Truth Massage at Drudge?

I find the photo of Jill Carroll selected by The Drudge Report to be rather curious. Looking at this photo, Miss Carroll could easily be mistaken for a US Marine by the uninitiated. She is wearing an olive drab T shirt, has conservative framed glasses on, and her hair is pulled back. Her smile is beaming.

Miss Carroll is not a Marine, however. She is an American freelance journalist who was kidnapped and held in captivity against her will. Carroll was the 31st foreign journalist to be kidnapped in Iraq since the Iraq War began in March 2003. She appeared immediately after her release in Arab garb clutching a Koran. She refused to be debriefed by US forces in Iraq. She refused military flights out of the country. She said she was treated well by her captors, and they never threatened her. She also said she did not know why she was kidnapped.

If after 3 months in captivity she still does not know why she was kidnapped, perhaps she should jump on the quickest transport out of Iraq. She obviously failed to eat her clue cereal for breakfast. The real question, however, is when was the Drudge photo taken? {Update: This photo was taken at the US Embassy after Miss Carroll's release}

Let us not forget, Miss Carroll, a journalist, was kidnapped in Baghdad's western Adil district while going to interview the senior Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her interpreter was killed. Her captors, who called themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq. They had threatened to execute Carroll if their demands were not met by a 26 February deadline. At least 230 foreigners, and thousands of Iraqis, have been taken hostage in Iraq since the US led invasion in 2003. Approximately 50 of these hostages have been killed by their captors and the whereabouts of another 90, including six Americans, remain unknown. Other Americans kidnapped in Iraq have been beheaded on video to make a point. Let us not forget that point. These people are thieves, liars and murderers.