Graphic: comparison of size of armed forces in Afghanistan, 2006 to present

[Bucky]

[avaistheone1]

1. -So this war is costing us both arms and both legs because we are primarily paying mercenaries

like Blackwater to fight it.

[Bucky]

4. The mercs are about 5-6% of the armed Western forces there. Too many, but not the major cost

The real cost boosters are still going to be in the defense and reconstruction contractors, not the security contractors. Blackwater, or as they've renamed themselves "Zima" (or something like that), are the most offensive element in the war for profits business in part because of the implied insult to our professional troops over there. But the biggest profits are still going to KBR and Halliburton.

[defendandprotect]

2. kick

[arcadian]

3. Kind of looks like a Mickey Mouse operation.