Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/index.html?siteSect=142

U.S. civilian contractor said kidnapped in Iraq

By Aref Mohammed

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - An American civilian contractor and two Iraqi translators have been taken hostage near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Iraqi officials in Basra said on Friday.

British military spokesman Captain Ollie Pile confirmed a foreign contractor had been seized, but said he could give no further details and could not confirm that two translators had also been kidnapped.

U.S. embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said he was aware of the reports. "We are currently in the process of determining the status and welfare of the American citizen," he said.

Basra Governor Mohammad al-Waili told Arabiya television the civilian contractor kidnapped was an American citizen of Iraqi origin, and that gunmen had seized him along with two Iraqis on Friday.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Singalong time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeB9HY4cIaQ

The contractor was kidnapped because he was there - it's called cause and effect. If he hadn't gone out there it couldn't have happened.