FREED hostage Douglas Wood has bowed to family pressure and agreed never to return to Iraq, where he was captured and held hostage for 47 days. A spokesman for the Wood family said today that the engineer "will not, under any circumstances, return to Iraq". He had made the decision on the advice of his family, the spokesman said. The 63-year-old engineer, discovered and rescued in a raid by Iraqi troops last week, "lost commercial opportunities during his incarceration", the spokesman said. Mr Wood shocked family members who were sitting by his side at a press conference yesterday, when he did not immediately rule out a return because "business opportunities" remained in Baghdad. He said his family had spent his first 30 minutes in Australia attempting to talk him out of going back. During the same press conference, Mr Wood said: "One would be more prudent, more security conscious, the second time."
Psychologists have said it will likely take years for Mr Wood to get over the trauma of his captivity. Last night the Green Party called on Mr Wood to consider repaying taxpayers for his rescue mission from proceeds of the sale of his story to Channel 10.
| That's one of the most remarkably tactless and shoddy suggestions I've ever heard coming from professional politicians. Fair takes your breath away, doesn't it? |