From the Washington Post, this lede to a story:
There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the military's first census of the growing population of civilians operating in the battlefield.
DynaCorp International, Blackwater USA, L-3 Communications, and Kellogg, Brown & Root all figure prominently in this total.
But it's a pretty safe deal for them, isn't it Spotty?
Not exactly grasshopper:
About 650 contractors have died in Iraq since 2003, according to Labor Department statistics.
We know that service members are injured--many of them seriously--at a much higher rate than are killed. If we assume the same ratio applies to contractors--and Spot does not know if this assumption is a good one--there are several thousand injured contractors, too.
It's just something to keep in mind when totaling up the blood and treasure account.
Link to Census Counts 100,000 Contractors in Iraq - washingtonpost.com
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