Hell! For $14,500 per month, I might join the 180,000 American contractors in Iraq ... numerically more than the number of U.S. troops there!

Word out today is that the United States of America has contracted for 180,000 persons in Iraq--larger than its uniformed fighting force and responsible for a such a broad range of duties that our "uniformed" forces might not be able to operate without its private-sector partners. These persons work under a huge number of federal contracts to provide security, gather intelligence, build roads, forge a financial system, and transport needed supplies in a country the size of California. The Pentagon states that we have 163,000 uniformed troops there alongside the 180,000 contractors.

At $14,500 per month take-home pay per person (that's $174,000 per year for those who survive a year), someone is making big dough in all of this besides the contract workers. What is the mark-up, I wonder? That number is still classified, it seems ...

Of course, the Iraqis have suddenly become disenchanted with our contract forces as the contract workers' "security" roles have put them in the position of killing hundreds of Iraqi civilians--presumably accidentally, although our State Department is now looking into the various incidents more carefully. Not just the "enemy combatants" will be looking for those Habeas Corpus rights filibustered away (again) by the Senate today.

More on this to come, I'm sure. I posted something on Blackwater Corporation's role in this only a couple of days ago.,