Aussie causes row over Iraq

2005-06-20 07:04

Melbourne - An Australian hostage freed in Iraq flew straight into a political row here on Monday as the government was accused of exploiting his rescue to cover up the failures of its Iraqi military campaign.

Former hostage Douglas Wood apologised to Prime Minister John Howard and US President George W Bush for pleading while in captivity for Australia and the United States to pull their troops out of Iraq, saying the comments were made under duress.

"I actually believe that I am proof positive that the current policy of training the Iraqi army... works because it was Iraqis that got me out," he told reporters on arrival in Melbourne on a flight from Dubai.

Howard, who sent some 900 Australian troops to Iraq in support of the US-led invasion in the face of strong opposition in parliament, welcomed the sentiment.

"I appreciate what he said ... the government's policy on Iraq is well-known and it won't change because it's right and naturally when it's endorsed that's a good thing," he said.

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Kim Beazley, said he understood Wood's gratitude to Iraqi troops who freed him after nearly seven weeks in the hands of kidnappers but noted his rescue did not mean all was well in Iraq.

"Things are going very badly in Iraq indeed and John Howard has a case to answer there because the problems which have arisen in Iraq were foreshadowed before the war and quite clearly no proper planning was done.

"We bear equal responsibility with the Americans and British on that front."

Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Kevin Rudd told Howard not to use Wood's comments to hide the truth about the security situation in Iraq.

"Blind Freddy can tell you that the Iraq security situation is right now in a shambles," Rudd told reporters.

"So I think it's important for John Howard to stop hiding behind comments by Douglas Wood, understandably emotionally driven in his case, ... to camouflage what is in reality a very difficult and precarious situation in Iraq today.

Kept laughing

"John Howard wants to give you the impression that somehow there's been some magical turn of events, well that's just not the case."

Wood, 63, a large, ebullient engineering contractor hailed here as a typical Aussie hero, told reporters on arrival it was "bloody good" to be home and described his captors as "arseholes".

He said there were times during his ordeal that he thought he would be killed, but that he still tried to remain upbeat and "keep laughing".

Wood, accompanied by his American wife Yvonne Given, was met in Melbourne by his two brothers, Vernon and Malcolm, who led a media campaign to convince his captors to release him.

The circumstances surrounding Wood's release remain unclear, with officials initially saying he was rescued by Iraqi troops who stumbled upon his captors' hideout during a routine sweep for weapons.

- AFP