The US military occupation of Iraq took a lot of heavy tolls. 4,488 US soldiers, 300 plus allied soldiers, an Iraqi civilian toll that by some estimates is probably in the millions. Counting the real numbers is still going on, however.
Today a new report has compiled the figures for another “forgotten” death toll: the foreign civilian workforce that was sent to the country to take part in reconstruction of the country for years.
The Special Inspector General for Iraq (SIGIR) put the toll at 719 confirmed “rebuilders” killed in the occupation, but conceded that the toll was almost certainly much higher. While US military deaths at the time were widely reported, civilian workers, even Americans, rarely got reported in the media.
Even this 719 is a drop in the bucket for the overall “contractor” death toll, as it does not include the contractors working in various military capacities. Estimates have put that death toll at roughly on parity with the military’s losses, though again the figures were not tracked.
When it comes to losses of those Blackwater and other "contractor" scum of the earth, I won't shed a tear. They got what they deserved. We know damn well they will unleashed here very soon to ply their trade on all those "domestic terrorists". Of course the cops and military will do the same–that is the mission of DHS and USNORTHCOM–to make war on the American people.
There is a partial list, up to 9/2010, at iCasualties: http://icasualties.org/Iraq/Contractors.aspx
Civilian contractors, aka mercenaries, aka Soldiers of Fortune…sorry I don't feel bad for these hired killers, thanks.
They, the invaded, might solve the problem if they put a bounty on the scalp of a contractor, say $100.
That would be a lot of money to them and they could wear the scalps around their waists to show their courage and skill much as the Indians did when they met the first invasion of contractors from Europe!
Good riddance. The world is a better place without mercenaries.
They are not forgotten. It is just that nobody cares and it is rarely worth mentioning what happens to a mercenary. No one should care for them any more than a mercenary cares about what he does to others.
They weren't exactly invited by the people of Iraq. The US elected to invade. Why would people be sad about losing contractors who should have stayed home, and fixed up their own towns ? The US war makers made a big mess intentionally for the "rebuilders." It wa$ a $port to them. A big joke.