Still no count of U.S. contractors in Afghanistan

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page<-> Text <+> * No firm count of contractors in Afghanistan

* Lack of data creates questions about oversight

* U.S. official calls for funding, new regulations

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. government does not know exactly how many contractors it employs in Afghanistan, a U.S. commission said on Monday, raising basic questions about oversight of wartime operations.

Contractors in Afghanistan outnumber U.S. troops there and scandals involving misconduct by employees of private firms on the U.S. payroll in Afghanistan and Iraq have prompted calls by Congress for greater accountability.

The Commission on Wartime Contracting, a bipartisan, independent commission mandated by Congress, presented data at a hearing showing major discrepancies in different accounting methods used to determine the number of U.S. contractors.

A traditional manual count by the U.S. military's Central Command turned up nearly 74,000 U.S. Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan as of June 30 -- more than twice the number shown in another survey by the Pentagon.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN02467578

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[joeycola]

2. 74,000 U.S. Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan as of June 30 ........

whow. just whow.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

9. SO MUCH PROFIT IN DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

REIGN IN THE PENTAGON

[placton]

3. dont't sweat it

Obama will take care of all of this for us

[edc]

7. Right!

And I'm certain that when these "contractors" make "contributions" with taxpayers money from war profits to the political parties and to members of congress that their message is how desirous they are to end this endless quagmire of a profitable war.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. What number of contractors is acceptable over there? n/t

[msongs]

5. draft all contractors and pay them GI wages including the corporate thief CEO's nt

[sattahipdeep]

6. Like Kids in a Candy Shop

[sattahipdeep]

8. Shays & Motsek

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/11/02/HP/A/24979/Commission+on+Wartime+Contracting+Hearing.aspx

01:31:00 / 01:54:00

[HowHasItComeToThis]

10. THANKS FOR THE LINK

[sattahipdeep]

12. Sherry Rehman’s question

While replying to Sherry Rehman’s question on
the presence of private security guards, Clinton promised that they
should abide the law of land and assured that she would take up
this issue.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=25291

YW

[spanza]

11. Afghanistan is a dollar cake

Seen it with my own eyes. Zero accountability.

Just crazy!

"It's going to take one tragedy and there's going to be a scorched-earth effort looking for accountability"

[Mari333]

13. They are MERCENARIES

lets call them by their real name.
and thats your tax dollars in the toilet, folks. but, of course, we cant have a public option..we have to pay the mercenaries.

[TexasObserver]

14. K& too late to Recommend.

These private armies are unAmerican.