Following its airing on Al Jazeera, Ingwerson, Bergenheim, and Scott wanted to see the entire videotape. They hoped it would yield clues about Carroll’s location and the group holding her. However, Al Jazeera “waxed hot and cold on making the full tape available,” Bergenheim says. The network feared that cooperating with a Western news organization could damage its credibility with its sources, and ultimately did not provide the tape.

Jim Carroll

The arrival of the videotape did persuade Ingwerson that the time had come to enlist the help of Carroll’s parents. The question was: How? In preparation for this eventuality, the FBI had drafted a statement for Jim Carroll to read. The gist of the message, says Scott, was that the kidnappers were “these murderers and thugs who have taken our daughter... Don’t you dare hurt her.” The Monitor staff, especially the Baghdad Boys, felt that approach would be insulting. They lobbied instead for a more heartfelt message of how much the parents loved and missed their daughter. Most importantly, said Murphy and Peterson, the appeal should come from Mary Beth because Iraqi men revere their mothers.

Watch the Baghdad Boys describe dealing with the FBI’s differing opinions

Mary Beth Carroll

From the start, the Monitor tried never to put Carroll’s parents in the position of choosing between the Monitor and the FBI. The Monitor presented the alternatives about what they should say on TV, then let them make the decision. After deliberations, the family opted to follow the Monitor’s advice. The FBI was not pleased, but could do little about it. However, the family agreed to appear on CNN, a network that, Ingwerson says, “the FBI was partial to.” ^[21] On January 19, Mary Beth Carroll appeared on CNN with a scripted statement. The Baghdad Boys were disappointed that the chosen broadcast outlet was CNN; they argued that the only people in Baghdad who watched CNN were foreigners who understood English. But they did applaud putting Carroll’s mother on TV first. The next day, Jim Carroll made his appeal, a version of the FBI’s statement, from Al Jazeera’s Washington studio. Jim softened the message somewhat: “I want to speak directly to the men holding my daughter,” he said.

But again, it was like performing to an empty house. The January 20 deadline came and went. Nothing. Six days later, the US released five Iraqi female and over 400 male prisoners, although officials denied the move was a response to the demand of Carroll’s kidnappers. While Ingwerson and his staff were gratified at the absence of bad news, the constant rollercoaster of hope and disappointment was starting to take a toll.