Posted on 06/26/2005 3:30:40 PM PDT by naturalman1975
MEMORIES of childhood, family holidays and past girlfriends were used by Douglas Wood to stay sane during his 47 days' captivity in Iraq.
Mr Wood revealed last night that he had witnessed several executions while held in two houses. One Iraqi was killed at his feet.
He recalled how he had worked hard to remain positive.
"I think I was conscious of trying to keep myself sane by exercising my mind," he said.
He spent time in captivity recalling family trips to Lakes Entrance, playing football, stopping for ice-cream at Bairnsdale, and even having his first tooth pulled, as well as his conquests.
In an emotional interview on the Ten Network, Mr Wood, 63, broke down several times.
And he lamented how his two Iraqi assistants had been murdered.
"They had been found on the dump; it's not very nice to be found on the trash-heap," he said, before vowing to help their families.
"And I was the ultimate cause of it. It's hard."
When two other Iraqi hostages were executed, his blindfold prevented him from witnessing their deaths.
The first of the hostages was karate-chopped at night, in the same room in which he was being held.
"He collapsed to the ground -- his head was maybe two inches from my foot -- and bang, bang, bang.
"Even a silenced gun is very consciously a gunshot in an enclosed space," he said.
The next night, another prisoner was executed after the killers -- from the Shura Council of the Mujahidin of Iraq -- turned up the TV to muffle the shots.
"They turned up the volume . . . and then bang, and a minute later another bang," he said.
"And a few minutes later this water (was) being washed in the alley outside the door in front of my foot, which got wet and they broomed it up.
"I'm assuming that the last dead man had blood or urine or something that had dropped, and they were mopping it up."
In the interview -- which lasted several hours but was heavily edited -- Mr Wood also said his head was stomped on by the kidnappers when they found he had more money than he had admitted.
He had told the gang members they would find $130,000 in a safe at his office; they found $230,000 instead.
For this alleged indiscretion, they stomped on his head, leaving him with two black eyes.
"And I just said, 'I'm sorry'," he said.
The result was that the second recorded video message to the world showed images of an injured Mr Wood.
Mr Wood was not asked in last night's interview why he had so much money or what it was for.
Mr Wood arrived back in Melbourne on June 20, initially flagging a possible return to Iraq.
Last night's interview, which placed a heavy emphasis on his family and the background to his capture and release at the expense of details of his captivity, cost Ten as much as $400,000.
Mr Wood also has reportedly sold his story to New Idea in a deal that would be worth up to $100,000.
Mr Wood, who said he had once thought about grabbing one of his captors' guns to free himself, rejected any suggestions he should pay for the rescue bid, which has cost Australian taxpayers several million dollars.
"It's a free economy; it's part of a free enterprise system," he said.
"I've lost a lot of money out of not being in Iraq."
He also blamed jealousy for the backlash against his cashing in on his kidnapping and release.
Mr Wood has an American wife, Yvonne Given, a daughter Christina -- who has an Australian passport -- two grandchildren, two stepchildren and three brothers.
His granddaughter is 10, and his grandson seven. They were reunited in Victoria.
When found by US and Iraqi troops, Mr Wood was blindfolded.
US troops said he was found by accident and liberated after a firefight.
http://rapidshare.de/files/2612096/DouglasWoodHisStory.rm.html
It's only in realvideo format so the quality is not particularly high, and it's only a very small screen size. I had to do this because I'm on dialup and I have to keep the file as small as possible - but I also wouldn't want to put anything out there that was too high quality, in case this program is planned for broadcast elsewhere.
But it's an inspiring program (in my judgement) and I really think as many people should see it as possible. Unfortunately, I've had to resort to a free fileshare service as I don't have webspace for a file of such a size. I hope this works - I'd like to have put it up somewhere easier to access, but my options are quite limited.
Talk about the Calvary arriving. He seems to be saving himself some very expensive shrink bills. He needs to rant and get it all out. I can't even come close to imagining what it would be like to have people slaughtered at my feet, the sheer presence of this evil is enough to drive you crazy. I pray he will be better emotionally someday.
Oh Pelosi, Durbin, and your friends in the Democratic Party: this is how the enemy treats prisoners.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.