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Rice, Straw Call for Iraqi Progress; Carroll Is Home

Jill Carroll, left, is greeted by her sister Katie and her parents, Jim and Mary Beth Carroll, at their home in Boston.
Christian Science Monitor/Getty Images
Jill Carroll, left, is greeted by her sister Katie and her parents, Jim and Mary Beth Carroll, at their home in Boston.

Over the weekend, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw paid a surprise visit to Baghdad, where they urged Iraq's political leaders to quit squabbling and form a government. Iraqi politicians have been deadlocked since the country's elections three months ago.

But as the British and American diplomats sought to give new momentum to Iraq's embrace of democracy, they also pressed Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to show progress.

Also Sunday, Jill Carroll flew home to Boston, after three months of captivity in Iraq. The 28-year-old American journalist hopes to spend time with her family, telling the Christian Science Monitor, "I finally feel like I am alive again."

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Jamie Tarabay
After reporting from Iraq for two years as NPR's Baghdad Bureau Chief, Jamie Tarabay is now embarking on a two year project reporting on America's Muslims. The coverage will take in the country's approx 6 million Muslims, of different ethnic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, and the issues facing their daily lives as Americans.