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| Iraq-Jordan |
| PM stands firm as Aussie taken hostage |
| 2005-05-01 |
| Prime Minister John Howard says the Government will do all it can to help free an Australian citizen apparently taken hostage in Iraq but will not give in to the demands of terrorists. Mr Howard has confirmed the Government believes Douglas Wood, an Australian who has been living in California since 1992, is the man shown pleading for his life in a video released by Iraqi insurgents. Mr Wood's wife Pearl says she has seen the video and the man is definitely her 63-year-old husband, who has been working as an engineer in Iraq for more than a year. The Prime Minister says a special Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) task force including Australian Federal Police and Defence Force personnel will be on the ground in Iraq as soon as possible. But Mr Howard will not comment specifically on what action the Government will take. "Everybody knows the position of the Australian Government in relation to hostage demands," Mr Howard told ABC Radio National. "This is a very difficult situation. I don't want to make it more trying for his relatives, and he does have a brother in Canberra and he has been contacted by DFAT. "We will continue to do all we can, consistent with our position of not giving in to hostage-takers. We can't alter that position and we won't alter that position. "We can't have the foreign policy of this country dictated by terrorists but we have got to do everything we can nonetheless to assist this poor man." 'Great dread' In the video, Mr Wood is shown sitting on the floor as two masked man armed with assault rifles stand on either side of him. He says his captors are fiercely patriotic and believe in a strong and united Iraq. "President [George W] Bush, Prime Minister [John] Howard, Governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger ... take the troops out of here and let Iraq look after itself," he said. Mr Wood says he has been working for a private company on numerous projects with the US military. The tape concludes with a plea for help, Mr Wood saying: "Please help me. I don't want to die." Mr Howard says it has been his "great dread for a long time that an Australian would be taken hostage". "I feel total responsibility for any harm that comes to anybody as a result of decisions that the government has taken. It doesn't mean that I step back from those decisions," he said. "I can understand the anguish people are going through and I feel for them very deeply because this really is the tough end of any difficult and controversial decision," Mr Howard added. The videotape has the words Shura Council of the Mujahedden of Iraq burned into the top left-hand corner. Little is known about the group responsible for the production of the video. The militants released a statement with the tape, claiming it was timed to coincide with Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill's weekend visit to Iraq. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |