The family of an Australian man taken hostage in Iraq has started a blog. The Douglas Wood Family Website makes an appeal to Wood's captors to release him and is written in both English and Arabic. The site appears to use a standard blogger template.

It's an interesting approach to helping free Mr. Wood. Let's hope it works.

The family has announced that it has made a 'large charitable contribution to the people of Iraq' in an effort to free Douglas Wood. I'm not sure whether that is a veiled way of saying they paid ransom or if the family expects Wood's captors to view him more favorably because of it. It seems a bit out of touch with reality, though.

There are two types of hostage takers in Iraq. First are terror groups. They care about using the hostage situation only in so far as it serves their propaganda needs. Second are criminal gangs. They care about using the hostage situation only in so far as it seves their financial needs. In neither case would a charitable donation mean anything.

We hope and pray for Mr. Wood's quick release, his good health, and that his captors meet a swift and violent death.

Posted by: Rusty at 09:06 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 217 words, total size 2 kb.