Woman’s Work I: Jill
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Jill has already joined Marla Ruzicka and Margaret Hassan
in the ranks of monumentally brave women. But Jill, as far as we know
is still alive. Threatened with execution unless the U.S.
Government releases women prisoners held in Iraq, Jill has so far
gotten two stays of execution despite chest beating by the
administration.Gareth Porter reports in Inter Press Service, that the release of six women previously cleared of suspicion was delayed.
He also points out the 98.6% of all detainess have ultimately been
cleared. The claim that the U.S. doesn’t negotiate with terrorists was
questioned when 66 American hostages held in Tehran were released twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural address.
Wikipedia, citing an impressive array of sources, finds these
suspicions unproved. Still the timing of the hostage release is
worrisome. Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton,
publishing an op-ed in the Los Angelos Times, points out that the Israeli government has successfully negotiated the release of hostages from Hezbollah.
And given the 98.6% clearance rateof detainess, what fraction of one of the five
remaining women detainees is a big enough security threat to be worth
Jill’s life?
I heard mention of a rally today for Jill sponsored by students of the
UMass student paper where Jill once worked. However, I could not find a
time and place. Jill graduated from UMass Amherst so it might
have been out there. The Mass Media news room at Umass Boston did not
answer the phone.
I’ll try to get to the Vietnam Memorial by sundown.
Let’s honor the memory of Marla and Margaret. Bring Jill home.
