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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Australian Hostage Pleads For Life |
| 2005-05-01 |
| AN Australian citizen has been taken hostage in Iraq, according to a videotape delivered by militants to news agencies. On the two-minute video, the sandy-haired man identifies himself as Douglas Wood, a 63-year-old who lives in California and is married to an American. He calls on US, Australian and British authorities to withdraw from the country. "Please help me. I don't want to die," he says on the tape, which shows him sitting on the floor as two masked men armed with assault rifles and wearing bulletproof vests stand on either side of him. The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified. Australian, coalition and Iraqi officials in Baghdad declined to comment on reports of the hostage-taking today. In Canberra, officials were trying to verify that the man on the tape was in fact citizen Douglas Wood, said Robin Richey, of the Australian consular emergency centre. "We're looking into the situation at the moment," he said. "We've seen the reports of the kidnapping of a person named Douglas Wood. We're just trying to confirm that he's an Australian citizen and that is his identity. "We have, as you might imagine, many Douglas Woods, so we need to confirm his identity and notify his next of kin before we do anything else." Diplomats at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad referred calls to Canberra. Mr Wood says on the tape that he has worked in Iraq for more than a year and that he "has done many jobs with the American military". It is not clear what sort of work he does. The tape shows him dressed in civilian clothes. A statement from the militants issued with the tape said it had been released to coincide with a visit to Iraq by Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill. The statement said Mr Wood had confessed to "dirty acts on our soil". "My captors are fiercely patriotic. They believe in a strong, united Iraq looking after its own destiny," Mr Wood says on the tape, his head slumped forward and his voice close to breaking. "President Bush, Prime Minister Howard, Governor Schwarzenegger ... take the troops out of here and let Iraq look after itself." Mr Hill has been in Iraq for talks in Baghdad with new Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and to visit Australian troops. Some 450 Australian troops are due to join coalition forces in southern Iraq by mid-May, increasing the number of Australian troops in the country to more than 800. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #1 Ah! Finally, the Arnold factor appears [like out of nowhere]. Where the hell have you been on this, Arnold? Is this guy one of your gym rats from days gone by? Not from the belly bulge I sense is more related to Fosters than pumping iron. Save him for Chris sakes. After all you are the TERMINATOR, aren't you? |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2005-05-01 11:40:51 PM |