I posted previously about my support of American Security Contractors in Iraq and elsewhere in the service of our country, now comes the story of those working for Crescent Security Group, kidnapped at a fake checkpoint.

A couple of interesting points; The gunmen that ambushed the convoy wore brand new, hard-to-duplicate Iraqi police uniforms that were issued last month.

Photo Credit: NABIL AL JURANI / AP
British soldiers patrol Friday in Zubair, Iraq, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. Five contractors, including four Americans, were abducted Thursday outside the nearby town of Safwan.

That’s the reason they stopped; it appeared genuine. It was not. The checkpoint they were stopped at was set up along the main highway north from Kuwait, known as MSR Tampa by military guys. The gunmen took 19 of the 43 trailers and 14 total hostages; 9 of them were Asian and were released, but they kept the Westerners.

A Quick Reaction Force and air assets were sent to help look for those still missing, and the search is still under way.

What we know right now: It is alleged that 1 (the Austrian) was found dead, 1 was discovered gravely injured, and 3 are still missing. One Brit and one Chilean were discovered unhurt by the U.S. military, bound and kneeling by the side of the road.

However, there are conflicting reports because this incident happened Thursday, and there was another one on Friday involving the British where one man was killed via a drive by shooting.

In Washington, a State Department official said reports that one of the contractors had been wounded Friday were probably the result of officials conflating two separate attacks.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity when discussing unconfirmed information, said U.S. officials were unsure what had happened but believed the wounded contractor was with a different company and involved in a separate attack. “We are trying to find out exactly what happened,” the official said. “It is a very fluid situation.”

I have been contacted by friends and family who would like to know of any news. The media have discovered the identity of one of the contractors who went missing, Paul Reuben, a former St. Louis Park, Minn., police officer.

The Austrian hostage’s body was brought to a morgue in Basra, the wounded American (identity unknown) was taken there so he could be transferred to a British military hospital.

Luckily, if my understanding of this is correct, hostages taken in Southern Iraq are more likely to be released unharmed than those taken in Northern Iraq.

As an aside, you will recall Kos kid Markos Moulitsas Zúniga saying of the contractors who were dragged through the streets in Fallujah, “Screw Them.” So much for the ‘tolerant’ ‘all-you-need-is-love’ ‘liberals’ and their love for their countrymen.