Marianne Pearl Story aired: Wednesday, November 19, 2003
When Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was murdered in Karachi, Pakistan in February 2002, his wife Marianne was pregnant with their son.
Grief stricken, she says she knew at the time that she would soon have her son to live for. She also says she had to live to tell Danny's story.
Her book is called "A Mighty Heart." It is a heart-stopping thriller and a heartbreaking love story of two journalists, Marianne, the French Buddhist, Danny, the American Jew, who traveled the world for four years with his barcalounger and mandolin in tow.
Last night, Host Robin Young spoke with Marianne Pearl before an audience at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. She and Danny had moved to Karachi from Bombay in the wake of 9/11.
He scheduled one last interview on the night they were to leave. Danny was following a tip about Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber. He was to meet Reid's elusive spiritual leader. Everyone had told him it would be safe, because it was in a public restaurant.
Marianne didn't attend, because of her pregnancy.
After Danny went missing, Marianne and a friend turned their apartment into central command. Aided by a loyal Pakistani policeman, a CIA operative, and some of Danny's colleagues from the Wall Street Journal, they began a frantic race against time to find him. They ultimately learned how tangled a web of Al Qaeda Danny was caught in.
Then the photographs of Danny in captivity began coming in.
Danny Pearl's killers were caught and tried. But there are frustrations. Pakistani journalists accused Danny of being a spy for Israel. The Wall Street Journal may have endangered his life by turning over an Al Qaeda computer to the CIA, fueling rumors that Danny was an agent for the U.S.
Marianne says she feels abandoned by the Journal in a disagreement over the legal fees in the Pakistani trial of Danny's killers.
