CNN REPORTS: U.S. CONTRACTORS RAKING IN BILLIONS ON RECONSTRUCTION JOBS IN IRAQ

Report: U.S. using contractors in Iraq at unprecedented rate

Report says U.S. on track to spend $100 billion on contractors by end of 2008
Figures reflect reliance on contractors to fill jobs typically held by military personnel
Use of contractors for security criticized for lack of oversight, political favoritism
Donald Rumsfeld said contractors freed up personnel for combat roles

From Mike Mount
CNN Pentagon Producer
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States spent $85 billion on contracts in Iraq and other countries in the first four years of the war and is relying on contract employees at a greater rate than in any other war, according to a government report released Tuesday.

A report by the Congressional Budget Office says that a fifth of spending on the Iraq war has gone to contractors. Between 2003 and 2007, 70 percent of $85 billion in contracts were for work inside Iraq. The remaining 30 percent went to contracts in surrounding countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the report said.

The Government Accountability Office says the United States has spent $435 billion on operations in Iraq.

Based on war contract spending patterns since 2004, the United States could spend more than $100 billion on contractor operations in Iraq by the end of 2008, according to the report.

The U.S. military has used contractors in all of its recent conflicts, from the Gulf War to the Balkans. But military leaders are using contractors to a greater extent in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the report, reflecting a reliance on contractors to fill jobs held by military personnel in past conflicts.

Contractors in and around Iraq help serve food, clean and provide security for the U.S. and Iraqi governments, according to the report. Most of the contracts were for logistics support, gas and diesel fuel, and food.

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