According to a Congressional Budget Office survey, as of early 2008, at least 190,000 employees of private U.S. companies are working in Iraq. The ratio of soldiers to private employees is an astonishing one-to-one.
Although the imperialists have always relied on private contractors to carry out war and occupation, never before have the figures been this high.
With record-breaking numbers come record-breaking profits. The CBO estimates that by the end of the year the U.S. government will spend $100 billion on private contractors in Iraq. At least $12 billion of the total will pay for paramilitary and armed security forces such as Blackwater.
Private contractors and U.S. troops function as colonial occupation forces working in the interest of the oil companies and other corporate giants. Washington’s extensive colonial apparatus should be dismantled immediately.
