Conflict Stirs Up Confusion On Border of Chad, Sudan

Conflict Stirs Up Confusion On Border of Chad, Sudan: "KOUKOU ANGARANA, Chad -- In this desolate, sand-blown desert region of Chad near the Sudanese border, civilians are caught in a conflict so confusing that they -- and even the combatants -- have trouble telling who is fighting whom.

Or exactly why."

HELLO!!!

We had our 20 week sonogram today, and guess what? The baby was waving at us! It wasn't a simple move of the hand. For several seconds the hand waved at us just like it was speaking to us to say "Hello". It brought tears to my eyes. The sonographer said that she hadn't seen that in a very long time. We don't believe in coincidence. Our baby said Hello to us today. Up to this day, it was the best moment of life!

Everything is developing great! Every organ, every part is just as it should be. And to top it off...we got a HELLO!!!! It was quite amazing to see and experience.

TIME.com: Southern Discomfort -- Page 1

TIME.com: Southern Discomfort -- Page 1: "There's a specter looming behind the Duke Lacrosse scandal. The notion of a 27-year-old black woman, who is a student at a historically black college and a single mother of two, being hired as an exotic dancer for — and then allegedly raped by —generally privileged, younger white men conjures up memories of that classic American sex story: the pretty female slave being summoned up to the big house to sexually satisfy the master.

If there’s any doubt, remember the eyewitness account of Jason Bissey who lives next door to the house where the Duke party occurred: 'One guy yelled at her, ‘... Thank your grandpa for my cotton shirt’' — a cleverly subtle racist jab from one of America’s best-educated college students.

This is not to say that the lacrosse players were intentionally acting out some twisted racial power fantasy by hiring black strippers. And these turns of events have happened before. Fordham University professor Lynn Chancer, who has written extensively on race, gender and class issues in sociology and criminology, reminded me of another lacrosse team rape case —the three St. Johns University players tried for sexually assaulting and sodomizing a black female classmate in 1991. Those men were ultimately acquitted, and the jurors, including two blacks and two Hispanics, said race did not seem to have been a factor in the alleged crime, and was not one influencing their decision.

Racial overtones aside, sexual assault is a horrifyingly common crime in this country (about one in six American women is a victim of rape or attempted rape, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). The town-gown relations between Duke and Durham have been historically uneasy. And one would expect better from students at one of the country's top-ranked universities. We definitely expect better than the vile e-mail written by one of the players, Ryan McFayden, in which he invited his friends to watch him kil"

newsobserver.com | Dancer gives details of ordeal

newsobserver.com | Dancer gives details of ordeal: "A hurt that would last

'My father came to see me in the hospital,' she said. 'I knew if I didn't report it that he would have that hurt forever, knowing that someone hurt his baby and got away with it.'

Jason Bissey, who was on his porch next door during the party, saw the victim that night. He said Friday that he wishes he had called police at the first sign something was wrong.

He saw at least 30 men go into the white three-bedroom house, which Duke officials say is rented by three lacrosse team captains.

Bissey saw two women arrive and, after they were in the house 20 minutes, come out. As they got into a car, men shouted, Bissey said.

'Some of them were saying things like, 'I want my money back,' ' Bissey said.

He recalled the racially charged statements at least one man was yelling at the victim.

'When I was outside, one guy yelled at her, '... Thank your grandpa for my cotton shirt,' ' Bissey said.

After a few minutes, everything seemed to calm down, he said. One of the women headed back into the house, saying she forgot her shoes.

Days later, Bissey learned one of the young women reported being raped.

'If I had called in the beginning, maybe the cops would have gotten there before this happened,' he said."

Baby Thoughts

I couldn't help but think about how good it feels to have something else in my life that is more important than me at this time. More important than work and bills and things and injustices in the world. The something else that I'm speaking of is the growing child inside of me. I've already felt a detachment from work. I've noticed a shift in my thinking in terms of what is and isn't important. Right now, that which has the utmost priority in my life is the baby. I protect my stomach whenever anything gets too close to it (including the kitchen counter and bathroom sink). Something is more important than me! I love it!

I guess that will be the case for a while. At the same time, I watched my mother sacrifice everything including herself for us. That's good while we need it. But then there is a time when chidren get older that they need their parents a little less. I don't want my child to be my everything. I don't know if I can articulate clearly what I'm thinking/feeling. I want to find a balance. I don't want to neglect myself, my child or my husband. It's a lot to juggle. I hope I do okay. I hope that I do better than okay. I know that there isn't such a thing as a perfect parent. I just want to get it more right than wrong.

I can say all day long what I will and won't do as a parent, but the reality is there is a lot that I won't have a clue about until after I learned from the experience of having a child. I used to always say 'My child ain't gonna...' or 'I'm not gonna...' That's crap! I don't know what the heck I'm going to do in every situation. I don't know what emotion I will feel, or what's words will come out of my mouth. I might be afraid to correct my child, but I AM the disciplinarian with everybody elses child.

I haven't even met the little personality that is growing inside of me. We might not get along. We might get along perfectly. I do hope and expect for the BEST. I pray that I am a good steward over this child. I am truly honored and blessed that I have been chosen by this little one to guide her/him along this journey.

Halfway There

We are 20 weeks into the pregnancy as of yesterday. We are halfway there. I felt the little one moving this morning. The little kicks woke me up with a smile.

Last night it seemed like my stomach doubled in size. It was huge!!! My navel had even poked out a little more. I had eaten a little earlier, and wow!!!! After I eat, my stomach swells big time!!! I was shocked at how big it was in comparison to the size this morning. It's weird in a cute funny way to see my figure change and to know that a little developing human being is in there. It's so amazing...amazing, amazing.

There has been some swelling in my legs and ankles. I need to find some support hose. But it's all good!! I love it!

Lawmaker Puzzled by Obscenity in Letter - Yahoo! News....(Gangsta!!!!)

Lawmaker Puzzled by Obscenity in Letter - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON - Nobody expects to get a letter from a member of Congress that ends with an expletive.
ADVERTISEMENT

But that's what happened when Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (news, bio, voting record), R-Mo., recently corresponded with a resident of her southeast Missouri district.

The letter ended with a profane, seven-letter insult beginning with the letter a — 'i think you're an. ...' "

Study faults US health effort in Iraq, Afghanistan - Yahoo! News

Study faults US health effort in Iraq, Afghanistan - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has botched efforts to improve public health in
Iraq and
Afghanistan, missing a chance to gain support in those countries, an independent report released on Wednesday said.

U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq following the 2003 invasion failed to maintain and improve basic sanitation and provide safe drinking water in heavily populated areas, the RAND Corp. report stated.

This may have encouraged anti-American sentiment and sympathy for the insurgency, the nonprofit research organization said.

'Nation-building efforts cannot be successful unless adequate attention is paid to the health of the population,' said Seth Jones, a RAND political scientist and a lead author of the report."

DailyProgress.com | 2nd boy gets prison in bomb plot

DailyProgress.com | 2nd boy gets prison in bomb plot

Think Progress » ‘Katrina Kids’ Sing to Laura Bush: ‘Congress, Bush and FEMA…Have Come to Rebuild Us’

Think Progress » ‘Katrina Kids’ Sing to Laura Bush: ‘Congress, Bush and FEMA…Have Come to Rebuild Us’: "“Our country’s stood beside us
People have sent us aid.
Katrina could not stop us, our hopes will never fade.
Congress, Bush and FEMA
People across our land
Together have come to rebuild us and we join them hand-in-hand!”"

States Help Schools Hide Minority Scores - Yahoo! News

States Help Schools Hide Minority Scores - Yahoo! News: "Toia Jones, a black teacher whose daughters attend school in a mostly white Chicago suburb, said the loophole is enabling states and schools to avoid taking concrete measures to eliminate an 'achievement gap' between white and minority students.

'With this loophole, it's almost like giving someone a trick bag to get out of a hole,' she said. 'Now people, instead of figuring out how do we really solve it, some districts, in order to save face or in order to not be faced with the sanctions, they're doing what they can to manipulate the data.'

Some students feel left behind, too."

States Help Schools Hide Minority Scores - Yahoo! News

States Help Schools Hide Minority Scores - Yahoo! News: "By FRANK BASS, NICOLE ZIEGLER DIZON and BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 44 minutes ago

States are helping public schools escape potential penalties by skirting the No Child Left Behind law's requirement that students of all races must show annual academic progress.

With the federal government's permission, schools aren't counting the test scores of nearly 2 million students when they report progress by racial groups, an Associated Press computer analysis found.

Minorities — who historically haven't fared as well as whites in testing — make up the vast majority of students whose scores are being excluded, AP found. And the numbers have been rising.

'I can't believe that my child is going through testing just like the person sitting next to him or her and she's not being counted,' said Angela Smith, a single mother. Her daughter, Shunta' Winston, was among two dozen black students whose test scores weren't broken out by race at her suburban Kansas City, Mo., high school.

Under the law championed by
President Bush, all public school students must be proficient in reading and math by 2014, although only children above second grade are required to be tested."

Blessed

As each day passes I am feeling, realizing more and more that I am blessed. I am enjoying pregnancy. The first three months were rougher than rough. My energy plummeted. But this second trimester has me feeling great, wonderfull, connected and ancient. I feel so blessed to be experiencing this. I sometimes want to cry from sheer joy. To know that I am co-creating a life. There is something divine about this whole thing. It's not just me... It's too miraculous! But at the same time I am realizing the power that I, we have. I want to enjoy every minute of this.

I am in my 5th month. Time is going by fast enough. I don't want to rush it. I want my little wonder inside to have the time it needs to develop healthily.

I am so thankfull for this...Thankfull for answered prayers!

Blessed!

Cultural genocide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cultural genocide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Cultural genocide is a term used to describe the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people or nation for political or military reasons."

For Iraqi Students, Hussein's Arrival Is End of History

For Iraqi Students, Hussein's Arrival Is End of History: "By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, April 15, 2006; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- The two-year-old modern history textbook used at Baghdad's Mansour High School for Boys doesn't mention the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq in 2003.

There's not a word about Iraq's annexation of -- and subsequent expulsion from -- Kuwait in 1990 and 1991, or its grinding eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s that took the lives of a generation of young men.

Perhaps most conspicuously absent from the book, earlier versions of which were packed with florid praise for Hussein, is any reference to the former dictator. For the purposes of instruction at Mansour High, and most schools across Iraq, history ends in 1968, before the bloodless coup that swept the Baath Party to power.

U.S.-sponsored reconstruction efforts have renovated or rebuilt nearly 3,000 Iraqi schools, retrained 55,000 teachers and administrators and -- under the supervision of the government's de-Baathification commission -- revised or redacted millions of textbooks that glorified 35 years of tyrannical rule. Dozens of schools named for Hussein were reflagged, and once-mandatory courses in nationalism and Baathist ideology were scrapped."

Fairfax Success Masks Gap for Black Students

Fairfax Success Masks Gap for Black Students: "Black students in Fairfax County are consistently scoring lower on state standardized tests than African American children in Richmond, Norfolk and other comparatively poor Virginia districts, surprising Fairfax educators and forcing one of the nation's wealthiest school systems to acknowledge shortcomings that have been masked by its overall success.

Even within Fairfax schools, black elementary school students are outperformed on reading and math tests by whites and some other students, including Hispanics, poor children and immigrants learning English."

Judge Decries Rigid U.S. Immigration Laws - Yahoo! News

Judge Decries Rigid U.S. Immigration Laws - Yahoo! News: "PHILADELPHIA - A federal appeals judge has sharply criticized U.S. immigration laws, writing that rules designed to combat terrorism instead force the 'knee-jerk' removal of 'decent men and women.'

Judge Maryanne Trump Barry complained that judges have no discretion in applying harsh and complex laws, and she urged the federal government to intervene in the case of a man from Northern Ireland denied asylum this week by the panel on which she sits, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

'I refuse to believe that 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...' is now an empty entreaty. But if it is, shame on us,' Barry wrote in a concurring opinion."

AOL News - Ex-Teacher Arrested in Teen Sex Case

AOL News - Ex-Teacher Arrested in Teen Sex Case

Fourth retired general calls for Rumsfeld to go - Yahoo! News

Fourth retired general calls for Rumsfeld to go - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (AFP) - Another retired general called for the resignation of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, adding to a drumbeat of pressure from the military for new leadership and fresh thinking on
Iraq.

Major General John Batiste, former commander of the US Army's 1st Infantry Division, criticized Rumsfeld for ignoring military advice and failing to provide sound military planning.

'You know, it speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the
Department of Defense,' Batiste said in an interview with CNN.

His was the latest in a groundswell of calls for Rumsfeld's resignation by respected retired generals who served in Iraq or key positions in the military hierarchy. Batiste led the 1st Infantry Division during a year-long Iraq tour in 2004 and 2005."

What's Right? What's Good?

I'm still thinking about things at work. I'm thinking about how it's time to shift my professional focus from identifying the problem(s) to working to correct them. This problem oriented perspective is warping my thinking and my energy. I think I've had enough of it and I want to work on solutions. My mind, body and spirit needs this shift in focus. We can get overwhelmed with the identification of what's wrong. I need to hear, see and feel what's right! What's right in the world? What's right, what's good in the person, the people? There is a lot if we are looking with eyes that have the intentions to see it!

I need to make this happen...this shift to what's right! It starts in the mind. We shall start there!


Let's all be blessed! Let's all act blessed... Let's all see with blessed eyes! If we expect to see blessings, see what's good, see what's right we will eventually see and experience that which may not be recognizibly good and right that's already around and within us.

Lott Lawyer: State Farm Destroying Papers - Yahoo! News

Lott Lawyer: State Farm Destroying Papers - Yahoo! News: "BILOXI, Miss. - A lawyer for U.S. Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record) said Monday that State Farm Insurance Co. is destroying documents that could show the insurer has fraudulently denied thousands of claims by Lott and other policyholders whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina."

Immigration Celebration Becomes Protest - Examiner.com

Immigration Celebration Becomes Protest - Examiner.com: "Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington told the crowd, 'We must still fight against racial discrimination in our land.' Then he delighted the crowd by delivering the rest of his remarks in Spanish."

Power to the Immigration Rally Participants!!!!

I am so happy that so many people participated in the immigration rallies across the country. There is so much about this country, America, that pisses me off. I get overwhelmed with my anger and disappointment.

I hope and pray that a change is gonna come. Dick Gregory always says pray that the truth comes out. I must start to do that... Pray that the truth is revealed. There are so many lies, scandals and cover-ups. Many of us have bought into the belief that America is ALL good doing. Many have had personal and historical experiences that inform us that that is not the truth. While they keep trying to push this lie down our necks...into our psyches.

These people calling into C-Span are talking about securing our borders. Hispanics are currently building this country. They are willingly doing what African slaves and their children were kidnapped and forced to do. Slavery except for punishment for a crime is illegal. The laborers have been replaced. They are no longer Black/African slaves. They are illegal immigrants. America has turned it's head to the so-called problem of illegal immigration. If the government can see by satelite what's happening in Iraq, they can see what's happening in along the border of Texas and Mexico.

The only people who aren't "immigrants" are the sons and daughters of African slaves and the Native Americans. Everyone else came here by choice... They or their ancestors immigrated.

Why are non-white people always disproportionately getting the short end of the stick?

Panorama: Immigration Protesters

Pano: Immigration Protesters

A Personal and Professional Challenge

Today I purchased two books that I am very excited about. They are Covenant with Black America and Through Ebony Eyes: What Teachers Need to Know But Are Afraid to Ask About African American Students. I searched for a book like Through Ebony Eyes and found it on Amazon.com. It turned out that it was available at the local Borders bookstore.

My conscience has been challenged since last week. I sat in on a meeting that totally pissed me off. I became so angry that my thinking became cloudy. I could feel the heat rise in my head. A team of educators discussed a student who sucks her thumb, chews on her braids, and puts her thumb after sucking on it on other students or on their papers/books. She snickers after she does it like she gets some satisfaction out of it. She also hugs teachers when she sees them...sometimes too hard they said. The consensus minus ME was that this child should be reevaluated for special education because she must be Emotionally Disturbed. I think my blood pressure hit the ceiling. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The most stigmatizing label that anyone can give any child at any age is Emotionally Disturbed. This child is in the 1st grade. They say she's very immature. There has been no interventions to address the concerns besides classroom regular classroom management techniques that the teacher employs with all the students. The special education teacher working with her does not see the same behavior or sometimes not to the same degree as the classroom teacher. How has this child become a potential candidate for the Emotional Disturbed label/program?

This child is the only African American child in her class. This is her first year at this school. She is the 2nd to the youngest of 5 children. The only girl with 5 brothers. I have noticed that other students, white students are given time (years) and intervention (counseling) before a label such as Emotional Disturbed is slapped on them. Our county has been cautioned about the overrepresentation of African-American students identified as emotionally disturbed. The NAACP filed a complaint against the county a few years ago. So, they are actively trying to lower the numbers of students who are labeled as such unnecessary or prematurely.

I was a little ticked at myself because I didn't speak up. I didn't say that I thought that it's premature to plan to reevaluate this child for an ED label. My brain, heart, emotions immediately went to the race of this child, the unfairness of it all and I was angered. My anger left me silent. I didn't want to be emotional and personalize it. I didn't want to bring up the issue of race. It's the eleohant in the room that I didn't want to acknowledge because I didn't want to be pegged as someone who was playing the race card. My coworker helped me realize that race aside no child should be labeled as such without time and intervention. Why was it so easy to go there with this child? Is it socio-economics/class, race?

There is one black teacher on staff at the school. I am a black itinerant social worker. We are the only black professional staff in the building. I've struggled with being the only one on the special ed eligibility committee. I've struggled with feeling like I was in a foreign land. I've struggled with not having my values reflected in the building. Nothing that affirms me or my cultural heritage. I've tried to keep things separate. But there is no way that a person cannot be expected to take themselves with them whereever they go. I've felt close to insane attempting to not be Black. I've struggled with code switching... Wishing, hoping, praying that it was okay to talk like I talk and still be view as competent. No I'm not talking about using slang in meetings. I just haven't found my peace... my comfort zone.

We, black people, are supposed to act like racism doesn't exist. How can anyone say that it doesn't?

This post has been cathartic. I need to get my thoughts out. Maybe I can make sense of it as I write it out.

I do plan to address the committee when I return from Spring Break in a week. I have to share my thoughts on prematurely identifying the 1st grade student Emotionally Disturbed inappropriately and/or without adequate interventions. I can't live with myself without speaking up and out.

I watched Tavis Smiley's PBS show the other day. His guest was Ben Kingsley, the actor who played Ghandi in a movie. Kingsley and Tavis talked about being angry, and how it's okay to be angry. Smiley said it's what you do with that anger...how you focus it. That was a message that I needed to receive. Every since then my thoughts have been on acknowledging how I felt, why I felt that way, AND what I plan to do about it...the action.

I'm excited about the books because I feel that they will help me understand what I'm feeling as well as assist me in formulating my thoughts as I prepare to share with my white colleagues.

Think Progress » Seymour Hersh: Bush Planning Massive Bombing Campaign Against Iran, Including Nukes

Think Progress » Seymour Hersh: Bush Planning Massive Bombing Campaign Against Iran, Including Nukes

The Rallying Before the Rally

The Rallying Before the Rally: "Miguel Carballo wandered the truck-packed gravel parking lots of construction sites near Dulles International Airport early yesterday, trolling in the drizzle for Spanish-speaking workers in hard hats and orange vests.

'Are we going Monday, guys?' he asked in Spanish as he handed out raindrop-stained fliers promoting a major demonstration in support of immigrant rights to be held on the Mall on Monday.

Walter Salazar, his sweat shirt hood fending off the rain, nodded.

"I have papers, you understand. But I'm going to support those who don't," Salazar, 24, said."

It's a work day, but there is no school for the students. That always feels like a day off. Next week is Spring break!!!!!! I couldn't wait for this day. I am so looking forward to resting. I may go away for a few days. I may end up staying at home and organizing things in preparation for the little one. Chip away at it while I still have the energy.

Today we are 18 weeks pregnant. I'm getting bigger and bigger each day. I haven't taken any new photos of my belly. Maybe I will get to that this week.

I must get going pretty soon. I need to tackle the little bit of work I plan to get done today early.

Happy Friday! :)

Bush Admin. $15B AIDS Plan Questioned - Yahoo! News

Bush Admin. $15B AIDS Plan Questioned - Yahoo! News: "The Bush administration's $15 billion global
AIDS initiative is emphasizing sexual abstinence and fidelity more than Congress intended, and that focus is undermining prevention efforts in poor countries, congressional investigators said Tuesday.

U.S. teams on the ground in Africa and other poor areas told Congress'
Government Accountability Office that the requirement that they spend a specific percentage of their money on abstinence is hurting some efforts to tailor prevention programs to countries' needs.

The directives are creating confusion and forcing reduction in some programs deemed necessary for pregnant women, high-risk groups like truck drivers and sex workers, married couples and sexually active youths, the GAO said."

Wonderfull!!!

A few days left before spring break. Thank God!!!! I really, really need a few days to chill. Maybe go to the beach!!! Sit near the ocean...That would be great!

The weather is nice. The sun is shining! And I'm carrying, growing a little child inside of me. Wonderfull!!!!!

Lowery Speaks At Ga. Rally Against War

Lowery Speaks At Ga. Rally Against War: "Associated Press
Sunday, April 2, 2006; Page A10

ATLANTA, April 1 -- Organizers said as many as 4,000 people marched for two miles to an antiwar rally that also called for justice and compassion at home.

The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, whose remarks against the Iraq war and the Bush administration at the funeral of Coretta Scott King in February drew criticism, spoke to a friendlier crowd Saturday. Lowery said the United States' role in the world should be to feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, rehabilitate prisoners, educate the young and care for the aged -- 'not to send smart bombs on dumb missions to kill innocent people in foreign lands.'"

Exclusive: Read War Crimes Memos - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com

Exclusive: Read War Crimes Memos - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com: "By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
Updated: 9:14 a.m. ET May 19, 2004

May 17 - The White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials could be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new and unorthodox measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the debate over the issue.

The concern about possible future prosecution for war crimes—and that it might even apply to Bush adminstration officials themselves— is contained in a crucial portion of an internal January 25, 2002, memo by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales obtained by NEWSWEEK. It urges President George Bush declare the war in Afghanistan, including the detention of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, exempt from the provisions of the Geneva Convention."

Jill Carroll; Will you buy it?

The government never sleeps. When they heard Jill speak against Bush and the war they said she must have Stockholm Syndrome. They believe that she made these statements under "duress". That leaves one with the impression that she didn't believe anything that she was saying in that last video. However, if I remember correctly, when Jill was captured initially her friends and family tried make the case for her release by saying that Jill understands their plight. She is there for good...to highlight the plight of the Iraqi people. They talked about how she respected and embraced their culture. I really got the impression from their words/comments that Jill was an Iraqi sympathizer. Now when she states it, she must have Stockholm syndrome? B*llSh*t!!!!!!!! to the 20th power!!!

Don't believe the hype!!!

There is a lot at risk her for the Bush administration. They are attempting to gain support for the war. They MUST control what people think about this white woman. They must control the image and the words... So, they will sell us what they want us to have/believe.

Will you buy it?

January 2006 Article from the BBC

Tape shown of US hostage in Iraq

See video broadcast

Al-Jazeera has broadcast a video of the kidnapped US journalist Jill Carroll - the first sighting of her since she was abducted in Baghdad 10 days ago.

The video contained a claim that her unknown abductors would kill her unless all female prisoners in Iraq were released within 72 hours.

Ms Carroll, 28, has been a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, among others.

More than 40 Westerners and hundreds of Iraqis are being held in the country.

Four Christian peace activists, including a Briton, an American and two Canadians, were seized on 26 November.

They, too, have been seen in a video released by their captors, but there has been no word of their fate.

Plea for mercy

Ms Carroll's family issued a statement pleading for her release after the video became available.

Jill has always wanted to know and experience as much as possible about Arab identity Jordan Times

"Jill is a kind person whose love for Iraq and the Iraqi people are evident in her articles. She has been welcomed into the homes of many Iraqis and shown every courtesy.

"From that experience, she understands the hardships and suffering that the Iraqi people face every day," the Carroll family said.

"We respectfully ask that you please show her mercy and allow her to return home to her mother, sister and family," the statement issued by Jim, Mary Beth, and Katie Carroll said.

The video of Ms Carroll shows her apparently speaking to the camera, but does not include her voice.

Al-Jazeera did not say where it got the tape. The station itself has called for the release of Ms Carroll.

Dangerous

Ms Carroll was going to meet Adnan Dulaimi, the head of a prominent Sunni coalition, in Baghdad's western Adel district when she was seized and her translator fatally hurt on 7 January.

She is the 31st foreign journalist kidnapped in Iraq since the invasion almost three years ago, according to Reporters Sans Frontieres.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Baghdad says the Adel district is one of the city's most dangerous, where three Iraqi television journalists were killed shortly before Ms Carroll was seized.

Ms Carroll had been reporting from the Middle East for Jordanian, Italian and other media organisations for the past three years, the Christian Science Monitor said in a statement.

The newspaper said it had "tapped into her professionalism, energy and fair reporting on the Iraqi scene" in recent months and praised her determination in seeking accurate views from Iraqi political leaders.

The Monitor describes itself as a non-religious newspaper.