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Civilian contractor toll in Iraq and Afghanistan ignored by Defense Dept.
As the war in Afghanistan entered its ninth year, the Labor Department recently released new figures for the number of civilian contract workers who have died in war zones since 9/11. Although acknowledged as incomplete, the figures show that at least 1,688 civilians have died and more than 37,000 have reported injuries while working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
More than 5,200 soldiers have died in the two war zones, meaning that one civilian contractor has died for every three soldiers–a ratio that reflects the unprecedented degree to which the Pentagon has outsourced the work of war. Civilian contractors make up about half the total U.S. forces in the war zones and they have been deployed on the front lines far more than any previous U.S. conflict. Iraq and Afghanistan are the most outsourced wars in U.S. history.
Despite the importance of civilian contractors to its mission, the Defense Department hasn't been measuring their sacrifice. A little-noticed report from the Government Accountability Office last week noted that the Pentagon has yet to implement a Congressional requirement to track contractor fatalities.