Fantastic news as Australian hostage Douglas Wood has been rescued, after having been captured by Iraqi terrorists.
Australian hostage Douglas Wood was safe last night after troops rescued him from Iraqi terrorists.In a dramatic end to his six-week nightmare, the 63-year-old engineer was freed by a team of Iraqi and United States troops. Australian SAS troops were involved in planning the operation.Mr Wood was under medical supervision inside Camp Victory in the international “green zone” outside Baghdad last night.Deliverance came after authorities in Iraq got a tip-off.“US and Iraqi forces knocked on the door and — lo and behold — Mr Wood was there,” a government source said.He was described as fragile and traumatised.
So much for the “rescue mission” of Sheik Hilaly, the spiritual head of Australia’s Muslim community, who seemed hell bent on being Mr Wood’s knight in shining armor. Predictably, he is still claiming credit for the rescue, despite the fact that he has openly sympathized with the plight of the terrorists, and claimed Mr Wood’s release was imminent.
The Muslim cleric who led weeks of apparently fruitless negotiations for the release of Douglas Wood has claimed he arranged for the Australian engineer to be left in the house from which he was rescued last night (AEST).A spokesman for Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly said the cleric had made a deal with captors to have Mr Wood retrieved by US and Iraqi troops in Ramadi, a town about 110km west of Baghdad.
Hilaly’s spokesman has since issued a clarification.
The Sydney cleric’s spokesman, Keysar Trad, has since clarified his statement, saying Mr Wood was transferred from Ramadi after a release plan was finalised.Despite the military account describing Mr Wood’s rescue as a chance event, conducted under gunfire, the cleric had played a “key role” in his release, Mr Trad said.“What happened was he was held in Ramadi and transported from there to that safe location where he was picked up,” Mr Trad said.“He made it clear (to Australian authorities) that they had reached that certain stage of negotiations and that his release was imminent.”
Even the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has denied that Hilaly had any role in the rescue.
But Mr Howard indicated the mufti had no major role in Mr Wood’s release.“I think it’s fair to say that on my information the release was achieved by this military operation,” he said.
It is obvious that Hilaly is lying, since his plans to emerge as Mr Wood’s saviour has backfired. After all, it is not like this is the first time that his statements have warranted “clarification.”
Sheik Hilaly’s spokesmen in Sydney have issued a number of contradictory and confusing statements since the cleric went to Baghdad to try to negotiate Mr Wood’s release.Last month, Sheik Hilaly said Mr Wood’s release was “imminent” but a reported exchange deal was not executed.Earlier this month he saw the hostage “with his own eyes”, according a spokesman.The spokesman said later Sheik Hilaly had seen only a video tape of Mr Wood in captivity.
Am I being harsh, or is Hilaly a true hero who put the infidel’s Mr Wood’s welfare ahead of his own?
The sheik is due to return to Australia at the weekend so he can undergo urgent heart surgery.Last night he thanked “honest Iraqis” for helping him organise the release of Douglas Wood.SBS Arabic Language Program journalist Majida Abboud-Saab said the sheik had postponed his heart surgery after being emotionally moved to help the Wood family.
Reading this, I feel a movement as well.
Update: Islam Online are hailing the hero Hilaly (say that quickly five times).
The Australian government and people have paid tribute to the role played by the Grand Mufti of Australia to secure the release of the Australian hostage in Iraq from his captors.“He has made an enormous effort,” said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.Sheikh Taj Aldin Al-Hilali has spent much of the past month in Iraq trying to negotiate the release of the Australian contractor, Douglas Wood, who was released during an Iraqi military operation Wednesday, June 15.“Real credit should be given to him (Hilali) for the effort that he made and the risks that he took including to his own security and in assisting the team’s efforts to try to get Douglas Wood released,” Downer told ABC Wednesday, June 15.
Hilaly himself is quoted lauding his own superhuman efforts.
Commenting on the news of releasing Wood, the Grand Mufti of Australia said he had met his promise on sparing no efforts to securre the release of the Australian hostage.“I left Australia for Iraq on May 15, following the kidnap of the Australian national. I committed myself not to leave Baghdad without securing the release of the Australian hostage,” he told IslamOnline.net Wednesday during his stop-over in Cairo.“After tireless efforts and contacts with different parties as well as breath-taking adventures, the efforts were crowned in success.”
I am beginning to suspect that Hilaly writes for the Michael Jackson website in his spare time (when he is not saving the lives of infidels).
