to-house search for weapons. "The precise story never finally emerges for a little while, and not because people are being deceptive, it's just that you get conflicting reports," Prime Minister John Howard was quoted by dpa as saying. "He was certainly rescued as the result of a military operation. Whether it was a military operation inspired by particular intelligence or a military operation carried out in the normal event, as a security sweep of a neighbourhood known to have insurgents, it's still a military operation," the prime minister said. Howard said Wood, an expatriate for 40 years who lives in California with his American wife, was an exception to the rule that most hostages in Iraq are killed. "Mr. Wood must have a guardian angel - he's very lucky," he said. Howard was careful not to directly contradict an account by Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali, the Egyptian-born self-styled leader of Australia's Moslems, who spent a month in Baghdad pleading with Wood's captors. --More 1333 Local Time 1033 GMT
