Group's motives set limits for talks By Mark Forbes Foreign affairs correspondent Canberra May 5, 2005 The AGE Australian negotiators needed to open lines of communication with the kidnappers of Douglas Wood, but the televised pleas of his family and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will not be productive, terrorism experts believe. Despite government pronouncements that it would not give in to terrorists, pay ransoms or agree to withdraw troops from Iraq, officials are trying to find out if any deal can be reached. The emergency response team in Baghdad is gathering intelligence on the Shura Council of the Mujahideen of Iraq to identify its motives in holding Mr Wood, government sources confirmed. Clive Williams, director of terrorism studies at the Australian National University, said the team was trying to establish contact with Iraqis close to the group. "At this stage it's a fact-finding situation," he said. "It's a matter of finding out what the group really wants. "The al-Jazeera (television) pleas are intended to buy time and show the Government takes it seriously. But I don't know of any case where people have been released because of appeals from their families." David Wright-Neville, co-convener of Monash University's global terrorism unit, said the response team had to calibrate its response to the kidnappers' motivations. "As it appears to be a religiously motivated group, they are going to be very difficult to negotiate with. They are not interested in a solution, they see a hostage as a tool." The group wanted to embarrass the Australian Government, Dr Wright-Neville said. They would hold Mr Wood while these objectives were being met, then decide to release or kill him. Paul Jordan, a former SAS soldier and security consultant with leading security firm AKE, said negotiators needed to keep lines of communication open. He said an offer to close Mr Wood's construction firm and leave Iraq could have appeal. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
