The Douglas Wood story gets more curious, with revelations being detailed just about every day. It’ll be interesting to hear his story this evening, though given that he was bound, gagged, and blindfolded most of the time I can’t figure out what he would add to the events leading up to his release. Either way, with his loquacious nature there could be some good stuff on any number of fronts.
Yesterday in the SMH we had another Paul McGeough ripper, with more insights into the mindset and machinations of many of the actors on the ground in Iraq, he also asked some hard questions the nature of Australian involvement in Wood’s rescue.
he attacks also raise serious questions about the conduct of Australian forces in Iraq. The Federal Government refuses to elaborate on the authority under which Zadaan and the other prisoners were held. Previously, it has avoided the issue of the legal right of Australian forces to take prisoners, by claiming that US forces always accompanied Australian units and that it was the Americans who formally detained any Iraqis arrested by the Australians.
And today in the Fairfax sister publication the Sunday Age we have yet another account of the events leading up to Woods release. This is interesting.
Melbourne’s Sunday Age newspaper said arrangements were made by Australian authorities for the RAAF to fly Mr Wood from Dubai to Australia as early as June 6, but they were suddenly cancelled.
Inquiries indicate that members of the emergency response team, headed by senior Australian diplomat Nick Warner, believed that Mr Wood should be freed without any payment.
Federal police in the response team argued that, by meeting the demand, they would be condoning the payment of a ransom - even though the money was being donated by Mr Wood’s family and Sydney’s Islamic community. They argued this would set a dangerous precedent.
As they say, truth is the first casualty and as far as this story goes we’ll probably never be able to revive it.
This story is also a tale of two media organizations. It’s interesting to note that while the Fairfax media have gone at this story from all angles, the News Limited stable either shoots the messengers or relays New Idea like promotional snippets of Woods ordeal to a waiting and breathless public anxious to be fed another tale of good old Aussie bullshit. Wood, mercenary to the end, and selling his story like so many wannabe starlets looking for their fifteen minutes of fame, obviously suits the News Limited template of what counts as news.
“Wood, mercenary to the end, and selling his story like so many wannabe starlets looking for their fifteen minutes of fame….”
I thought you decried those that “shoots the messengers or relays New Idea like promotional snippets…”
Damn, I hate it when my own words are used against me. Touche Rog.
I like McGeough even though I was critical of his connection with Zadaan and getting him involved. And while I don’t have any issues with Zadaan and his ilk getting raided (even bearing in mind the tribal alliances that operate in Iraqi society) he has raised some curly questions on Australian involvment (which I don’t discount.) Mind you, some of this is gelling with why - after being briefed - Rudd said first and foremost thanks go the Americans (with the comment that he didn’t think he would get into trouble with Downer for saying that) - a comment for which I have yet to find substantial justification to date. But the wind is blowing.
And whether knowingly or unwittingly, Sheikh is looking like a key player…
Gosh, as if all the twists and turns with Corby weren’t bad enough. Just $46000 paid by the government, by cheque that can’t be cashed as made out to the wrong person? Hmmm, is that what the government said.
“…another Paul McGeough ripper.”
You mean another story he made up?
oh do tell us the real story c.l.
CL is being rather naughty.
He is alluding to the story on Allawi which has been said to have no corroboration. In fact it has been corroborated.
you could challenge the person who is doing this but equally you could challenge te unamed sources in the White house who without any evidence have produced ‘proof’ that he was wrong.
It is the same with big Mac’s story on wood. The unamed government sources cast doubt on his story however their story has not been consistent.
As far as I can tell, McGeogh might as well have made up his earlier stories on Wood as well. They certainly had no relationship to real facts.
Though on reflection, he’s probably just credulous rather than fictitious. I get the impression he just believes whatever story the nearest Arab bullshit artist spins for the sake of free drinks.
I don’t see anyone taking the Sheik (Hilaly) to task for the obvious lies and bullshit either.
EP,
you are reading a different story then.
The unamed government sources do not dispute Big Mac’s story concerning Zadaan.
The dispute is whether led to Wood waiting longer to be released.
We hhave no real facts on this yet.
I like the way that McGeogh, with no access to military information or tactical intelligence, thinks he’s better placed to judge the realities of the situation in Iraq than Nick Warner - who had all of those advantages. Typical journalist.
I haven’t seen McGeogh getting anything right yet.
Where is the Iraqi civil war he’s been predicting since, well, ever?
EP,
just what are the real facts then?
EP doesn’t care, Homer, what benefit are the facts except to those of us who want to live in the reality-based community?
The facts:
Allawi did not shoot prisoners as McGeogh claimed.
There has been no Iraqi civil war as McGeogh predicted.
Wood was rescued, not released as McGeogh claimed.
Wood was found in Baghdad, not being held outside Baghdad as McGeogh claimed.
I pity the poor people who think they’re being informed when they read the left-wing media.
sorry EP but they aren’t facts.
big Mac had a witness for what was said. now you can slag the witness but there was one.
I don’t recall a timeline being put on a civil war but if the bomber is talking about one then you can be sure it is being talked about in Washington.
On wood we still do not know all the facts.
Curious how Wood has become the enemy, isn’t it?
Imagine the temerity of the man. Calling assholes ‘arseholes’.
It must be strange to live in the ‘reality-based community’. I’m guessing that’s the place where the wonderful ‘good ossie’ cleric goes over and single-handedly rescues the Australian hostage. In my bogus ‘fantasy-based community’, Iraqi troops with US air support and Special Air Services planning, break down doors and rescue a man from almost certain death. All without the slightest evidence to suggest the Mufti’s intervention.
(Remind me again, what happened to Wood’s two Iraqi offsiders? Oh, sorry, I forgot - We don’t know the facts yet.)
Well, excuse me, but I wished the Sheikh the best, and held my reservations close to my chest when he set off. My skepticism was more than vindicated. He exceeded my worst expectations with broken promises, anti-Coalition tirades and what is looking increasingly like a pack of self-aggrandizing lies.
Actually, reading back over your posts Mark, I’m wondering just what are these ‘facts’ of your’s?
when did Wood become the enemy?
Oh, gosh, Homer - Didn’t you realise?
This is another Jessica Lynch stitch up!
I mean c’mon, nobody was killed in the raid, right? Yer got it? Right? C’mon, don’t tell me you can’t see it?
This guy’s just a stooge in another Chumpy Mushaliburtler propaganda operation.
He deserves nothing but our contempt.
As soon as Wood described the ‘insurgents’ as arseholes he became a marked man.
I cant believe the amount of sympathy expressed in Australia, incl my own family, for the actions of the ‘insurgents’ against the US.
It was the ‘God bless America’ that really did it, rog.
“I cant believe the amount of sympathy expressed in Australia, incl my own family, for the actions of the ‘insurgents‚Äô against the US.”
Indeed, The way they murdered their two co-religionists, kidnapped with Wood, is totally inspirational. Describing these freedom-fighters as “arseholes’ displays a lamentable lack of understanding as to the incredibly complex motivations behind the need to blow an Iraqi chauffeur away.
Unlike his brothers, Douglas Wood doesn’t fit easily amongst the canapes and bon mots of the Canberra cocktail scene and his apology to Bush and Howard was about what you’d expect from someone louche enough to bellow “car’n the cats!” on nationwide TV.
Had Doug returned whimpering mea culpa for his mercenary malfeasance and begging forgiveness for his Crimes Against Humanity he would have been diagnosed with PTSD in a trice and been given all the counselling he’d need. He didn’t do that so he’s obviously as guilty - and greedy - as all get out.
I’d like to point out that Wood is under constant care as his health due to previous ailments is, not surprisingly, not good, for example he is being watched for signs of PTSD by his sister-in-law I believe.
Hello, who thinks Wood is an enemy? And who criticised him for calling arseholes arseholes? And do you mean that even people like me who can criticise the Sheikh for his lies and self promotion aren’t allowed to concede that he had a role to play. Oh hell, that would make be agree with Howard, Downer, Warner and whoever else. Yikes that would make all of us liars. Sometimes I think there are people who never listen to what others say much less are interested in discerning the truth but just like to put people in imaginary boxes of their own making. Because it hurts to much too think about the dirty messiness of real life, and their own conceited pride does not allow them to concede that people can think for themselves.
saint, my post was entirely based on the inescapable truth about the dirty messiness of real life and I’m in no doubt whatsoever that people can think for themselves. I believe that the contribution of Sheik Al-Hilaily was significant. Notwithstanding all of that, Douglas Wood doesn’t fit the right survivor profile as far as the Fairfax/ABC view of Iraqi suffering narratives are concerned. He should really have been Margaret Hassan - liberated.
Quite right, Geoff.
The appropriate thing would have been for Wood to have been savagely killed. Fairfax/ABC could then have expressed horror and regret - for about 2 seconds - then shaken their collective heads:’Oh, the horror!’; then said, ‘What else can you expect when America….’ and wind up with: ‘John Howard bears the ultimate responsiblity’.
Altogether a much more satisfactory outcome.
Hello, who thinks Wood is an enemy?
Tracee Hutchinson and David Marr, apparently, as well as many other left-wing media figures.
And who criticised him for calling arseholes arseholes?
Sheik al-Hilaly.
Link’s broken, EP.
Sorry, Mark, I messed up the code. It was supposed to be italics, not a link.
Thanks guys but really. Did anyone mention David Marr or Tracee Hutchinson (who’s she?) on this thread? And do all Fairfax/ABC journos much less those who read their papers subscribe to group think much less read everything everyone else has read?
Hec I’d be the first to put my hand up and say I’m confused.
Someone asked who regarded Wood as an enemy.
Here’s another who thinks Wood was insufficiently grateful to his kidnappers — Melbourne Age editor Andrew Jaspan.
Traceee does Fairfax proud;
“..It was enough that his words “God bless America” had been played over and over on his release, but the 20 years Douglas Wood has spent as an expat Australian in America were played out in all their cringe-worthy ingloriousness when he decided to meet our media singing a song about a sheep thief who would rather die than be caught for his crimes . . . oh dear!
I guess we all have these loveable larrikins in our families, but I wonder how many of us feel that good about the way he is being feted as a national hero in a war, it must be said, that so many of us still feel extremely uncomfortable about and even the Americans are trying to find a gracious way to get out of…”
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/has-ten-scooped-the-pool-or-bought-a-pup/2005/06/21/1119321730932.html
So write a letter to the editor. Blog about it on your blog. But just because you happen to read it, don’t assume others have read it, or if they have, they agree.
Oh and EP, if I had a gun to my head (and I’ve only had the “pleasure” of a gun at my back) I wouldn’t be calling anyone an arsehole. Once I’m free, and knowing that two of my captors were caught, I wouldn’t care less what I said. I’m not taking anything Wood says too seriously after what he’s been through. I wouldn’t care if he called them arseholes or succumbed to the Stockholm Syndrome. I am concerned about those who see his fellow prisoner’s self funded vigilante crusade as something to be applauded. If people really cared about Iraq, they would not be encouraging that sort of lawlessness or anti-state activity. Iraq is bad enough with terrorists and self-styled militia floating aorund in an already heavily armed country. The last thing they need is people taking the law into their own hands in this way.
I couldn’t care less about the little halfwit Jaspan personally. What I don’t like is the attitude of the leftist media generally:
EP
I haven’t read anyony saying wood should have killed etc etc but I am in Sydney.
He has every right to make as much money out of what happened to him.
I must admit saying God Bless america and then singing Waltzing Matilda has the used car saleman tone about it.
He was also caught out telling a fib at his press conference but neither is that a hanging offence.
He is merely a person who appears to like making money.
doesn’t make him all that different to a lot of people I know.
both Martinkus and wod were very lucky people.
With that I can agree.
None of these people can be expected to act with the aplomb of a movie James Bond after such a traumatic experience.
Well I can agree with EP and Homer. This is getting cozy. EP I’ll take Homer’s right shoulder, you take the left.