Iraq contractors make billions on the front line [View All]

From Nic Robertson
CNN

Monday, June 12, 2006; Posted: 7:23 p.m. EDT (23:23 GMT)

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A single contract awarded to Britain's AEGIS Specialist Risk Management company by the Pentagon was worth $293 million, and while the government says it cannot provide a total amount for the contracts -- many of which are secret -- industry experts estimate Iraq's security business costs tens of billions of dollars.

The market is there thanks to an unprecedented "outsourcing" of conflict, according to Amy Clark, who led the Baghdad end of a small private security contractor.

"Where you've got a military where the assets and the personnel are strained, then private contractors have had to step in and fill the void," she told CNN, agreeing to be interviewed if her company's name was not revealed.

But where there is money, there is also danger. No official totals exist of how many private contractors have been killed in Iraq. But Clark believes the death rate among the 25,000 or so contractors is higher than among U.S. military forces.

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/12/iraq.contractors/index.html

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One of my fondest dreams is that this will stop during our administration. We are paying private companies to guard private citizens.