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s I had written previously on Jill Carroll's statements in the coerced video made before her release, as well as on her subsequent disavowal of those statements after she left Iraq, I think it's only fair that readers should know that some background information has since come out. I still will not make any judgements about her present views on these things, until she has had sufficient time to reflect on her experience and voluntarily tell her story.

Blogger Debbie Schlussel has been quite critical of Jill, so take that into account when considering this background account from a reader. Mayer Abrahams studied Arabic language with Jill two years ago in Cairo.

She was very anti-American. I was actually shocked by her attitude, having never come across an American with such opinions.

[...]

She was at her wits end with regard to Christian support in America for Israel and referred to the Bible as "that shit book" in regard to it being used as a reason for Israelis holding on to the land.

There's a lot more at the link. It's interesting that as I watched the announcement upon her release, made to the press by editors and publisher of the Christian Science Monitor, the newspaper's Christian orientation was much more on display than I would have expected. All the paper's officials made numerous references to God in their remarks, it was quite a striking difference to how any other media organisation would have spoken. I doubt that they have any requirement that their reporters be Christians, but it does seem strange that she would work for the paper if that's really what she thinks of them and the Bible.

Wai Protein Wisdom.