US contractors in Iraq face peril, neglect

An Iraqi celebrates at the destruction of a fuel convoy which killed 7 contractors

WASHINGTON -- To many Americans, private contractors in Iraq have become a terrible symbol of a terrible war: from charred bodies hanging from a bridge in Fallujah, to interrogators at Abu Ghraib, to corruption in the reconstruction effort.

Yet tens of thousands of contractors, hired in unprecedented numbers to avoid the use of more US troops in a variety of tasks, toil quietly in vital and dangerous missions. They are a hidden story of this war, uncounted in the military death toll, unremembered with medals of valor, unwelcome at veterans hospitals, and unassisted in their often difficult re entries home.

No US agency tracks deaths of American contractors. The Department of Labor, responsible for recording insurance claims of employees working on US contracts in Iraq, lists 641 contractor deaths, including Americans, Iraqis, and other foreign nationals. At least 6,646 more have filed claims for injuries, according to the data.

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