sent on August 9th by Nate Talbot who is the Clerk of the Mother Church said “the series will run for 11 days (from Aug. 14 – Aug. 28) and will weave together Jill's own story with the "outside" story written by Peter Grier of what her family, the Monitor, and others were doing to free her.”

One final thing to leave you with which will undoubtedly be covered in the series is that the Monitor went out of its way during the time that Jill was kidnapped and since to work for her release and comfort her family. They went as far as promoting her to a full time reporter’s salary, etc. even though she had been in Iraq doing part time or freelance work and kept in close touch with her family. I think this is an amazing story with a happy ending despite the people who died such as her interpreter. Also just last week four people involved in her kidnapping were captured by US Marines in Iraq. See this article at the NY Times or search for others on the net.

You can find more information about the Monitor’s history, mission and work at CSMonitor.com in the About us/Help section.