Face to face with a smiling abductor

(The Christian Science Monitor) -- That first day, they were spooked by how close the soldiers had come to finding me.

Abu Rasha said they had to move to the house of Abu Ali, his "brother." I thought he meant his real brother. Later, I realized this was just a reference to a fellow mujahedeen.

Abu Rasha packed my stuff for me but forgot to put in the toothpaste and shampoo they'd given me the night before.

I thought, maybe there's a reason he didn't put them in -- desperately overanalyzing everything. I asked about them, and he put them in the bag. (Watch as Carroll describes kidnappers --1:55)

Abu Rasha removed my glasses and put two black scarves over my head and face so I wouldn't be able to see where they were taking me.

Hanging onto his arm, I stumbled blindly out of the house and into a car, trying to suck fresh air through the suffocating layers of black polyester. (Watch as Carroll relives her capture -- 2:15)

After a short drive we switched cars, and I cowered, motionless in the strange, new back seat. Soon I realized that there were children next to me, and men in the front seat.

A cassette blared a recitation of the Koran and every few minutes the nervous men would mutter "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar," as we drove through the darkness.

Then one of them said in Arabic, "What are you? What are you?"

A tiny voice next to me replied, "I'm a Mujahid," a holy warrior.

It was a boy -- I'd learn that his name was Ismael, and he was 5 years old. Just a child, already indoctrinated.

After some 20 minutes, the car stopped and a woman's gloved hand grasped mine, guiding me out of the car and into a house. My heart was racing; the adrenaline hadn't stopped in 24 hours. Barely a day had passed, and I was a broken, quivering, fearful shell.

She lifted the scarves.

"This is Um Ali and this is Abu Ali," Abu Rasha told me, smiling. Um is Arabic for mother; Abu is father. But all my captors' names were fake, as each adopted a nom de guerre in my presence.

I looked to the left to a rotund man with a stubbly salt-and-pepper beard and grandfatherly eyes. He was smiling, too, and looked friendly.

"Do you know Abu Ali?" said Abu Rasha. "Do you know him from yesterday?"

"No," I said.

I looked at him again -- and then I did know who he was. He was the man that held the gun on Adnan, my driver, during my abduction -- the fat guy with the beard.

"Oh no," I thought to myself. This was not OK.

Click here for the entire article on The Christian Science Monitor.

Coming tomorrow: Part 3: The first hostage video

Copyright 2006 The Christian Science Monitor

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