Far Apart

It's disturbing to me how far apart are the Western and Arab world reports on the release/rescue of Australian hostage Douglas Wood. In theory at least, these are news organizations following the same standards of fact-finding.
The AP version:

In a dramatic raid, Iraqi and U.S. forces freed Australian hostage Douglas Wood, held by insurgents for 47 days. ... Wood, dressed in traditional Arabic garb, was found huddled beneath a blanket, and residents of the home insisted he was their ailing father. But troops, who were acting on a tip, would not be deterred.

Wood, who is married to an American woman and lives in Alamo, Calif., was haggard but smiling broadly as he gave cameras a thumbs-up during a medical checkup at a U.S. military facility.

"He has been blindfolded, handcuffed, he has not been well looked after," Australia's counterterrorism chief Nick Warner said after Wood was freed from a house in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods.

The Reuters version:

Iraqi troops found and freed an Australian held hostage in Baghdad on Wednesday, the latest of several recent successes in recovering foreign captives. ... Iraqi soldiers came across Douglas Wood, a 63-year-old U.S.-based engineer, lying tied up under a blanket as they searched a house they suspected was being used by gunmen.

Coming four days after the release of a French journalist and three weeks after Romanian reporters who were held by the same group, there was speculation that security services may be closing in on kidnap gangs -- although it appeared Wood's discovery may have owed more to chance than intelligence.

Just two hours after he was freed, Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced the news in parliament, clearly delighted at a happy outcome after Canberra had refused video demands to pull its troops out of Iraq or to pay a ransom.

"Mr Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation which I'm told was conducted by Iraqi forces, in cooperation in a general way with force elements from the United States," he said.

Australia's foreign minister and a U.S. military adviser to the Iraqi brigade which found Wood both called it a surprise.

"He was under a blanket. He was tied down and they claimed that he was their father and he was sick," Iraqi General Nasir Abadi told a news conference.

An Iraqi hostage was also found. There was little violence and three people were arrested, the U.S. military said, describing it as a raid on a suspected arms cache.

"I'm extremely happy and relieved to be free again and deeply grateful to all those who worked for my release," Wood said in a statement read out by an Australian diplomat.

But here's the Al Jazeera version that will be the only version seen in many Islamic homes:

Australia's Muslim community celebrated on Wednesday the release of the Australian hostage kidnapped in Iraq six weeks ago, thanks to the efforts of Australia’s Islamic leader Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali.

Sheikh Taj spent the past month in Iraq in negotiations aimed at securing Douglas Wood's release.

According to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the Grand Mufti knew as early as 2am (AEST) today that Wood was released.

Mr. Amjad Ali Mehboob, the council's head said he had contacted the Sheikh in Cairo.

"He said everything had been set in place for Mr. Wood's release for some time, but he was very glad Mr. Wood had been released," Mr. Mehboob said.

"The mufti risked a lot ... he is not in good health.

"He will be joining the Wood family after he has had some check-up and things."

"I am delighted to inform the house the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr. Douglas Wood, is safe from his captors," Prime Minister John Howard told the Australian parliament on Wednesday.

He added that Wood has been rescued in a military operation, but didn’t provide any details.

"Mr. Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation which I'm told was conducted by Iraqi forces, in co-operation in a general way with force elements from the United States," he said.

"He's now under the protection of the Australian emergency response team in Baghdad,"

"I understand that he is well, he's undergoing medical checks at the present time." Howard added.

The Prime Minister noted that the Australian government didn’t pay any ransom for Wood’s release.

He also hailed the efforts of the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari in securing Wood’s release. "I hope very shortly to express my thanks for the efforts of his forces," he said.

Australia’s Muslim Community, who has long complained of discrimination, specially after September 11 attacks in the United States, believe that Wood’s release will give it a much needed boost.

Sheikh Taj will return to a hero's welcome in Australia following Wood's release, Mr. Mehboob said.

"He has single-handedly as an individual put in a lot of effort to keep him alive," Mr. Mehboob said.

"People have said a lot of good things about what he has done."

Also Foreign Minister Alexander Downer paid tribute to the Sheikh’s efforts to release Wood.

"He has made an enormous effort, the Mufti, and real credit should be given to him for the effort that he made and the risks that he took including his own security in assisting the team's efforts to try to get Douglas Wood released.

Mr. Downer said that Australia's Islamic community also deserved praise.

"That's one of the assets we have as a multicultural country, that people all came together as `Team Australia' and they brought their different strengths and so we appreciate it very much the contribution Sheikh Alhilali and more generally the Australian Islamic Community made."

Sheikh Alhilali met with Mr. Wood’s brother on May 9 when he started his mercy mission to Iraq, taking with him an offer of a generous charitable donation to the Iraqi people from Wood’s family.

Wood, a 64-year-old engineer and resident of California, was kidnapped in late April.

His kidnappers initially demanded Australia to withdraw its forces from Iraq or else they would execute Wood.

The Australian government had refused to meet the captors’ demands and sent an emergency response team to Baghdad to seek his release.

Story by story, sentence by sentence, the cracks in the world grow wider. The prose of journalism stacks up like sediment, and the human continents drift away from one another. We no longer inhabit the same history.

And sad as this is, I'm actually inclined to give some credence to the Al Jazeera story. Something doesn't quite add up in the Western versions. Troops were susprised to find him there? But they were acting on a tip? On the one hand, it seems within the realm of possibility to me that the man's captors tipped off the authorities where he was being held, and let some low-level insurgents, possibly unreliable or suspected ones, take the fall in his capture. More plausible, perhaps, than believing that such a high-profile commodity was left in the hands of a couple of knuckleheads.

And the timing of all this is too wonderful for the Iraqi security forces, who desperately need a morale and public relations boost after weeks of being hammered by suicide bombers and derided in the Western press as incompetent. And, alas, as the Pat Tillman fiasco shows, the U.S. military's PR branch is not above playing up the right angle of a story at the expense of the complete picture.

Here's hoping I'm wrong.