"Wolf" - Given the secrecy and lack of oversight under which most contractors in Iraq work, a true number is impossible to get. However, the Washington Post's Renae Merle reported in December that around 100,000 contractors were in Iraq, at a time when there were roughly 140,000 US troops there. This was a dramatic increase from the Gulf War, when only about 9200 contractors were in the theater of operation. So as you can tell, it may not be exactly a one-to-one ratio (though some estimates are higher) but still a stunningly large number.
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wintermute
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so does this mean that EVERY time we start some ill-planned, unwinnable, and very possibly immoral war (Iraq, Vietnam, various small-scale Central American conflagrations) we are then always bound to follow it to the sad, bloody conclusion? Sure, giving Petraeus another 500,000 troops would be fantastic -- but it ain't going to happen. And short of that, nothing is going to win this civil war. Better to pull back now and at least staunch the American losses. Iraqi losses will continue to be severe (though the sooner we get out the sooner their various battling factions will ultimately reach a conclusion …
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