Tuesday, June 21, 2005
CLIPPING FAILURE REGRETTED
Editorial in The Australian:
It is easy to see why the story of Mr Wood and his family stands as an outrage against decency to those who see the US and its allies, not Islamist terrorism, as the greatest threat to world peace and order. Malcolm and Vernon Wood have been absolutely steadfast in their support for their brother, but have resisted any temptation to tell his kidnappers what they wanted to hear by criticising the Australian Government or demanding the withdrawal of Australian or US troops. But Mr Wood’s own comments since his release have been far worse news for people such as Greens senator Kerry Nettle, who tried to exploit his predicament to increase opposition to the US and Australian “occupation” of Iraq. “God bless America” was Mr Wood’s first public comment after his rescue. At Melbourne airport early yesterday he used the circumstances of his rescue as evidence the effort to train up an indigenous Iraqi army is slowly succeeding, and apologised - unnecessarily - for pleading for the removal of Australian troops as a way of buying himself time in captivity. And Mr Wood had an accurate term to describe the torturing thugs whom many on the Left continue to insist upon calling “resistance fighters”. He said his captors were “arseholes”.
A mild description. The University of Sydney’s Glenn Condell, however, prefers to so describe Wood himself:
Douglas Wood seems a right arsehole.
Ten Douglas Woods aren’t worth just one innocent Iraqi child murdered by the shock and awe designed to make Iraq safe for the Woods of this world, the bignoting skimmers and main chancers and spivs, profiteering from the exploitation of an expendable population, the ‘untermenschen.’
I’ll bet his captors regret not clipping him when they had the chance.
Glenn sounds like he’d have happily pulled the trigger himself. He’s come to our attention before.