The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
June 2, 2009

Number of Armed Contractors on Rise in Afghanistan and Iraq
-----------------------------------------------------------



Newly released Pentagon statistics show the number of armed contractors
in both Iraq and Afghanistan is rapidly rising. The number of military
contractors in Afghanistan increased by 29 percent in the second quarter
of 2009. The number in Iraq jumped by 23 percent. Independent journalist
Jeremy Scahill reports there are now over 240,000 private contractors
working in Iraq and Afghanistan.



.