CANBERRA, May 2 (Xinhuanet) -- An Australian emergency response team is being sent to Iraq in an

A videotape shows a man who identifies himself as Douglas Wood.

effort to secure the release of an Australian hostage Monday as Australian leaders insisted that Australia won't give in to the kidnappers.

    Sixty-three-year-old Douglas Wood, an Australian citizen who has been living in the United States since 1992, has been taken hostage while working as a contractor with the US military in the war-torn Middle East country.

    In a video message delivered to news agencies earlier in the day, Wood pleaded for his life on the tape and begged for withdrawal of US, Australian and British troops from Iraq.

    The video tape has the words the Shura Council of the Mujahedden of Iraq, which has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on US soldiers and Iraqi forces and another kidnapping,burned into the top left-hand corner.

    Wood's wife, who is a US citizen, has said she had seen the video and the man was definitely her husband.

    Wood is the second Australian to be kidnapped in Iraq after an Australian journalist was seized in Baghdad and held for about 24 hours before being freed last October.

    Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said a task force comprising federal police, negotiators and defense personnel is heading to Iraq and will do whatever it can to seek the hostage's release.

    But Australian Prime Minister John Howard insisted that Australia won't give in to the kidnappers, saying "Everybody knowsthe position of the Australian government in relation to hostage demands."

    "We'll continue to do all we can consistent with our position on not giving in to hostage-takers and we can't alter that position and we won't alter that position," he said.

    "We can't have the foreign policy of this country dictated by terrorists," he said.

    Meanwhile, Australian federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley echoed Howard's stance, saying Australia should never give in to terrorists.

    "It doesn't matter what the circumstances are that provokes thesituation, that's not how you make policy," he said.

    Roger Noble, commander of the latest Australian contingent in Iraq's southern province of Al Muthanna protecting Japanese engineers, said his troops remained committed to their work despite Wood's kidnapping.

    "In terms of the politics of what a terror organization is going to do and its relationship with the government, we can't stop what we are doing or waver in our commitment," he said.

    Wood's brother Malcolm, who lives in Canberra, released a statement on behalf of his family, saying the family is extremely concerned about Wood's situation but trust the Australian government will do all it can to seek his release.

    Australia, a staunch ally of the United States on the war of Iraq, sent 2,000-strong troops to join the US-led "coalition of the willing" in March 2003. It had maintained about 900 military personnel in the Middle East before the extra 450 troops were deployed in Iraq last month. Enditem