Iraq roundup
Jill Carroll, weeping and veiled, appeared on a new videotape aired Monday by Al-Jazeera, and the Arab television station said she appealed for the release of all Iraqi women prisoners.
The video was dated Saturday — two days after the U.S. military released five Iraqi women from custody.
Carroll, 28, sat in front of a yellow and black tapestry. At one point, Carroll’s cracking voice can be heard from behind the newsreader’s voice. All that can be heard is Carroll saying, “… hope for the families …”
Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, was seized Jan. 7 by the previously unknown Revenge Brigades, which threatened to kill her unless all women prisoners were released. Al-Jazeera did not report any deadline or threat to kill her Monday.
Hamas gets a warning
International mediators on Monday demanded that any new Palestinian government formed by the Islamist group Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel and pursue a negotiated settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The statement by the Quartet – the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations – fell short of calls by the Bush administration and Israel to cut off international financing for a Palestinian government formed by Hamas. The United States, the United Nations and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
ABC newsmen are improving
ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were showing signs of improvement Monday after being seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq, according to the network and officials at Landstuhl, Germany, military hospital.
Woodruff briefly opened his eyes Monday and responded to stimuli to his hands and feet, the network said. ABC News President David Westin said it may be possible for the men to be flown back to the United States as early as today.
Col. Bryan Gamble described Woodruff and Vogt on Monday as “very seriously injured, but stable,” with injuries “typical of victims of improvised explosive devices.” He said their body armor likely saved them.
It was not immediately clear whether shrapnel had penetrated Woodruff’s brain or if he was suffering from a concussive injury, said the former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, a family friend.