 Initial image of Douglas Wood after capture by Iraqi militants.
 Later image of Wood after apparent beating by his kidnappers. Douglas Wood (born c. 1942), Australian construction engineer, was held hostage in Iraq between May and June 2005. Image of Australian captive Douglas Wood after capture by Iraqi militants. ...
Image of Australian captive Douglas Wood after capture by Iraqi militants. ...
File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Wood ...
File links The following pages link to this file: Douglas Wood ...
This article is about the year. ...
2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Wood was born in Melbourne, but before starting his own company he had worked for the United States Bechtel Corporation, a construction firm, and had lived in California with his American wife for 25 years. Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia (after Sydney), with a population of approximately 3. ...
Bechtel Corporation (Bechtel Group) is the largest civil engineering company in the world. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area - Total - Width - Length - % water - Latitude - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ...
In May 2005 Wood was working in the reconstruction of Iraq on two contracts: the first, building a military site at Fallujah and the second, renovating buildings inside the secure "Green Zone". A DVD announcing his capture by a group claiming ties to the Iraqi insurgency was released on 2 May. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is in need of attention. ...
This article is about the city of Fallujah in Iraq. ...
The Green Zone is a 10 km² (4 mile²) area in central Baghdad that is the main base for coalition officials in Iraq. ...
DVD-R writing/reading side DVD-R with purple dye, 4. ...
Iraqi militants celebrating orders that the surrounding Coalition forces were given to stand-down. ...
May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ...
The DVD featured footage of Wood pleading for his life and appealing to President George W. Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard to withdraw their forces from Iraq. George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States. ...
The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. ...
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian politician and the countrys 25th Prime Minister. ...
It was believed that Wood was taken hostage 48 hours before his captors released the DVD. On 4 May Foreign Minister Alexander Downer appeared on the Arabic television news channel Al Jazeera directly appealing to the captors to release Woods. May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ...
R. G. Casey House, the headquarters of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade This is a list of Australian Foreign Ministers: Note: Prior to 1970, the office was known as the Minister for External Affairs. ...
The Hon. ...
Al Jazeera logo Al Jazeera (الجزيرة), meaning The Island or The (Arabian) Peninsula (whence also Algiers) is an Arabic television channel based in Qatar. ...
The kidnappers had set a deadline of 5am Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on May 10, for the Howard government to pull Australian troops out of Iraq, at which point they had threatened to kill Wood, but the deadline came and went with no apparent action from the kidnappers. May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ...
Sheik Taj El-Din Hilaly, an Australian Islamic leader, carried a payment from the Wood family which he claimed was a "charitable donation to the people of Iraq". Others claimed it would be going indirectly to the kidnappers because Wood's family asked the kidnappers how they wished to distribute the money and therefore amounted to a ransom payment. Sheikh Taj El-Din Hamid Hilaly (sometimes spelled Tajeddin Hilaly or Hilali or Al-Hilaly) (born c. ...
Islam (Arabic: ; ( ▶ (help· info)), the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ...
Hilaly arrived in Baghdad in early May and attempted to negotiate the release of Wood. In a video Hilaly had offered to exchange himself as a hostage for Wood. Due to heavy fighting that began later in May, Hilaly was unable to make contact with the captors. Wood's condition and whereabouts were uncertain for several days. But on June 5, Hilaly announced that he had been able to see Wood, that he had been given vital medication, and that he was still working toward obtaining Wood's release. The veracity of these claims was later challenged. Wood maintains he never met Hilaly and was unaware of his activities. Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad Baghdad (Arabic: , Persian: بغداد (Meaning in Persian : from angels) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Province. ...
June 5 is the 156th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (157th in leap years), with 209 days remaining. ...
While in captivity was kept on bread and water, was denied medical care, was repeatedly beaten, and saw other hostages shot dead in front of him. Two Iraqis who worked for his company and were captured with him were murdered by the hostage-takers and their bodies left on a rubbish tip.
Release and after On June 15, Wood was freed following a raid on a house in Baghdad by Iraqi and US troops. Taj El-Din Hilaly's spokesperson, however, said that Wood was voluntarily released due to a co-operative effort that included Hilaly's negotiating. This claim appears to be incorrect. The spokesperson also said that Hilaly's trip to Iraq in May had prevented Wood's captors executing him. This claim may be true, but has not been verified. June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ...
Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad Baghdad (Arabic: , Persian: بغداد (Meaning in Persian : from angels) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Province. ...
After his release Wood signed a television deal with an Australian television network, Network Ten, giving them an exclusive interview for a reported AUD$400,000. The interview was aired on June 26. During the interview, Wood explained he was in Iraq on behalf of his contracting business in the construction industry. Wood is also said to have signed a book deal. Network Ten is one of Australias three commercial television networks. ...
June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining. ...
Wood met John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia, in July 2005 and apologised for his statements, made while under duress, calling on Australia and the United States to withdraw their occupation forces from Iraq. He said that his release by Iraqi forces proved that the Coalition efforts to build up the Iraqi security forces were working. John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian politician and the countrys 25th Prime Minister. ...
The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. ...
2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Since his release Wood has been the subject of a campaign of denigration by some people who opposed the war in Iraq. He has been accused of corruption, war profiteering and of trading on his fame as a captive. Among his critics have been Andrew Jaspan, editor of The Age, a Melbourne newspaper, who described Wood as "boorish" for calling his captors "arseholes," and said that Wood had been "well treated" while in captivity. Andrew Jaspan, a British journalist, was appointed in October, 2004, as Editor-in-Chief of The Age, a broadsheet daily newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia. ...
The Age is a broadsheet daily newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. ...
Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia (after Sydney), with a population of approximately 3. ...
In August it was reported that Wood was in declining health and was almost blind as a result of not being able to take his glaucoma medication while in captivity. It was also reported that Wood and his wife would be returning to live in Australia.
Upon his return to Australia, Wood told the media of his love of the Geelong Football Club and one of the first things he asked when released was how their season went. He consequently became a celebrity patron of the club and was invited into the rooms to sing the song after a big win at the club's home grond in Geelong. The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League. ...
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