wood counts cost of captivity
Wood counts cost of captivity By Charisse Ede June 27, 2005 From: AAP
Health ... Douglas Wood says his eyesight is failing. Pic: AAP FORMER hostage Douglas Wood continues to celebrate his freedom, but he is a sick man who believes his 47-day ordeal cost him $2 million in lost contracts.
The Australian engineer rescued from Iraqi captors a fortnight ago revealed today he had numerous illnesses and could lose his eyesight. The 63-year-old today gave one last press conference before bowing out of the public eye in an attempt to salvage his health.
Mr Wood, who limped into the conference aided by his brother Vernon, said he had been diagnosed with diabetes, malnutrition and the eye disease glaucoma since being freed.
He blamed the glaucoma not on his 47 days blindfolded in captivity, but on steroids he took to treat his pre-existing rheumatoid arthritis.
"I have had some fairly heavy steroids for rheumatoid arthritis, which is out of balance right now," he said.
"A side-issue is I have got a little bit of glaucoma and a little bit of diabetes, and they're (doctors) shuffling around with blood, different pills, trying to wean me off this steroid, and then I will stabilise and be running around like crazy."
Asked if his eyesight was in jeopardy, Mr Wood said: "It may be.
Advertisement: "It may not be a major issue, it might be a minor issue. I think it's just, however bad I am now, that they can stop it."
Despite his illnesses and the horrors of his captivity, including seeing two Iraqi employees taken away to be shot, Mr Wood maintained he was well and did not need psychiatric help.
Mr Wood also revealed he had lost $2 million in contracts in Iraq by leaving the war-torn country, where he was working on construction projects.
However, he maintained he would not return to Iraq, saying to do so would be unfair both on his family and the Australian people.
"I feel a guilt trip towards my family, towards you all, to the people of Australia," he said.
"It would not be fair of me to put you through that wringer again."
Mr Wood also attempted to clarify how he had come to be freed, confirming his rescue from a house in Baghdad had more to do with luck than any negotiations on his behalf.
"I was rescued by Iraqi military who were on a sweep of an area, and I guess the luck of the draw is I happened to be in that area and they found me and they got me out," he said.
"It had nothing to do directly or indirectly to do with anything (Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly) or actually what our federal people are doing, but that's the luck of the draw."
Any attempts to find his former captors should be left to the Iraqi authorities, he said.
A Swedish hostage held alongside Mr Wood said over the weekend he had hired bounty hunters to track the captors down.
"I think the Iraqis ... as they get stronger they will be able to catch people like this, or gain the respect of the community at large, who will no longer be afraid of dobbing those sort of guys in," he said.
"But I think it should be left to the judicial system. They get caught, they get tried, they get the punishment that comes out."
Mr Wood said he did not know what his future held, including when he would return to the US, where he lives with his wife, Yvonne, or when he would resume work.
