Muslim cleric bids to save Australian hostage
Australia’s most senior Muslim cleric dashed to Baghdad in a last-ditch attempt today to win the release of an Australian engineer after asking the kidnappers for mercy via Arab TV, arguing that most Australians opposed the war in Iraq.
Militants who seized Douglas Wood, aged 63, an Australian citizen and a resident of California, released a videotape that was broadcast on Friday demanding that Australia start pulling its troops out of Iraq within 72 hours, though they didn’t say what would happen if the demand was not met.
