Labor Dept: 1,001 contractors have died in Iraq

[sabra]

Source: Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON — More than 1,000 civilian contractors have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion more than four years ago, according to Labor Department records made available Tuesday.

In response to a request from Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., the Labor Department revealed that 1,001 civilian contractors had died in Iraq as of June 30, including 84 during the second quarter of the year.

So far in 2007, at least 231 contractors working for U.S. firms have died in Iraq.

Those contractor fatalities are in addition to the 3,668 military personnel the Defense Department had confirmed dead in Iraq from the start of the war in March 2003 until today.

"We are not getting the full picture" of the cost of the war in Iraq, Schakowsky said in a recent interview.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5035874.html

[electron_blue]

1. That seems really high. How many contractors, total, are over there?

[davhill]

2. It's actually low

Only US contractor firms report to the Labor department. I believe ontractors based in other countries form a sizable proportion of the total.

[Demeter]

3. Reports Were a Number Equal to the Soldiers

But why should we believe anything this regime says?

[IndyOp]

10. Remember - "contractors" = "mercenaries, private military, Blackwater" -

contractors doesn't mean over there what it means over here.

:(

[TheWraith]

11. It means both things.

Contractors, in this case, means both mercs and regular contractors such as truck drivers, translators, engineers, etcetera.

[saigon68]

12. It means more Rose Petal Parades

[90-percent]

4. if i remember correctly

If I remember correctly, we have about 160,000 troops over there and about 130,000 contractors.

It is a shame the contractor situation is completely off the MSM radar.

Also off the left blogosphere radar.

Also off the DU radar.

I will stand happily corrected if the above can be refuted by reliable info.

-85% Jimmy

still a proud member of the reality based community

[BearSquirrel2]

5. Sounds like a Discovery Channel show to me ...

Deadliest catch ... eat your heart out. Next season how about, "outside the Green Zone". Guaranteed to see both workers and camera crews get killed.

[Rambis]

6. 180,000 contractors in Iraq

says Bill Richardson at a stump speech in Iowa last week. 1,000 is low it seems to me based on how many aare there.

[Gregorian]

7. And how many Blackwater dead?

That's the number I want to see.

[Rambis]

9. Blackwater is sueing

Blackwater Heavies Sue Families of Slain Employees for $10 Million in Brutal Attempt to Suppress Their Story




Over 300 contractors have been killed in Iraq with very little inquiry into their deaths. The families claim that Blackwater is attempting to cover up its incompetence, its cutting of corners in favor of higher profits, and its over billing to the government. Due to lack of accountability and oversight, Blackwater's private army has been able to obtain huge profits from the government, utilizing contacts established through Erik Prince's relationships with high-ranking government officials such as Cofer Black and Joseph Schmitz.



http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/53460/

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Isn't Libertarianism grand?

Do you think that our Libertarian friends will stand up for the chaos economic opportunities provided by the Iraq war and say that these 1001 knew what they were getting into before they signed the contract?