American Contractors in Iraq Face Risks
Source: By JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times, July 16, 2007
……. This is the face of battle in a new war and a new century — a 46-year-old Pakistani-American woman, sent to the war zone as part of a rented army of 130,000 civilians supporting 150,000 United States soldiers and marines. Taking the place of junior enlisted troops in every American army before this one, these contract employees cook meals, wash clothes, deliver fuel, maintain weapons and guard bases. And they suffer and die alongside their brothers and sisters in uniform. About 1,000 contractors have been killed in Iraq since the war began; nearly 13,000 have been injured.