According to this There are 100,000 "Contractors" Working with the US!

[leftchick]

A private security contractor sits in the door of a helicopter as it patrols the skies over Baghdad February 6, 2005. An unprecedented lawsuit stemming from the gruesome killing of four American civilians in Iraq is slowly making its way through the U.S. legal system, closely watched by companies estimated to field up to 100,000 contractors alongside the U.S. military. (Bob Strong/Reuters)

100,000??? I have read 20 - 30,000 before but 100,000?? O M G.... That is a LOT of Tax payer $$$!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. Correction. they PAY for 100k, doesn't 100K are working.

Remember, Haliburton has its fingers in this, so the numbers are bound to be - ahem - unique.

[BrotherBuzz]

10. Yep, 100k on the payroll, but that doesn't mean they are all in Iraq

Dark Armies, Secret Bases, and Rummy

by Conn Hallinan


November 24, 2005

Foreign Policy In Focus - 2005-11-21



It would be easy to make fun of President Bush's recent fiasco at the 4th Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. His grand plan for a free trade zone reaching from the Artic Circle to Tierra del Fuego was soundly rejected by nations fed up with the economic and social chaos wrought by neoliberalism. At a press conference, South American journalists asked him rude questions about Karl Rove. And the President ended the whole debacle by uttering what may be the most trenchant observation the man has ever made on Latin America: “Wow! Brazil is big!”


But there is nothing amusing about an enormous U.S. base less than 120 miles from the Bolivian border, or the explosive growth of U.S.-financed mercenary armies that are doing everything from training the military in Paraguay and Ecuador to calling in air attacks against guerillas in Colombia. Indeed, it is feeling a little like the run up to the ‘60s and ‘70s, when Washington-sponsored military dictatorships dominated most of the continent, and dark armies ruled the night.


U.S. Special Forces began arriving this past summer at Paraguay's Mariscal Estigarribia air base, a sprawling complex built in 1982 during the reign of dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Argentinean journalists who got a peek at the place say the airfield can handle B-52 bombers and Galaxy C-5 cargo planes. It also has a huge radar system, vast hangers, and can house up to 16,000 troops. The air base is larger than the international airport at the capital city, Asuncion .


Some 500 special forces arrived July 1 for a three-month counterterrorism training exercise, code named Operation Commando Force 6.

<snip>

The base is crawling with U.S. civilians—many of them retired military—working for Military Professional Resources Inc., Virginia Electronics, DynCorp, Lockheed Martin (the world's largest arms maker), Northrop Grumman, TRW, and dozens of others.


It was U.S. intelligence agents working out of Manta who fingered Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia leader Ricardo Palmera last year, and several leaders of the U.S.-supported coup against Haitian President Bertram Aristide spent several months there before launching the 2004 coup that exiled Aristide to South Africa.


“Privatizing” war is not only the logical extension of the Bush administration's mania for contracting everything out to the private sector; it also shields the White House's activities from the U.S. Congress. “My complaint about the use of private contractors,” says U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsy (D-IL), “is their ability to fly under the radar to avoid accountability.”

<More>

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=HAL20051124&articleId=1322

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Is that a shovel.... he has there, I thought contractors did ya know

construction and building and pipes, wires, walls the usual.... this one looks "different".

[Octafish]

3. 100,000 in mercs.

That's a lot of human capital, death squad style.

[leftchick]

5. 100,000 killing Iraqis daily

damn. :(

[Octafish]

7. Did you see the film? They BRAG as they kill motorists...

The story and links to the video...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20051204&articleId=1402

This is not America.

[leftchick]

9. yes I did see it

sick mutherfuckers all!

[global1]

4. Any Death Toll On The Contractors?...... nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. PBS link

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/faqs/

MORE AT LINK:


>>Update: In November 2005, Knight Ridder obtained insurance-claim statistics from the Department of Labor and reported 428 civilian contractor deaths and 3,963 other casualties. However, the story quoted two companies -- Halliburton and L-3 Communications -- as saying their casualty figures were higher than those reported by the Labor Department for their companies.<<

How many private security firms are working in Iraq?

No one knows the exact number of private security contractors that rushed into Iraq following the war. In April 2004, in response to a request from Congress, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) compiled a list of 60 different firms employing a total of 20,000 personnel (including U.S. citizens, Iraqis and third-country nationals).

Before handing over power to the newly elected Iraqi government in January 2005, the CPA established "Memorandum 17," a notice that called for all private security companies operating in Iraq to register by June 1 and established an oversight committee led by Iraq's Ministry of the Interior.

According to Lawrence Peter, a former CPA official and the director of the Private Security Company Association of Iraq, as of June 21, 2005, 37 security contractors have registered with the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior. One is awaiting approval, and at least 18 additional security companies are in the process of registering.

[LSK]

8. this has been talked about on Randi's show a lot

Also I think one of those companies is suing her about it.