The Wisconsin journalist who was kidnapped and held captive for eight days earlier this year in Iraq is sharing her story.
In the article, “If I tried to escape, I would be killed. A kidnapping in Iraq,” published in The Atlantic on April 23, Shelly Kittleson writes about her experiences being taken March 31, having her wrists and ankles zip-tied and being blindfolded. She was released on April 8.
“I remember screaming, though I don’t know what words I screamed,” she wrote. “And I remember resisting, though there was little I could do in heels against two military-trained men intent on shoving me into the back seat of their vehicle.”
In those first moments of Kittleson’s abduction, which as been caught on surveillance video, she said she was told if she made any noise or tried to yell, she would be killed.
“I was in excruciating pain from what I later learned were several broken ribs, but I tried not to cry out,” Kittleson wrote. “I had been told that I would be killed if I made any noise. Then I heard a voice that, in its humanity, offered me the slightest bit of hope.
“‘But she’s a woman,’ this man said. He felt, or I imagined he felt, a touch of shame or pity.”
Her kidnapping, which occurred a month after the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran, captured the attention of U.S. officials at the state department and FBI. Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin put part of the blame on the Trump administration for its war in Iran.
While her daughter was in captivity, Barb Kittleson, of Mount Horeb, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “She just wanted to help people. She’s just a journalist.”
Kittleson wrote that on the day she was kidnapped she had stopped by an outdoor cafe for tea after seeing a Iraqi journalist she knew. She later went back to her hotel and “changed into heels and more formal clothes” because she had a meeting with an Iraqi government official.
“I had been warned multiple times over my years of reporting from Iraq that I might be targeted for kidnapping or assassination,” Kittleson wrote. “However, this is always a risk for journalists who work on the ground, and none of the previous warnings had been followed by any attempts. I have never traveled with security − not in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, or elsewhere. I have always walked or used local transportation, and often stay with local families.”
During her days in captivity, Kittleson said she was moved to multiple places and eventually the zip-ties were replaced with handcuffs, which made mobility easier. They also gave her food, “shampoo, pink pajamas and a toothbrush.”
‘Farce’ interrogation, video and release
Kittleson said she was interrogated but called it “a farce.” She was accused of living in the U.S. embassy in Baghdad “despite my never having even visited it.”
“I was told that I had met with a man from the embassy in recent days and had given him information about the locations of Iran-linked armed factions and advisers − also untrue,” Kittleson writes.
Kittleson adds she was accused of meeting with U.S. official at the Babylon Hotel.
“I had recently chatted with someone in the lobby of the Babylon Hotel − a high-ranking Iraqi official whom I had known for years,” Kittleson said. “Perhaps whoever had passed on the information had assumed that the Iraqi was American because he spoke excellent English. Or maybe the report was made up to give my captors an excuse to do what they were doing.”
Her captors told her to read from a script and that they were going to video it. They told her, “‘If I walk out that door without the video, I take no responsibility for what happens to you. Your life depends on this. Choose well.’”
Kittleson was given 30 minutes to memorize the script in English and Arabic.
“I was in no condition to refuse, if I wanted to live. And I did,” she writes. “A tripod was set up. The handcuffs were removed, and one of the men pulled down my sleeves to cover the cuts and bruises on my arms. The video, with its absurd claims, was made.”
Kittleson said the script “consisted of nonsense,” including saying she was gathering information on the leader of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi terrorist organization.
On April 8, despite it being announced hours earlier on April 7, Kittleson was released to Iraqi government forces. She was then taken to Baghdad’s Green Zone and Faiq Zaidan, president of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, was waiting for her. Zaidan told her she would be welcomed back to Iraq in the future.
She was then transferred to U.S. officials who flew her to Europe for medical care.
“Many important stories in Iraq deserve the attention of experienced journalists who know the country well, and who care deeply about it,” Kittleson writes at the end of her story. “I have every intention of asking him to keep his word.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin reporter Shelly Kittleson shares story of captivity in Iraq
Reporting by Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
