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James
Risen wrote recently that the use of contractors in Iraq has reached the
level of a private army.
The report, by the Congressional Budget Office, according to people with
knowledge of its contents, will say that one out of every five dollars spent
on the war in Iraq has gone to contractors for the United States military
and other government agencies, in a war zone where employees of private contractors
now outnumber American troops.… Contractors in Iraq now employ at least 180,000 people in the country,
forming what amounts to a second, private, army, larger than the United States
military force, and one whose roles and missions and even casualties among
its work force have largely been hidden from public view. The widespread use
of these employees as bodyguards, translators, drivers, construction workers
and cooks and bottle washers has allowed the administration to hold down the
number of military personnel sent to Iraq, helping to avoid a draft.
Clinton released a statement today demanding
investigations. She’s been out front on demanding Truman like hearings.
“This administration’s failure to hold contractors accountable
is outrageous. More and more government responsibilities are being passed
along to private companies at huge cost to American taxpayers, and at the
same time, more and more reports emerge of fraud, waste and abuse in the contracting
process. This pattern must be brought to an end, which is why I have introduced
legislation to bring critically needed reform to the government contracting
process and why I’m calling for an investigation to get to the bottom
of this latest abuse of taxpayer resources,” said Senator Clinton.
As a born Missourian, there has rarely been anything more annoying than when
people try the tortured comparison between Bush and Harry S. Truman. The Missourian
would have hated this president. He would have told him so to his face.
Good for Clinton. Once again she stands
up to the boys at the Pentagon. We all know what happened the
first time around. I suspect they’ll give her due respect this time. She’s got a much bigger megaphone.
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