taking. An Australian hostage flanked by masked gunmen pleaded for his life in a tape released on Sunday. He was the latest of more than 150 foreigners taken captive in Iraq over the past year -- alongside thousands of Iraqis kidnapped for ransom. On the video, a man identifying himself as Douglas Wood, a 63-year-old Australian who lives in California, appealed to the United States, Britain and Australia to pull their troops out of Iraq so that his life would be spared. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would send an emergency response team to Iraq to try to free the hostage, but would not withdraw his country's troops. "We can't have the foreign policy of this country dictated by terrorists, but we have got to do everything we can, nonetheless, to assist this poor man," he said. --More 2335 Local Time 2035 GMT
