Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has appeared on Al Jazeera television to appeal for the release of 63-year-old Australian hostage Douglas Wood, as a special hostage crisis team arrived in Iraq. Mr Downer told the Arabic TV station that Mr Wood has a serious heart condition. Al Jazeera aired the two-minute DVD showing Mr Wood flanked by armed militants and pleading for his life. Mr Downer outlined the Government's Iraq policy to the Arabic TV station's Middle Eastern audience, including the stance of not negotiating with terrorists or paying ransoms. Mr Downer says it is possible the group behind Mr Wood's abduction is monitoring Australia's reaction closely. "There are 20 million of us - it's hard to organise - but how we as a country respond to this is going to be very important," Mr Downer told ABC TV's Lateline. "If they feel they're getting real traction in Australia from the kidnapping, that will encourage them. I think the way Australia so far has responded - which is of expressions of horror and outrage, but there's no sense in Australia that we should cave in to the demands of kidnappers, that has so far been a good response."
'Not a well man
Mr Downer says the Australian Government has been in close contact with the man's family and he has serious health problems. "I made the point in the interview with Al Jazeera that Douglas Wood is not a well man," he said. "He has a very serious heart condition, he has a problem with one of his eyes as well. We are concerned about his health in any case and being held hostage in this way, being abducted, is only going to put further strain on his health."
The Foreign Minister says the Australian Government has received information that Mr Wood may have been kidnapped from his own apartment, or on his way to work. But Mr Downer could not say whether that means kidnappers specifically targeted the Australian, or whether he was a random victim. He says Mr Wood may have been captured up to two days before the release of the DVD. Mr Downer says he is determined to do everything he can to get Mr Wood out of Iraq unharmed. "We're making a very big effort to [get Mr Wood out alive], so are our friends and allies, and so are the Iraqis." He says he believes he will gather enough information in the next two days to judge the situation. "The information flow is really starting now, so I'll be in a much better position to judge in a day or two than I am now."