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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| "God bless America": Douglas Wood | |
| 2005-06-16 | |
FREED Australian hostage Douglas Wood flew to a secret Middle East location last night as his relieved family prepared to make a $100,000-plus donation to Iraqi charities.
"I thought he would be weak and he sounded just up and just my Doug," she said from the couple's home in California. Looking surprisingly strong and in good spirits, the Australian engineer celebrated the end of his incarceration with a thumbs-up and asked Australian officials in Baghdad for a beer. "God bless America. You don't know how pleased I am to see you," he told his rescuers after a morning raid by Iraqi troops on a house in the northern Baghdad suburb of Ghazaliya. As the news of his rescue beamed around the globe, Mr Wood told of the fear he felt in his final moments of captivity. "I wasn't sure what was happening," he recalled. "The first thing is there was a bit of shooting outside, then they came and covered me over with a blanket. And then there was still a lot of yelling and screaming. And then a gun, they actually fired inside the room. "That was a bit scary. I heard my fellow patient -- or whatever he was -- still alive and I'm still alive." Mr Wood even described his treatment as being "pretty fair", although he said he had been kicked in the head soon after being kidnapped enroute to a business meeting in the Iraqi capital on April 30. "I'm extremely happy and relieved to be free again and deeply grateful to all those who worked to bring about my release," he said. | |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #6 I'm glad he's alive, but now we can all expect to see more people taken so the terrorists can do it again. Why are all of these un-military types over in Iraq anyway? Shouldn't we ensure that the area is safe before we bring in all of these other folks? We should let the Iraqi people rebuild their own. Use their people and their companies. I would like to see all of the weapons taken out of the hands of everyone that isn't military. I don't care how lesser of a man it makes them feel. It's a good thought anyway.... |
| Posted by: Jan 2005-06-16 22:13 |
| #5 Just heard an Australian government minister say "All the details that can be made public, have been made public." He then went on to make a statement about the 'mufti' that strongly implied Wretchard is close to the truth and the 'mufti' inadvertantly led them to the kidnappers (probably using somekind of high tech surveillance based on what the minister said about the American role). My 2cworth is Wretchard has been told the true story and he is deliberating obfuscating (as he should). |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-06-16 19:19 |
| #4 As usual, Belmont Club has some good info/speculation on this. |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2005-06-16 16:26 |
| #3 Does the UK Gov not already give money to these charities ? Dunno what bearing that has on anything, as he is an Australian. Makes it smell a little like a deal was made. Really? Giving no credence to the reports he was rescued? That his kidnappers tried to claim he was their ill father? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-06-16 16:07 |
| #2 Makes it smell a little like a deal was made. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-06-16 15:38 |
| #1 $100,000-plus donation to Iraqi charities. Does the UK Gov not already give money to these charities ? Remember that as you pay your taxes |
| Posted by: Justice 2005-06-16 15:21 |