Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know (Jeremy Scahill)

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Contrary to popular belief, the United States actually has 189,000 personnel on the ground in Afghanistan right now -- and that number is quickly rising

Dec. 18, 2009 (RebelReports) -- A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Contract Oversight subcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up the Bush-era war privatization baton and sprinted with it. Overall, contractors now comprise a whopping 69 percent of the Department of Defense’s total workforce, “the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in U.S. history.” That’s not in one war zone -- that’s the Pentagon in its entirety.

In Afghanistan, the Obama administration blows the Bush administration out of the privatized water. According to a memo released by McCaskill’s staff, “From June 2009 to September 2009, there was a 40 percent increase in Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan. During the same period, the number of armed private security contractors working for the Defense Department in Afghanistan doubled, increasing from approximately 5,000 to more than 10,000.”

At present, there are 104,000 Department of Defense contractors in Afghanistan. According to a report this week from the Congressional Research Service, as a result of the coming surge of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, there may be up to 56,000 additional contractors deployed. But here is another group of contractors that often goes unmentioned: 3,600 State Department contractors and 14,000 USAID contractors. That means that the current total U.S.force in Afghanistan is approximately 189,000 personnel (68,000 US troops and 121,000 contractors). And remember, that’s right now. And that, according to McCaskill, is a conservative estimate. A year from now, we will likely see more than 220,000 U.S.-funded personnel on the ground in Afghanistan.

The US has spent more than $23 billion on contracts in Afghanistan since 2002. By next year, the number of contractors will have doubled since 2008 when taxpayers funded over $8 billion in Afghanistan-related contracts.

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http://worldnewstrust.com/francis-goodwin/stunning-statistics-about-the-war-every-american-should-know-jeremy-scahill/itemid-47

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1. Deje vu all over again

I guess we didn't real vote for change did we..

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2. Scahill should be given special correspondent status - he's a national treasure

who else is taking on the big guys?!!! I know of very few who literally are putting themselves at risk to honestly do their jobs in the press