Posted on 06/26/2005 7:10:05 PM PDT by CHARLITE
An Australian who was held hostage in Iraq has described the murders of two fellow detainees in the same room. In his first extensive interview, Douglas Wood, 63, also told Australian TV of his efforts to retain his sanity during his captivity.
The engineer was held for 47 days by gunmen in Baghdad before being rescued by Iraqi forces earlier this month.
He was reportedly paid A$400,000 dollars (US$307,000; £169,000) by Channel Ten for his story.
Mr Wood was bound, gagged, beaten and fed only bread and water by his captors.
'Replay of my life'
He said he heard two Iraqi captives being murdered on successive nights, the first after he had been knocked to the ground just inches from the Australian's feet.
"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 gun shot in an enclosed space.
"The next night they came in and there was a television set. They turned up the volume... and then bang and a minute later another bang."
Wood said he felt like a traitor after calling for the withdrawal of troops Asked how he felt about the killings, Wood replied that he had thought: "When is my turn?"
But he said the low point of his ordeal was when, during a brief period when he was not blindfolded, he saw his two Iraqi assistants led away to their deaths.
"I feel absolutely rotten. I was the ultimate cause of it."
He said he planned to send money to the families of the dead men.
He said his time in captivity was often uneventful but was punctuated by immense fear.
"I think I was conscious of trying to keep myself sane, by exercising my mind - a replay of my life, all the girls I've ever known, try and count them, what were their names...?"
Ransom denial
Mr Wood was found in a house in Baghdad by Iraqi and US soldiers during what one military commander said was a "simple everyday mission".
When his rescuers were breaking in through the front door, Mr Wood said he thought al-Qaeda had come to execute him.
"The fear side of me is thinking maybe bloody al-Qaeda turned up and decided to take over, and that meant cut the throat time."
He also said he felt like a traitor when he was forced at gunpoint to make a video plea for the US and Australia to withdraw their troops from Iraq.
Mr Wood is recovering with his family in Melbourne.
The BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney says relatives have expressed their worries about his mental health, although he appeared to be bright and spirited during his television interview.
The Australian government has insisted that no ransom was paid to secure Mr Wood's freedom.
I'm sure the lefties think he should have been treated even worse.
Thank God he wasn't forced to particpate in a human pyramid, or wear women's panties on his head.
I wonder what the Dums have to say about this. And our prisoners get Koran's handed to them with GLOVED hands.
The silence will continue to be deafening. The dems get more worked up over panties on the head and korans being flushed down toilets that don't even flush.
"He also said he felt like a traitor when he was forced at gunpoint to make a video plea for the US and Australia to withdraw their troops from Iraq."
How noble of him, but I'm not sure I wouldn't do the same thing if a gun was being pointed at my head. I don't see him as a traitor, but the America-haters who DON'T have guns to their heads and yet scream for withdrawal of troops - THEY are the real traitors.
Well, at least he wasn't forced to eat gourmet food, at Gitmo.
Where are all of the Geneva Convention whiners?
On Democrat Underground the moonbats were saying that Wood shouldn't be so ungrateful for the "good treatment" he received.
If Douglas Wood received "good treatment," then Gitmo is a 5-star resort.
He can rest easy, knowing that he didn't refer to the military as Nazis.
Nothing the Dums try is working. Now that they have slithered out from under the rocks, the bright light of truth is shining on them. and everytime they try to shed their commie/fascist/socialist/anarchist skin, we see even more of how their sick little minds work.
I have always been frustrated that they have been allowed to get by with outrages without consequences, they can't anymore.
Yep. A website for the mentally ill.
This is what we are fighting against!
First rule of tourture: EVERYBODY cracks sooner or later.
Durbin protested against this fellow's treatment - didn't he?
Nothing good
We're not going hear this on CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN or even FOX and we won't read it the papers. It just might show up on CBN but that's about it. Even BBC America will cull it.
I have never gone to that site. But decided to go see what it ws like. It gave me great comfort to see the type of enemy we are fighting. It confirmed my thoughts, the lefties are pathetically stupid,ignorant, and extremely unhappy people.
Both sides need information from their prisoners. Of course you're going to get a bit rough when lives are at stake.
Rumsfeld said that 50 cases have been dealt with and people responsible punished. NO PRISONER WAS MURDERED at the hands of our soldiers.
Durbin's stupidity created a billion dollar marketing campaign for the bad guys.
He should be thrown out of the Senate immediately. And put on the no-fly list.
The thing about this is that Wood didn't just make his statements under threat to his own life - in the interview broadcast last night, he made it quite clear that when he made his statements against President Bush and Prime Minister Howard, his Iraqi colleagues (captured with him) were being threatened.
A man might easily give in under threat to his own life, certainly - but in his case, the lives of his friends were also being threatened when he made those statements. That makes them even easier to understand.
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