Ransom claims abound in Carroll case

Since Jill Carroll's release, rumors have swirled about a $10 million or even a $36 million ransom payment. Iraqi politician Adnan al-Dulaimi's claim to have paid $1.5 million to free Ms. Carroll (See Aug. 22 story), is just the latest.

Such rumors are not without precedent. Most releases of foreign hostages in Iraq have involved ransoms into the millions of dollars. Carroll's captors told her in January that they were seeking $10 million, but they later said that their leadership had decided against accepting money for her release.

Neither the Monitor nor the Carroll family paid for her release.

"There is a cottage industry growing up around these kidnappings, with everyone claiming to have done this, and done that, and paid a ransom," says one US investigator familiar with Carroll's case. "No money was involved [for Carroll's release]. None was paid that we are aware of."

But the Monitor has new evidence to suggest that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) tried to negotiate a ransom payment. Some Iraqi investigators speculate that this was done on behalf of the US government.

When asked about a US ransom payment at a press conference on the day Carroll was released, US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad seemed to leave some wiggle room: "No US person entered into any arrangements with anyone. By US person, I mean the United States mission."

After two months in captivity, Carroll's chief captor ordered her to make two tearful videos – neither of which were made public – asking specifically for the help of UAE leader Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, as a "last chance" to save her life.

Abu Nour told Carroll that they had "talked to" Sheikh Khalifa, who had agreed to help. She was told of "negotiating for [the release of] more prisoners" with the UAE. But the first video disc was apparently put in the wrong type of disc drive and destroyed. So four days later, Carroll was forced to make another.

Those videos to the UAE proved worthless in the end, she says. As her captors brainstormed over the contents of the last propaganda video before her March 30 release, one of her captors piped up: "What about that dog, Khalifa?"

Abu Nour, her chief captor, agreed that they should have Carroll verbally attack the UAE leader on the video, emphasizing that he specifically failed to help her.

Carroll says that their anger at Sheikh Khalifa seemed genuine and she believes it stemmed from some kind of negotiation that went awry. "They told me to say that I had asked for the sheikh's help, and that he didn't help me – he refused."

UAE officials in Abu Dhabi and Washington, D.C., who were contacted by the Monitor did not return requests for comment on any videos sent to the UAE leader by Carroll's kidnappers, or whether the UAE had negotiated for her release.

A senior Iraqi official, who asked not to be identified because of concerns about damaging Iraq's relationship with the UAE, says there was a ransom negotiation with the UAE for Carroll, but that it fell apart in the week prior to her release. This official also says no ransom was paid for Carroll, and declined to discuss the matter further.

A story on the Arabic-language Kitabat.com website June 6 provided a great deal of detail about the UAE's possible involvement. But numerous confirmable details in the story were false. For example, the story claimed that the Monitor received an e-mail within a week of Carroll's abduction from her captors. The alleged e-mail said that "even if [Carroll] were proven innocent ... [of] being a collaborator with the American occupation," her freedom would cost $15 million.

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