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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Land Shark who wrote (685630)	6/15/2005 6:35:43 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769669

Australian Held Hostage in Iraq Freed By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 15, 2005 Filed at 6:12 a.m. ET CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- An Australian held hostage for six weeks in Iraq was freed in a military operation and is in the hands of Australian forces in Baghdad, Prime Minister John Howard announced Wednesday. Douglas Wood, a 64-year-old Australian engineer who is a longtime resident of California, was abducted in late April. A few days later, a militant group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq released a DVD showing him pleading for Australia to withdraw it 1,400 troops from Iraq. ''I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr. Douglas Wood, is safe,'' Howard told Parliament in Canberra on Wednesday. ''Mr. Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation that I am told was conducted by Iraqi forces in cooperation in a general way with force elements of the United States,'' Howard said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. He did not elaborate on the nature of the military operation. Wood, who has a heart condition, could not immediately be reached in Baghdad for comment and messages left for Pearl Wood, his American wife, were not immediately returned early Wednesday. The Australian government refused to bend to the kidnappers' demands but sent a team of diplomats, police and military personnel to Baghdad to seek his release. ''He's now under the protection of the Australian emergency response team in Baghdad,'' Howard told parliament. ''I understand that he is well, he's undergoing medical checks at the present time.'' Howard said Australians would be jubilant about the news of Wood's release. ''This man has suffered immensely,'' he said. ''I want on behalf of all of the parliament to pay tribute to the dignity and strength of his family.'' Howard said no ransom had been paid for Wood, although the hostage's family had offered a charitable donation to Iraq in return for his release. ''I want to reiterate our commitment to the stability and the reconstruction of Iraq and to the Iraqi people who are daily the victims of terrorism and crime,'' Howard said. He said he had been trying to contact Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to thank him for his country's help in securing Wood's release. ''I hope very shortly to express my thanks for the efforts of his forces and may I record again our thanks to our American friends for their constant support and availability and cooperation,'' Howard said. -------- On the Net: thewoodfamily.info