Stunning Statistics About Afghan War Everyone Should Know: 179,000 U.S. personnel in Afghanistan!

[Better Believe It]

Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know
Contrary to popular belief, the US actually has 189,000 personnel on the ground in Afghanistan right now—and that number is quickly rising.
By Jeremy Scahill
Deceeberr 18, 2009

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% of the Department of Defense's total workforce, "the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in US 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% 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 US 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 US-funded personnel on the ground in Afghanistan.

http://rebelreports.com/post/287929742/stunning-statistics-about-the-war-every-american-should

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Official Estimate of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan? 100!

About 2,000 US troops per al Qaeda member.

Wow!

[leftstreet]

2. And here we go again: $950 million in questionable costs

As for waste and abuse, the subcommittee says that the Defense Contract Audit Agency identified more than $950 million in questioned and unsupported costs submitted by Defense Department contracts for work in Afghanistan. That’s 16% of the total contract dollars reviewed.

Seems like old times...

K&R

[ThomCat]

3. We are becoming a military empire. Out of work? Grab a gun and go to war.

Even if you don't join the military, there is a company out there that will hire you to go to war if you are fit enough and willing. :(

It is looking more and more like war is the only industry the U.S. has left.

Every year our politicians sacrifice everything in order to make sure the Pentagon budget can keep bloating. Then they borrow more, and more, and more to fund wars that aren't even included in the budget.

More of our tax dollars go to the Pentagon than get spend on anything else, or everything else! :grr:

Tell me this, what happens to any nation when their only skill outstanding skill is warfare, all they know how to export is wars, and all of their politics and policies are wrapped around the purpose of supporting and justifying those wars.? :(

[CrispyQ]

8. War & fraudulent financial products.

The all American combo platter.

[G_j]

4. disgusting

nt

[rollingrock]

5. Obama's promise to end the occupation of Iraq in 2011

I think is also a lie. Obama may pull out a few thousand token troops, but whatever it is they will be promptly replaced by private contractors aka mercs. and even then the withdrawal will be excruciatingly, painfully slow, as in maybe a few hundred a month or whatever and at that rate we'll still be in Iraq until 2020 or even beyond.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

6. We are in so much fucking trouble.

We are nothing to them but a resource for recruits. Everything else is a distraction while they escalate the wars.
Obama is turning out to be the rights wet dream. Fuck him.

[timeforpeace]

7. It's the wrong war! On to Yemen!

[chill_wind]

9. And once again we foot the bill for the fraud and waste -

"Despite the massive number of contracts and contractors in Afghanistan, oversight is utterly lacking. “The increase in Afghanistan contracts has not seen a corresponding increase in contract management and oversight,” according to McCaskill’s briefing paper. “In May 2009, DCMA Director Charlie Williams told the Commission on Wartime Contracting that as many as 362 positions for Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) in Afghanistan were currently vacant.”

A former USAID official, Michael Walsh, the former director of USAID’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance and Chief Acquisition Officer, told the Commission that many USAID staff are “administering huge awards with limited knowledge of or experience with the rules and regulations.” According to one USAID official, the agency is “sending too much money, too fast with too few people looking over how it is spent.” As a result, the agency does not “know … where the money is going.”

while we read story after story at home of people starkly choosing between food and shelter- and life-saving health care.

It's madness.

[Subdivisions]

10. And some people think this is still for hunting down 100 al quaedas in Pakistan. Anyways,

we will need that many boots on the ground in order to invade Pakistan, with Baluchistan and the Port of Gwadar as the primary mission goals.

[Mari333]

11. knr