Freed American hostage Jill Carroll has issued a statement in which she says her captors in Iraq threatened her and forced her to participate in a propaganda video.
In a statement read Saturday by her editor in Boston, Carroll thanked those in the U.S. and Iraqi governments who worked to secure her release. She also expressed gratitude to the U.S. military and her fellow journalists.
Carroll said her captors promised her she would be released if she cooperated with the propaganda video, and she agreed in hopes she could escape her threatening environment.
Carroll called her kidnappers criminals at best, and said she was deeply angry with them.
Carroll was released Thursday after 82 days in captivity. In the video released by her captors, she praised the Iraqi insurgency and criticized the U.S. war effort.
In the statement read by Carroll's editor, she made reference to an interview given to the Iraqi Islamic party shortly after her release. She said the party promised the interview would not be aired on television, but the party broke its word. She said that out of fear of retribution, she told the interviewer she had not been threatened.
In fact, her statement said, she was threatened many times.
Carroll also sought to correct two false statements that had begun to circulate about her. She said that she did not refuse to travel or cooperate with the U.S. military. And she said she never refused to discuss her captivity with U.S. officials.