A shallow grave has turned up what appears to be the body of Westerners. In the past these reports have sometimes turned out to be wrong.

The reporter makes a few mistakes when listing the hostages and the inference that the could belong to any one of them. For instance, 'Sadeq Mohamed Sadeq' is likely 'Dean Sadek' as he is an immigrant and 'Dean' is probably his 'American' name. Also, we know the bodies can't be those of either Sadek or Roy Hallums since the grave was allegedly first found in September.

A video showing Dean Sadek was released last November on al Jazeera and Roy Hallums was not taken hostage until November of last year. Since we know Roy's family checks in with us from time to time this will be reassuring for them to hear.

Neither would the body likely be that of Army Pfc. Keith Maupin as the remains are described as wearing civilian clothes.

Interestingly, the report mentions one hostage that we have not heard about before Kirk von Ackermann, a contractor. Newhouse:

A series of shallow graves found in southern Iraq over the weekend appeared to contain the remains of four Western civilians, a spokesman for the National Guard said this week.

The victims appeared to have been executed, said Oregon Guard Maj. Arnold Strong.

"They found a polo shirt that had eight bullet holes in the back and lots of bloodstains," Strong said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Taji Camp, a U.S. Army base north of Baghdad.....

But the soldiers who found them believe they were from Western countries, Strong said, based on the condition of the teeth and on the clothing, including the polo shirt and Levi's 501 jeans.

An Iraqi informant alerted the U.S. military to the location of the remains. The informant claimed to have seen the bodies in September in "fresher condition" and believed they either were American or British based on their clothing and hair color, Strong said.

If so, this would be a stunning find. Seven Americans and a handful of civilians from other Western countries appear on lists of missing foreigners in Iraq.

Among those reported missing are Army Pfc. Keith Maupin; Timothy Bell, a contract employee with Halliburton; Dean Sadek, a manager at the Baghdad airport; Roy Hallum, a contractor who was working for a Saudi firm; Sadeq Mohammed Sadeq, a Lebanese-American contractor; Aban Elias, an Iraqi-American engineer; and Kirk von Ackermann, a contractor.

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