Iraqi Citizens Express Outrage of Kidnapping of Jill Carroll; Two Miners Still Trapped in Another West Virginia Mine
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, LIVE FROM: You're watching LIVE FROM. We're talking about Baghdad to Boston, from Washington to Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's a day of hope mixed with fear. Michigan-born Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old journalist for the Boston based "Christian Science Monitor" was kidnapped in Iraq January 7. Washington says it will not give in to her captor's demands, the release today of all female prisoners held by the U.S. authorities. Carroll's family continues to work for her release. Jim Carroll went on Al Jazeera television to appeal to his daughter's captors. He called her an "innocent soul". Arab language satellite channels also carried an appeal for Carroll's release from the Sunni politician she was hoping to meet at the time of her ambush.</s>ADNAN DULAIMI, SUNNI POLITICAL LEADER (through translator): In the name of God, in the name of religion, in the name of mercy, and all that is good in Iraq, I appeal to you to release this journalist who came to cover our events and defend our rights.</s>PHILLIPS: That's not a solitary viewpoint. CNN's Michael Holmes reports on the outrage inside Iraq, arising from the journalist's kidnap.</s>MIGHAMISH ABDULLAH, IRAQI CITIZEN:  (through translator): For the sake of all Iraqis, asking you to release Jill, the journalist, for the sake of an old man.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Voices on the streets of Baghdad in support of Jill Carroll, a reporter who, in many ways, is not your ordinary Western journalist in Iraq. She's been here for more than two years, spent much time with the local community, speaks Arabic, dresses in Muslim clothing when out, and is known for her stories about the suffering of the Iraqi people. So, we have seen an almost unprecedented local coverage of her kidnapping. Equally ubiquitous, calls for her release, calls that is cross the usual sectarian divides, Shiites and Sunnis saying the abduction of Carroll was quite simply, wrong.</s>AZZA HUSSEIN, IRAQI CITIZEN (through translator): I feel pain that happened in my country. I feel like she is my daughter who was kidnapped, because they are all like our children. I feel like I was wounded.</s>HOLMES (on camera): It is redundant to say this is a dangerous place for Western journalists. Dozens have been kidnapped, dozens have been killed. Many media organizations have been forced to take extraordinary security measures. Some journalists rarely leave their guarded offices, not Jill Carroll. (voice-over): While she lived in a hotel with other Western journalists and she routinely left, dressed in Islamic hijab (ph). She'd travel in local unarmored cars without guards. She told colleagues she felt safer blending in. The work she has been doing, explaining the plight of ordinary Iraqis resonates even with those who never met her. Today, her photograph, her plight, front page news in the Iraqi capital.</s>SEDEQ SHAHID, TEACHER (through translator): Although I'm not one of her relatives, when I heard about her abduction, I felt pain, because she is my sister in humane.</s>HAMID AL-ZUBAIDI, BUSINESSMAN (through translator): I do not think those kidnappers are Iraqis or Muslims. She's only a woman doing who is doing her job showing the true image of this country, no matter if it is positive or negative. All Iraqis are denouncing this terrible act.</s>HOLMES: And this, from the imam of a Sunni mosque.</s>SHEIK ABU YASSER, IMAM (through translator): Not only women, but all kind of abductions are wrong. A human is a human, no matter if he is a Muslim or a non-Musli. People who are not from this country should be safe.</s>IBRAHIM AL-ABAIDI (through translator): Please release the journalist, Jill, for the sake of humanity.</s>HOMLES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.</s>PHILLIPS: Deadly violence, kidnappings all part of the daily routine in Iraq. Today, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding a third. Last night gunmen dressed like Iraqi police commandos stormed a restaurant and kidnapped five Iraqis, including a police colonel and a man who was a government body guard when Saddam Hussein was in power. Elsewhere in Iraq, two separate roadside bombings wounded eight Iraqi police officers and soldiers. Amid today's violence, final, but uncertified results from parliamentary elections last month. An alliance of Shiite parties won the most seats; 128, but not enough to rule without coalition partners. Minority Sunnis captured 55 seats, more than they won a year ago, when many Sunnis boycotted that vote. The coalition of Kurds won 53 seats, down from last year. Talks are expected to start soon on forming a unity government. Challenges will be heard and decided in the next two weeks. A different town, a different mine, but another painful scene in West Virginia. Less than three weeks after a dozen coal miners died in the Sago Mine, two miners are trapped in Melville; 10 others managed to escape the fire that started deep underground in the southwestern part of the state, about 60 miles from Charleston. Bob Franken joins me now with an update. What do we know, Bob?</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the update is, is that they've changed tactics on the rescue. They had originally decided once they got the five rescue teams in, each of about five people, 25 to 30 people engaged in the mine, they were going to circumvent the fire. It's not an explosion, like it was at the Sago Mine three weeks ago -- and look for the men who are in this sprawling, sprawling mine. There's just any number of possibilities where they might have taken shelter, where they would have been able to get the oxygen that they need. In any case, the smoke became so, so thick that they had to change tactics, they brought up firefighting equipment and now they're trying to put out the fire that began on a conveyor belt, which caused the men to exit the mine, except for the two that somehow lost their way -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Let's talk about lessons learned from the Sago Mine disaster. First of all, communication. How are family members -- who is communicating with family members and how do they know that this time they will get the proper information at the right time?</s>FRANKEN: Well, one of the lessons learned is that officials are being much more spare with information. They are not at all willing to speculate, at all. Who is communicating with them? The governor. What's similar is that the family members and friends are gathered at a church. This is the Free Will Baptist Church just up the road, about 100 yards up the road. We are being kept away. Police are not allowing any of the media to be up there. Obviously, there is a bit of a difference there. The other big change is that there was a real emphatic response. The rescue teams were here very quickly, highly organized. There have been briefings for a while. They are dealing with the situation at the mine and applying the lessons that they learned after the tragedy at the Sago Mine.</s>PHILLIPS: Bob, are we hearing anything about safety issues with that mine? As you know, when we waited out those 40 plus hours during the sago mine disaster, we were hearing a lot about that mine, fear from family members, from previous incidents and also its safety record. Are we learning anything about this mine with regard to that?</s>FRANKEN: Well, actually, to the contrary. What we've been told, repeatedly, is that there wasn't the same kind of record. This is owned by Massey Coal Company, I believe it was purchased in 1999. There has been no long record that we have been able to discern of safety violations. Another thing that is important to point out is that the Sago Mine was a much smaller mine, and that brings with it advantages and disadvantages. This mine goes -- where it's entrance is, is about close to a mile away, it runs under where we're standing now and branches out in all kinds of directions and goes over there. Of course, that means the area that can be searched is much larger, but it also means much more opportunity for somebody who got lost to find air to breathe.</s>PHILLIPS: Bob Franken, thanks so much. We'll continue to check in with you. Dealing with disaster, if you live along the Gulf Coast and you suffered hurricane damage and you are having problems with your insurance company -- we know a lot of you are. Send us your questions or your concerns. We're going to have an expert with us to answer your e-mails. Here is our e-mail address: Livefrom@cnn.com. We'll take your e-mails in the next hour and let the insurance expert try to help you out. Domestic terror, new arrests announced today, details straight ahead. The news keeps coming, we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM right after this.