Civilian contractors in Iraq dying at faster rate as insurgency grows

[Rose Siding]

snip>
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 had been killed in Iraq and another 3,963 were injured, according to Department of Labor insurance-claims statistics obtained by Knight Ridder.

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

The dead and injured come from many walks of life, drawn by money and patriotism. Some are American citizens. Most are not. They are truckers, police officers and translators. They're counted only if they were paid by companies hired by the Pentagon. Their deaths and injuries were compensated by insurance policies required by federal law.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13055180.htm

[FloridaPat]

1. Most of them are private soldiers. Normally their called mercenaries

but to be a mercenary one must be in a war for a country you don't have a passport for.

[matt819]

3. Precisely

These folks are mercenaries, pure and simple. You can attach other labels to make it sound nicer - private contractors, for example - but they are in it for the money, they carry weapons, and they kill people. That makes them mercenaries. Sorry folks, not a lot of sympathy here.

[Sandpiper]

2. "Civilian Contractors" makes them sound like construction workers

If you're a soldier for hire, you're a mercenary.

I wonder if our revolutionary war history will start referring to the Hessians as "Civilian Contractors."

[leesa]

4. So it goes. No sympathy.

[bluestateguy]

5. Kind of makes you wonder about the wisdom of going to war for profit

They should take a hint and get out of Iraq. Unlike the troops, they have a choice, and they are making a hell of a lot more money than the troops are too.

[pinniped]

6. These so-called private contractors are definitely killing people.

I saw one gunnut site getting wet over a posting titled "video of contractor sniper in Iraq."

75k of these so-called private contractors/mercs must be costing US taxpayers an insane amount of money.

[leftchick]

7. Civilian contractors in Iraq dying at faster rate as insurgency grows

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/1305...

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 - didn't register on the tally of Iraq deaths 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 had been killed in Iraq and another 3,963 were injured, according to Department of Labor insurance-claims statistics obtained by Knight Ridder.

[Vidar]

8. Good riddance.