For those of us who've worked in dangerous places, we can only say "Thank goodness that's over! "
Wood thought his captors would kill him
09:24 AEST Mon Jun 20 2005 AAP
Freed Australian hostage Douglas Wood has branded his captors "a***holes" and has apologised for his plea for Australia to pull its troops out of Iraq.
The 63-year-old engineer touched down in Melbourne less than a week after his 47-day hostage ordeal ended when Iraqi and US forces rescued him from a house in Baghdad.
Mr Wood, who arrived with his wife Yvonne Given on a flight from Dubai, was reunited with family at Melbourne airport before revealing details about his time in captivity.
He told reporters he did not know what group his captors were associated with, and admitted there were times he thought he would be killed.
"I didn't know whether it was al-Qaeda or who it was. I didn't know ... obviously, my head is intact, so it wasn't al-Qaeda," he said.
He said he tried to remain upbeat and "keep laughing" during the crisis.
"I love my family, and I knew that they would be doing everything they could," he said, his wife and his brothers Vernon and Malcolm and their wives by his side.
He said he had not heard of the Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali, during his captivity but learned of the Muslim cleric's efforts to secure his release after he was freed.
Asked if his captors had ever mentioned the mufti, Mr Wood replied: "No."
Mr Wood apologised to Prime Minister John Howard and US President George W Bush for comments he made while being held hostage about their involvement in the war on Iraq.
Those comments were made under duress, he said.
"I actually believe that I am proof positive that the current policy of training the Iraqi army... works because it was Iraqis that got me out," he said.
Mr Wood described the moments before he was rescued as "a bit tense" until "I fully worked out it was the Iraqi army (who) were my releasers, rather than another pack of captors."
He said he was held in two different houses, and remembers being moved from one to the other about 10 days into his ordeal.
Carrying a broad smile and a slight limp, an elated Mr Wood said it was "bloody good" to be back in Australia and reunited with his family.
Asked if he was feeling fragile, he said: "Not especially. I've got some physical ailments and I've been deprived of medication for a bit".
Certain aspects of his ordeal were still too traumatic to discuss, Mr Wood said, but he was clearly overjoyed to be on home soil, entering Monday's press conference singing Waltzing Matilda.
Mr Wood said he might one day go back to Iraq to pursue business opportunities, despite what had happened.
However his brothers were trying to persuade him not to return.
"I will listen very seriously to my brothers," Mr Wood said.
"If I went back, I'd be changing some behaviour."
Mr Wood said the hostage crisis had brought his family closer together and revealed their "very deep, strong, loving bond".
Yvonne Given said the past seven weeks had been an emotional roller coaster ride, but she never lost faith her husband would return.
"I'm so excited and so happy. I'm very grateful to the Australian government and the Iraqis and US government," she said.
Mr Wood denied signing an exclusive deal to tell his story and dismissed speculation of product endorsements following his release.
"I want to relax, enjoy myself and get myself back together," he said.
Mr Wood offered a sentence of advice to Australians considering working in war-torn Baghdad.
"Stay in the green zone," he said, of the heavily fortified central city area.
©AAP 2005