Casualty rates triple for Iraq contractors

[Flagg]

WASHINGTON - As the nation focused last week on the 2,000th U.S. soldier who died in Iraq, Gloria Dagit of Jefferson, Iowa, got a box filled with the belongings of her son, Keven, who was killed when his convoy of trucks was ambushed in northern Iraq.

Keven Dagit's death Sept. 20 -- along with two other truckers -- wasn't included in the tally of U.S. military deaths in Iraq that are broadcast daily. That's because they were civilians working for U.S. defense contractors.

As the violence of the protracted war continues and some 75,000 civilian employees struggle to rebuild the war-torn nation and support the military, contractor casualties mount.

Their deaths have more than tripled in the past 13 months.

As of Monday, 428 civilian contractors have been killed in Iraq and 3,963 were injured, according to Department of Labor insurance-claims statistics obtained by Knight Ridder.

Those statistics, which experts said are the most comprehensive
listing available, are far from complete: Two of the biggest contractors in Iraq said their casualties are higher than the figures the Labor Department had for them.

<snip>

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/13069810.htm

[FloridaPat]

1. No wonder the unemployment in Iraq is so how. Are there any jobs for

Iraqis? Note the support of the military line there. One of the first things * did when he got in office was remove feeding of troops and moving supplies over to Haliburton. Now why would they do that if they didn't see a need to invade anyone?

[Moderator]

2. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1893529&mesg_id=1893529