At the Stockholm Spectator blog, Billy McCormac has more on the story of Ulf Hjertström, the Swedish ex-hostage who has hired bounty hunters to track down the holy warriors who kidnapped him: Two down …

Hjertström, an oil broker whose career took him to Iraq 25 years ago, makes no bones about the decision to exact revenge on his abductors. “I’ve lived [in Iraq] for a long time. This is how things are done there. It’s nothing new to me,” he says.

Hearty Hjertström “doesn’t want to go into detail” about the bounty hunters, but assures Expressen that they are “the best money can buy.”

“They’re not twiddling their thumbs,” declares Hjertström, revealing that he has “received confirmation that two of [the kidnappers] have already been taken care of.” When asked to elaborate on the fate of the purportedly captured men, the Swede says he “hasn’t inquired” but has his “suspicions.”

Many in Sweden have expressed shock and dismay at Hjertström’s eye-for-an-eye approach. But the plucky pensioner claims that revenge is not his primary motive. “I just want the people of Baghdad to feel safe on the streets.”