DTN News: US Wasted Billions On Iraq ~ Reports

DTN News: US Wasted Billions On Iraq ~ Reports *Source: Press TV (NSI News Source Info) - December 22, 2009: A Pentagon study has warned the Obama administration over spending on the Afghan war by revealing that the US Army wasted billions of dollars on the Iraq war. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks to soldiers at F.O.B. Warrior in Kirkuk December 11, 2009. Gates said on Friday that Arab and Kurdish leaders in Iraq were moving toward settling their differences and he urged them to form an inclusive government quickly after a March vote.

The US administration spent billions of dollars by employing a large number of private sectors in Iraq, the report released by German website Welt Online said. More than 60 percent of Americans working for US Defense Department in Afghanistan are from private sectors, according to the report.

Last week, the Congressional Research Service reported that the surge of 30,000 US troops into Afghanistan could vastly expand the presence of personnel from the US private sector. The report noted that it expects an additional 26,000 to 56,000 contractors to be sent to Afghanistan.

That would bring the number of contractors in the country to anywhere from 130,000 to 160,000. There are currently 104,000 Defense Department contractors working in Afghanistan under Pentagon supervision, the study said.

The Pentagon report also indicated that the number of American private sectors employees in Afghanistan increased 40 percent from June to September 2009. The figure is expected to rise after President Barack Obama announced his plan to send more troops to the war-torn country. The proportion of employees by armed services that are in fact mercenary companies like Blackwater have risen within the past few months from an estimated 5,000 to more than 10,000 workers.

Meanwhile, the report said that the war in Afghanistan had cost $ 230 billion thus far, adding that the administration has requested another $ 70 billion for 2010, bringing the total cost of the Afghanistan war to $ 300 billion. The US Defense Department needs 3.6 billion dollars monthly for staying in Afghanistan, the Pentagon report concluded.

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