Private, vulnerable `armies' deploy for modern-day wars

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/10979898.htm

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It is perhaps revealing that the personal effects of Anthony Stramiello, a 61-year-old construction contractor who had been working in the Iraqi city of Mosul at the time of his death, were returned to the United States with so little ceremony on a recent February morning.

In the nearly two years since the war began in Iraq, at least 232 civilians working on U.S. military and reconstruction contracts have been killed there, many in violent but largely overlooked slayings, according to a report issued to Congress several weeks ago. Because of difficulties in accounting for this virtual army of private contactors in Iraq - many of whom are working in supply, logistics and even combat roles integral to the military's mission - the death toll actually could be far higher.

"The number of civilian contractors who have been killed in Iraq is far greater than any other group over there other than the U.S. military itself," said Peter Singer, an expert on national security and Iraq military contracts at the Brookings Institution. He went on to point out that the number of private contractors in Iraq - estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000 - surpasses the number of soldiers there from all the United States' allies combined.

Yet aside from brief moments of attention after high-profile kidnappings, beheadings or bloody ambushes caught on videotape, the public's focus rarely has been on these at-risk civilian workers. Few Americans seem aware these contractors are dying at a rate never before seen in American military history, and the bulk of the public's support and sympathy remains directed toward the families of the more than 1,400 military personnel killed on duty in Iraq.

quantities of money to be earned by mercenaries (by any other name) they are still at heart mercenaries.

Along with the money comes death now and then. The spoils of war has two faces.

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"The number of civilian contractors who have been killed in Iraq is far greater than any other group over there other than the U.S. military itself,"

I guess Iraqi's don't count.

their family and friends will but not me. they are mercenaries,it`s all about the money.

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Having no idea the significance of his delivery, the FedEx driver hurriedly tossed five massive boxes containing everything Anthony Stramiello had possessed in Iraq onto his widow's front porch.

Roberta Stramiello was jolted from the living room sofa by the thuds.

"I'd better go see what's going on out there," she said apprehensively. The last time strangers had been milling about her front porch - on the frigid evening of Dec. 21 - they had been there to tell her that her husband was dead.

It is perhaps revealing that the personal effects of Anthony Stramiello, a 61-year-old construction contractor who had been working in the Iraqi city of Mosul at the time of his death, were returned to the United States with so little ceremony on a recent February morning.

In the nearly two years since the war began in Iraq, at least 232 civilians working on U.S. military and reconstruction contracts have been killed there, many in violent but largely overlooked slayings, according to a report issued to Congress several weeks ago. Because of difficulties in accounting for this virtual army of private contactors in Iraq - many of whom are working in supply, logistics and even combat roles integral to the military's mission - the death toll actually could be far higher.