Australian, Douglas Wood, the first man rescued by Iraqi Special Forces, on his return to his home country, Australia, made an apology to George W. Bush and John Howard:
Douglas Wood said he wanted to apologise to US President George W Bush and Australian leader John Howard for remarks he had made during captivity.
A video made by his captors and given to Arabic TV had shown him pleading for foreign troops to withdraw from Iraq.
But Mr Wood said he was living proof that the US and Australian governments’ policy on Iraq was the right one.
He said he was unaware who had taken him hostage.
“I didn’t know … obviously, my head is intact, so it wasn’t al-Qaeda,” he joked…
…He told reporters he was sorry for having criticised Washington and Canberra’s presence in Iraq while he was being held prisoner.
“The current policies of the American and Australian governments are the right ones,” he said.
Prime Minister Howard, who has sent Australian soldiers to support US forces in Iraq, said he welcomed Mr Wood’s apology but had not solicited it.
Five bodies were found at the site of his release including that of a woman:
Three thugs were killed and other arrested on a raid on a house in Al-Ghazaliyah region in Baghdad where DW kept in. Five bodies were discovered in the site one of them is a woman.
The raid was carried out based on information about a possible foreign hostage in the site. The Iraqi forces carried the raid under the cover of (The Lightening operation). Once entered the house they found the kidnapper who alleged that the person sleeping under the blanket is their ill father. The soldiers then pulled the blanket to find DW with tied hands and legs.
