Aussie begs: 'Please help me'
2005-05-03 09:18
Sydney - A task force was on Tuesday headed for Iraq to try to secure the release of an Australian kidnapped by militants but Australia's defence minister conceded he was not confident Douglas Wood would be freed.
The team, which includes police and military officers, was expected to arrive in Baghdad later on Tuesday to liaise with United States and Iraqi officials.
But when asked if he was positive about Wood's possible release, Defence Minister Robert Hill replied: "No, I haven't got confidence of that.
"You can't look at the history of hostage-taking over the last few years in Iraq and have confidence in that outcome," he told reporters in Sydney after a trip to Iraq.
"I certainly hope he is saved and the federal government will do all that we can to achieve that objective."
Prime Minister John Howard said late on Monday the group which seized Wood had been associated with kidnappings in the past and the contractor was probably captured for political reasons rather than ransom.
"We are very concerned," Howard told ABC television.
Australia has ruled out paying any ransom for Wood, 63, and rejects the kidnappers' demand that it withdraw its forces from Iraq.
Wood, who has lived in the United States since 1992 and is married to an American, had been working on construction projects when he was seized.
"Please help me. I don't want to die," he said in a videotape released on Sunday by his kidnappers. He was shown seated on the floor and sandwiched between two masked men wielding assault rifles.
The videotape bears the words Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq. The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on US soldiers and Iraqi forces, as well as the kidnapping of a Turk who was freed in September.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said earlier on Tuesday that the United Nations had agreed to help the Australian team.
"Kofi Annan explained that they have people on the ground, they can obviously provide us with information if there's information to be obtained," Downer told the Channel Nine TV station from New York after meeting the UN secretary general overnight.
"They can also of course have discussions with various people in Iraq itself.
"So we'll just have to wait and see, but I appreciate very much his positive response to my request for the United Nations to do everything they can to assist us."
Downer said Canberra had received no new information on the kidnapping and no additional demands had been made. Negotiators would try to use the "force of persuasion" to secure Wood's release, he said.
Australia, a staunch ally in the US-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein, has about 550 troops in Iraq and is deploying 350 more. In rejecting the demand for a troop pullout, it says it cannot allow "terrorists" to dictate its foreign policy.