ABC News: Exclusive: Jill Carroll Middle Man Says Kidnappers Demanded $8 Million

Frankly, I think this guy is full of crap. Not because I don't believe they asked for a ransom, but that he is trying to leverage a little good will in order to keep his situation in the political arena on the upswing with the US contingent considering the downswing of the Shia/US relationship.

Everybody knows Carroll was kidnapped within yards of al-Dulaiymi's office and she was released within yards of the Iraq Islamic Party, a Sunni Islamic political group that has ties to the insurgency.

The only thing this fellow said that I believe is the truth is that the kidnapping was a mistake. The amount of publicity it got and the very real, strong implication it was a group known by these political entities put them in a bad situation right in the middle of delicate negotiations. Not just with the US for support, but within the Assembly where they were trying to engineer a coalition with Kurds, Sunni and dissafected Shia from the UIA.

Whether the political entity was complicit in or had knowledge before hand of the kidnapping didn't matter in the scheme of things. Just the implication was enough to make this group have a teetering moment on the precipe where they would be simply military targets instead of a political entity that could eventually negotiate security and economic concerns for their group.

The final problem with his explanation was that the money was given to "widows and orphans". Only an idiot believes that one. If you distributed 8 million dollars among a small group (which it would have been) their economic situation would have been improved beyond belief. Most likely scenario, if there was any money, went to a "charity" and then to "middle men" (maybe women and children) who delivered it on pain of death to the insurgents for their use. But, I highly doubt it. Either there was a ransom and it went directly to the insurgents or there wasn't and this guy is talking crap to maintain his position as both an insurgent spokesman and a politically acceptable face to the Iraqi government.

Honestly, I think he's full of garbage.

ABC News: Exclusive: Jill Carroll Middle Man Says Kidnappers Demanded $8 Million