HILALI'S ROLE IN WOOD'S FREEDOM FROM CAPTIVITY

The exact circumstances of Douglas Wood's freedom from captivity are still unclear. The best evidence indicates he was rescued but it could eventually emerge that he was released. Based on what's known at this time, however, it appears Australian Sheikh Taj El Din al-Hilali deserves credit for nothing more than becoming involved.

Tim Blair's timeline is a useful starting point for researching Hilali's contribution. According to Blair's timeline:

June 3 Back in Iraq, Sheikh al-Hilali calls on Wood’s captors to release him—and for coalition forces to leave Iraq, and detainees to be freed from military prisons.

June 3 “We hope, God willing, that within the next few hours to hear the news of the hostage’s release,” says al-Hilali after attending a Baghdad mosque. In Sydney, Trad reports that the Sheikh has learned Wood was recently moved to a safer location, but could not be released because of ongoing fighting.

June 5 The Sheikh meets Douglas Wood, according to the Federation of Islamic Councils’ Ikebal Patel: “He said to me: ‘I’ve seen him eye to eye’, those were the words he used, eye to eye, it was Douglas.”

June 6 Patel explains why Wood remains in captivity: “The mufti is finding it more and more difficult that on the one hand he is negotiating with people for the good of a person and representing Australia, and Australian soldiers have behaved very admirably, but the information he’s giving is that the Americans aren’t giving any respect to the grass roots Iraqis and therefore the negotiations have bogged down because he has pleaded that people should be treated with respect in Iraq and that is not happening.” The Sheikh himself tells AP television: “I swear that Mr Douglas Wood is still alive and (is in) honest hands and with people who have an issue.”

June 6 Sheikh al-Hilali tells AP that he hasn’t physically met Wood: “I have seen a recent CD video lasting 12 to 15 minutes where Wood is alive and good and in honest hands. He looked normal and said ‘I am OK, I am fine’ and that he needs help from his family and the government.” The Sheikh adds: “God willing, Mr Douglas will be free in a short time.”

There are several problems with the above. First, Hilali claims on June 5 to have seen Wood in the flesh but on June 6 contradicts himself by saying that he had only seen a video of Wood. This makes everything Hilali says after June 6 difficult to believe.

There's also the little matter of Hilali demanding on June 3, on the behalf of Wood's abductors, that all coalition forces withdraw from Iraq as a condition for his release. This was modified on June 6 to an apparent request from the abductors that coalition forces treat Iraqi's with "respect". The demand for withdrawal has obviously not been met. As for the request for more respectful treatment, as far as I'm aware, the abductors have not claimed to have achieved this goal either. A cynic might conclude that Hilali was doing nothing more than creating Wood release wiggle room for himself.

For Wood's abductors to kidnap and hold him for a prolonged period and then release him without being able to claim to have advanced their cause is to admit defeat. It therefore seems highly unlikely that he was released. Nonetheless, a Hilali spokesman initially claimed credit for Wood's release:

GEORGE NEGUS: So he knew where people would go?

KEYSAR TRAD: This is what the mufti had communicated to me at 7.30 this evening, that a release site had been communicated and somebody had to go in there and make sure that the hostage could be picked up safely.

GEORGE NEGUS: So you are saying that there is no discrepancy, for that to happen there had to be military security involved, as distinct from a shootout?

KEYSAR TRAD: That's correct. If there had been a shootout, then you would hear that there were casualties, people dead on both sides. If there had been a shootout then the likelihood of a safe release or a safe extraction of the hostage would have been reduced dramatically.

But, apparently there was a shootout:

Laughing and in apparent good health ahead of medical and psychological tests that are still to be carried out, Mr Wood said he had been surprised and "a bit scared" by the events leading up to his release.

"I wasn't sure what was happening," he said. "The first thing is there was a bit of shooting outside, then they came and covered me over with a blanket.

"And then there was still a lot of yelling and screaming. And then a gun; they actually fired inside the room. That was a bit scary. I heard my fellow patient — or whatever he was — still alive and I'm still alive."

This further undermines Hilali's release claims.

The Prime Minister thanked Hilali for his efforts but did not credit his contribution:

"I also place on record my appreciation for the efforts of the Australian Islamic community and of Sheikh Taj Alhilali."

According to The Age:

But Mr Howard indicated the mufti had no major role in Mr Wood's release.

"I think it's fair to say that on my information the release was achieved by this military operation," he said.

The Foreign Minister also thanked Hilali and the Muslim community but emphasised that it was a rescue, not a release:

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Sheikh Al Hilali's spokesman Keysar Trad says that Mr Wood's rescue operation was the final stage of a pre-arranged deal for his safe release, that the location of his release in Ramadi was communicated to authorities – all that was need was for him to be picked up and transported safely. Is that how you understand it?

ALEXANDER DOWNER: Well, let me just say to start with that we appreciate enormously the contribution that Sheikh Hilali and the Australian Islamic community have made, and this has been a real Team Australia effort and everybody deserves tremendous credit for this, right across the board. Everyone's done a great job.

Secondly, Douglas Wood was picked up in a suburb called Ghazalia in Baghdad by the Second Battalion of the Iraqi Army, and the house that he was in was raided as a result of a tip off that had been received from an intelligence source.

And during the raid there was some exchange of fire – no one was killed. But there was also another Iraqi hostage who was there who was released. And two of the insurgents were detained.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: So were authorities, though, tipped off as to where Douglas Wood was?

ALEXANDER DOWNER: Yes they were, yes. There was an intelligence tip off.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: And an understanding that he should be picked up from somewhere near there or there?

ALEXANDER DOWNER: No, there was a tip off that he was at this building. As I understand it, the Iraqi Army with some support from the Americans, went to this building – there was some exchange of fire when the soldiers wanted to go into a particular part of the building which is the part of the building where Douglas Wood and an Iraqi hostage were being held.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: So you don't accept that it was a pre-arranged deal for his release?

ALEXANDER DOWNER: Well look, I'm not getting into who arranged or didn't arrange things, and who did this and who did that. All I can just do is tell you the facts as they've been translated to me by Nick Warner and by our team on the ground there and I just want to take the opportunity of saying that that team, and I think all of us, should also be very grateful for the work that Sheikh Hilali has done.

Despite it being apparent that all evidence indicated Wood was rescued as a result of military operations, the ABC manages an extraordinary feat of reporting foot work:

ELEANOR HALL: As we've been hearing, Douglas Wood was recovered as part of a joint Iraqi and US military operation targeting insurgent hideouts in Baghdad.

Prime Minister John Howard says it "hasn't happened very often that somebody has been rescued in this fashion." So was it a matter of luck or skill or a combination of both that secured Mr Wood's release?

Tanya Nolan explores how Mr Wood came out of his hostage saga alive, when many others have not.

TANYA NOLAN: Douglas Wood is certainly a lucky man.

DOUGLAS WOOD: I wasn't sure what was happening. First thing is there was a bit of shooting outside. Then they came and covered me over with a blanket. They ripped off my… put a blanket over me. And then there was still a lot of yelling and screaming.

TANYA NOLAN: A lot of effort went into securing his release.

The Federal Government dispatched a team to Baghdad, the Foreign Minister appeared on Arabic television to appeal for his release, the Wood family set up a website to promote his plight and the Australian Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj El Din Al Hilali travelled to Iraq to personally intervene in the case.

But despite all this, Paul Jordan, the Operations Director for the security risk firm AKE International believes it was largely a matter of luck that secured Douglas Wood's release

PAUL JORDAN: The purpose of that operation led by the US military and the Iraqi police, Iraqi military, it is to capture insurgents. And as a result, they've come across Douglas Wood in one of those houses.

TANYA NOLAN: It was a stroke of luck that they just happened to get tipped off?

PAUL JORDAN: I think so.

TANYA NOLAN: Paul Jordan says while the Australian Government spent extraordinary time and effort on the case, it was no more than other countries have done for their hostages.

PAUL JORDAN: The difference is that the other governments didn't advertise it quite so readily I think, as the Australian Government in that they broadcast and let everybody know that there was a team heading over to Iraq to try and effect a release.

TANYA NOLAN: The details of why Mr Wood was freed remain sketchy.

Sheikh Hilali hints that some sort of deal was made acceptable to all parties, but Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is emphatic that no ransom was paid.

Until I see the evidence that Hilali had anything to do with keeping Wood alive or securing his release I'll continue to maintain Hilali's activities were nothing more than self-promotion. Regardless, I'm elated that Wood is free and apparently healthy and in good spirits. He's a very lucky man.