Freed Hostage Witnessed Murders
Douglas Wood, the Australian hostage freed after 47 days of captivity by Islamic “holy warriors,” told Australian TV that he witnessed killings.
Douglas Wood, 63, also told Channel Ten of his efforts to retain his sanity during his captivity by replaying his life, the BBC reported Sunday.
Wood, who was bound and gagged by his captors, heard two Iraqi captives being shot on successive nights in the same room where he was being held and thought: “When is my turn?”
The low point of his ordeal, however, came when he saw his two Iraqi assistants being led away to their deaths. “I feel absolutely rotten. I was the ultimate cause of it,” Wood said. He said he planned to send money to the families of the dead men.
He also said he felt like a traitor when he was forced at gunpoint to make a video plea for the United States and Australia to withdraw their troops from Iraq.



