Bush grateful for Carroll safe release in Iraq

CANCUN, Mexico, Mar 30 (Reuters) President George W Bush's expressed relief that American reporter Jill Carroll had been safely released in Iraq today, saying his first reaction was, ''Thank God.'' ''I'm just really grateful she was released,'' Bush said in Cancun, where he was attending a three-nation North American summit.

Carroll, on assignment in Iraq for the Christian Science Monitor, was seized off a Baghdad street on January 7. Her captors several times had threatened to kill her but they released her unharmed.

Bush thanked those who worked so hard for her release and added, ''I'm glad she's alive.'' Reuters PR DB2101