Hundreds of Afghanistan contractor deaths go unreported

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.salon.com/news/afghanistan/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/07/15/afghan_war_contractors_dying

In one of the least examined aspects of President Obama's escalation of the Afghan war, armed private security contractors are being killed in action by the hundreds -- at a rate more than four times that of U.S. troops, according to a previously unreported congressional study.

At the same time, the Obama administration has drastically increased the military's reliance on private security contractors, the vast majority of whom are Afghans who are given the dangerous job of guarding aid and military convoys, the new Congressional Research Service study found.

In a 10-month period between June 2009 and April 2010, 260 private security contractors working for the Defense Department made the ultimate sacrifice, while over the same period, 324 U.S. troops were killed. In analyzing the numbers, the report found a private security contractor "working for DOD in Afghanistan is 4.5 times more likely to be killed than uniformed personnel."

Unlike when a soldier is killed in action and the military promptly issues a press release describing the circumstances of the death, contractor deaths go almost entirely unreported by the Pentagon, and, by extension, the media. As a result, both the level of violence and the number of people being killed as part of the U.S. effort in Afghanistan are being significantly underreported.


More at the link ---

[unhappycamper]

1. I wouldn't call dying for $$$ the "ultimate sacrifice".

But then that's just me.

[pocoloco]

2. Contractor or mercenary?

....just checking.

[Solly Mack]

3. "... the vast majority of whom are Afghans..."