Sheik Taj Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly makes a statement to try to gain the release of the Australian hostage in Iraq, Douglas Wood ....
"We value your jihad and your efforts and we call upon you to do something for the sake of our community and all Australian society, which does not support (Prime Minister John) Howard's pro-American policies," he said."You know the Australian forces in Iraq are protected by American forces and don't do anything - it's all politics.
"We implore you to release him in the name of God, for the sake of the Islamic community in Australia ... and for the sake of the family of Douglas Wood."
.... only to find that his statements are criticised because they appear to give support to Wood's captor's cause.
Wood's prospects are grim, to say the least. I'm amazed that someone has to find something to bitch about when the prime aim is to try to get Wood released.
His former translator, Keysar Trad, was today critical of the use of the word jihad."I think one of the main reasons that he would have used this term is to win favour with the people holding Mr Wood captive, to show them that he understands their plight and what they're doing," Mr Trad told ABC radio.
"If this is what they think they're doing, then he's not disputing that with them but he believes that they're wrong in holding Mr Wood captive.
"Now he has used language that's not consistent with our expectations as Australians and I think he could have stopped at the first part of his statement without going this far and the message would have been just as clear."
The Mufti's views are clear and succinctly stated. A lot of Australian's would agree with the political points he makes. He's backing up his words by putting himself at risk by going to Iraq to negotiate directly with the Sunni powerbrokers. We can only wish him luck.
