Douglas Wood tells it straight

The Australian ^ | June 21, 2005

[Piefloater]

TO the objective observer there would seem to be only good news surrounding the circumstances of Douglas Wood's release from captivity. But this has not stopped people who cannot stand anything positive coming out of Iraq from finding the dark cloud inside the silver lining. According to those who conform to David Marr's "soft-leftie" stipulation for working in the Australian media, Mr Wood could have been released much earlier but for tactical mistakes by the Australian taskforce. John Howard, they say, has exploited Mr Wood's predicament for political gain. And anyway, wasn't Mr Wood just a mercenary in Iraq who now, true to form, plans to sell his story for a bucket of gold? These suggestions are either too silly, or too short of anything resembling evidence, to warrant detailed rebuttal. They are par for the course for people who continue to claim there have been 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths since the invasion by the coalition of the willing, more than a month after a UN report put the number at 24,000.

It is easy to see why the story of Mr Wood and his family stands as an outrage against decency to those who see the US and its allies, not Islamist terrorism, as the greatest threat to world peace and order. Malcolm and Vernon Wood have been absolutely steadfast in their support for their brother, but have resisted any temptation to tell his kidnappers what they wanted to hear by criticising the Australian Government or demanding the withdrawal of Australian or US troops. But Mr Wood's own comments since his release have been far worse news for people such as Greens senator Kerry Nettle, who tried to exploit his predicament to increase opposition to the US and Australian "occupation" of Iraq. "God bless America" was Mr Wood's first public comment after his rescue. At Melbourne airport early yesterday he used the circumstances of his rescue as evidence the effort to train up an indigenous Iraqi army is slowly succeeding, and apologised – unnecessarily – for pleading for the removal of Australian troops as a way of buying himself time in captivity. And Mr Wood had an accurate term to describe the torturing thugs whom many on the Left continue to insist upon calling "resistance fighters". He said his captors were "arseholes".

So it is time to ignore the bad news bears and celebrate the positives out of the Wood affair. High among them is the unity of resolve that was apparent throughout the community. That unity was symbolised by the positive role played by the federal Labor opposition, and by Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, who on behalf of the Australian Islamic community bent his best efforts towards securing Mr Wood's release. While it is far, far too early to declare that the corner has been turned in Iraq, the accelerating round-up of insurgents and Islamists and the exhilarating spectacle of an emerging Iraqi democracy are ample evidence for Mr Wood's claim that what we are doing in Iraq is "the right policy".

[hsalaw]

Why don't we get nice, positive articles like this from our MSM? Oh, wait; never mind.

[Fred Nerks]

The Australian Newspaper was established by Rupert Murdoch, an Aussie before he became a US citizen.

[Lysandru]

Just as a point of order...

Of the 24,000 Iraqi civilians killed (according to the U.N.), how many of them have been killed by the "heroic" warriors of "the resistance?"

I am willing to bet a cookie that far more Iraqis have been killed by the "insurgents" than by U.S. troops.

[Fred Nerks]

And just as another point of order, when is the UN going to tell us how many Iraqi's Saddam killed?

[speekinout]

Good for Douglas Wood! He sounds like a guy who is really tuned in. And, yes, he should have said what he did on those tapes. Maybe that's what bought him the extra days the troops needed to get to him.

The Libs are going to really hate this guy. I'm sure there's something in his past they can use to discredit him. Someone this outspoken has surely made non-pc comments, if nothing else.