Carroll's Kidnappers Set New Deadline

Kidnappers of American journalist Jill Carroll set a new deadline of Feb. 26 for their demands to be met or they would kill her according to Islamic law, the owner of the Kuwaiti TV station that aired the latest videotape of her said Friday.

Jassem Boudai, owner of Al-Rai television, said the kidnappers contacted the station Friday — one day after the tape was aired — with demands that were "more specific" than the release of all Iraqi detainees, which the group laid down in the first tape released last month. Boudai refused to elaborate.

He said that "sources close to the kidnappers" also told the Kuwait station of the new deadline.

The small, privately owned station aired a tape Thursday showing Carroll, a 28-year-old freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor, appealing for her supporters to do whatever it takes to win her release "as quickly as possible."

For Carroll's family, the best thing about this video is that it shows she's alive and well, long after the original deadline her kidnappers gave for executing her, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.

Two previous tapes showing Carroll were aired by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV on Jan. 17 and 30, both of which were broadcast without the hostage and her kidnappers, identified as the "Revenge Brigades," being heard. The first tape included a threat to kill Carroll within 72 hours unless all Iraqi women were released from custody.

The U.S. military has released five Iraqi women from detention, but both it and Iraqi authorities said the releases were routine and not part of any swap for Carroll. Five Iraqi women still remain in U.S. military custody.

Friday's message was not conveyed in the latest videotape, but "another method," Boudai said. He declined to say if the message was delivered to the station's Kuwait City headquarters or its Baghdad bureau — where Thursday's video of Carroll was received.

Boudai said the sources claimed Carroll, who was abducted in Baghdad on Jan. 7, "is in a safe house owned by one of the kidnappers in downtown Baghdad with a group of women."

He said the sources claimed Carroll was in good psychological condition and was doing housework with the women in the place of her detention. The sources also said the kidnappers denied killing Carroll's translator when the abducted her at gunpoint, as has previously been reported.

Later Friday, Boudai told CNN that he believed Carroll's kidnappers were the same ones who seized Italian aid workers Simona Torretta and Simona Pari in September 2004 and released them several weeks later. Italian media said a US$1 million ransom was paid for their release.

"I think they are the same group who contacted us last year when the two Italian girls were kidnapped in Iraq," Boudai said. "I think it is the same group who kidnapped the two Italian girls."

Al-Rai was a new choice for the kidnappers to air its tapes, which security experts said Friday indicated the group's bid to promote their demands more effectively and increase pressure on the U.S. government.

Al-Rai broadcast the new 22-second video in its entirety and with Carroll's voice, unlike Al-Jazeera which has a policy to not broadcast voices. She spoke of having sent two letters but did not say to whom.

"I am with the mujahedeen," she said. "I sent you a letter written by my hand, but you wanted more evidence, so we are sending you this letter now to prove I am with the mujahedeen."

An Al-Jazeera employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to make statements for the station, confirmed the first two videos referred to a letter. The station did not mention any letters when it aired the videotapes. It did report that the kidnappers were demanding the release of women held prisoner in Iraq.

Boudai said his station has given U.S. authorities Carroll's letter, which he only described as "sensitive." The station didn't reveal its contents, he said, out of concern for the reporter.

Some terror analysts said Carroll's kidnappers used the relatively unknown station to get more of its message across and to avoid being tainted by Al-Jazeera's reputation as being biased toward insurgents.

Al-Jazeera came under sharp criticism for airing videos showing al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, with hostages they soon beheaded. The station cut the tape when masked gunmen drew knives and moved toward their doomed victims.

Since then, Al-Jazeera has sought to air just enough material for news value without appearing to be a conduit for gruesome propaganda. Station policy is not to carry the voices of hostages.

"There are a lot of question marks for insurgents at Al-Jazeera because they don't air all their tapes in entirety, or not immediately or sometimes not at all," said Mustafa al-Ani, director of terrorism studies at Gulf Research Center in the United Arab Emirates.

"But these small stations will jump at such opportunities because they aren't famous," he said. "Very few people had heard of Al-Rai before that tape, but now people all over the United States know it."

Another senior Al-Jazeera editor concurred, saying Carroll's kidnappers had found it impossible to get their demands aired fully because of his station's strict content policies. He said the kidnappers wanted to make their demands clear and used Al-Rai to do so. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to make statements for Al-Jazeera.

A top U.S. media analyst said being able to get their messages out in their entirety will have an impact on the American public, and could put pressure on officials to question the Bush administration's approach to the war in Iraq.

"These videos will prompt us to feel fear, hope, heightened anger or frustration about a matter as viewers will have little control over, and this could lead us to putting more pressure on our public officials," said Bob Steele of the Florida-based Poynter Institute for Media Studies.