What the Hell is Going On in Iraq

AP reports on the contractor kidnappings near the Kuwaiti border. Confusion reigns, especially because of this:

Only hours earlier, Basra Gov. Mohammed al-Waili said two of the kidnap victims had been freed and one of the five was found dead near the Sunni-majority city of Safwan. He gave no nationalities.

Al-Moussawi said the governor’s confusion arose out of a second incident, this one on Friday in the same area, in which a convoy led by a different private security company was stopped by customs police.

This more than implies that more than one kidnapping of security contractors is going on. What do these security contractors in southern Iraq do, anyway, you might ask?

They protect the only supply line to all US personnel in the country of Iraq.