Iraq contractors outnumber troops

The Baltimore Sun

The number of U.S.-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds that of American combat troops, new figures show, raising fresh questions about the privatization of the war and the government's capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.

More than 180,000 civilians - Americans, Iraqis and others - are working in Iraq under U.S. contracts, according to State and Defense department figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Including the recent troop buildup, 160,000 soldiers and a few thousand civilian government employees are stationed in Iraq.

The total number of private contractors, far higher than previously reported, shows how heavily the Bush administration has relied on private corporations to carry out the occupation of Iraq - a mission criticized as being undermanned.

"These numbers are big," said Peter Singer, a Brookings Institution scholar who has written on military contracting. "They illustrate better than anything that we went in without enough troops."

The numbers include at least 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis - all employed in Iraq by U.S. tax dollars, according to the most recent government data.

And private security contractors, who protect government officials and buildings, were not fully counted in the survey.

Continuing uncertainty over the numbers of armed contractors drew criticism from experts.

"We don't have control of all the coalition guns in Iraq. That's dangerous for our country," said William Nash, a retired Army general and reconstruction expert.

Military officials say contractors cut costs while allowing troops to focus on fighting wars rather than on other tasks. Contractors perform functions including construction, private security and weapons system maintenance.

"The only reason we have contractors is to support the war fighter," said Gary Motsek, the assistant deputy undersecretary of defense who oversees contractors.

But critics worry that troops and their missions could be jeopardized if contractors, working outside the military's command, refuse to make deliveries of vital supplies under fire.

T. Christian Miller writes for the Los Angeles Times.

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