wood tells of execution at his feet
Wood tells of execution at his feet
27jun05 A BLINDFOLDED Douglas Wood heard two Iraqi hostages being executed – one at his feet – during his 47-day ordeal at the hands of his captors in Iraq.
The freed Australian hostage has told how he heard the executions at the second house in which he was held.
"Over a period of about five days three Iraqis turned up, the first of which was the only one that got out alive," he told the Ten Network last night.
"He came out with me and the other two were shot while I was there."
Mr Wood, 63, said his captors came into his room one night, tapped one of the Iraqi men on the shoulder, and delivered him a karate chop.
"He collapsed to the ground, his head was maybe two inches from my foot and bang, bang, bang – even a silenced gun is very consciously a gun shot in an enclosed space," he said.
The engineer, who was freed two weeks ago by Iraqi troops backed by US forces, said the second Iraqi was shot a day later.
"The next night they came in and there was a television set. They turned up the volume . . . and then bang and a minute later another bang," he said.
"And a few minutes later this water (was) being washed in the alley outside the door in front of my foot which got wet and they broomed it up.
"I'm assuming that the last dead man had blood or urine or something that had dropped and they were mopping it up."
When asked what went through his mind when the others were killed, Mr Wood said: "When's my turn?"
"I think I was conscious of trying to keep myself sane, by exercising my mind – a replay of my life, all the girls I've ever known, try to count them, what were their names . . .".
Mr Wood, who had been in Iraq for 18 months, was looking to land a lucrative new contract when he was tricked into the clutches of his kidnappers.
He said his abduction was all about money, which was the reason he had a black eye in the first video released by his captors.
Mr Wood said he had $US176,000 ($228,600) cash at home, which was found by his captors.
"I said I had some money in the house and they went there and found more money than I said was there," Mr Wood said.
"(When they came back) they stomped on my head – a little bit of rub in the heel – and walked off. Nothing happened. I just said 'I'm sorry' and (we) went on about our business."
Mr Wood also spoke of his optimism that his two assistants who were taken hostage with him – but now confirmed dead – would be released.
He said he held on to that hope even after he saw – during a moment when his blindfold had been removed – the two being marched off by their captors.
". . . the next thing I see is my assistants being gagged and blindfolded and very dejectedly marched out", he said, adding that his concerns for their fate was the lowest point during his ordeal.
"I felt rotten. I think probably the lowest point in my captivity was my concern for those two boys going out and I'm thinking never to return.
"(I was) hoping that they would be (okay), a little bit optimistically hoping that they were going back."
Mr Wood said he did not know his captors.
"I think it was just the opportunity they found to find a foreigner who they believed to have money," he said.
