Private Military Firms and the United States War with Iraq

There are more than 100 private military firms (PMFs) operating under more than 7,000 contracts in Iraq employing ten-times the number of contractors than during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, with some of the top-earners such as Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR) “earning” federal contracts in excess of $20 billion dollars. PMFs not only have close ties to the federal government through campaign donations to United States congressmen and women, as well as former President Bush, but have regularly employed senior corporate executives and board members who have often had extensive prior experience working inside the federal government. More concerning, the increase in services, the cost of services as well as the firms themselves have often negatively impacted democratic governance in the United States. The result has been that private military firms have made it possible for the federal government to carryout a policy of war in Iraq which has seen an ever-decreasing amount of support from the American people.