And no one is keeping track of just how much U.S. taxpayer money is being used to fund the overseas operations of private contractors presumably acting on our behalf.
But of this we're certain: Both numbers are rising dramatically.
What we're not OK with is all the secrecy surrounding these private companies. This is our money they're spending, after all, and we have a right to know what they're doing with it. While the privatization of the military is often touted as an effective way to cut costs, we have seen nothing to prove it. In fact, reports that soldiers-for-hire are paid up to six times more than the average soldier would seem to point in the other direction. The oft-cited report from the Congressional Research Service - the one that suggests $1 out of every $6 spent in Iraq may be subject to fraud or abuse - confirms our worst suspicions.
The thought that money we could have been using to buy better equipment and services for our soldiers has instead gone to fatten the wallets of unscrupulous profiteers makes us queasy.
But even more important, we need to make sure that contract employees are being held to the same standards of conduct we set for our soldiers. Right now there's a disturbing lack of accountability for the employees of private companies who break laws or otherwise jeopardize our peacemaking efforts in foreign countries.
With so much at stake in Iraq and Afghanistan - and we're not just talking about money here - you would think that somebody would have proposed a way to keep a more precise accounting by now. And you would think our elected officials would have fallen all over themselves to support it.
Well, you would be right.
Last year, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, introduced legislation to establish a new Commission on Wartime Contracting. The independent, bipartisan commission would investigate, among other things, the extent of our reliance on private contractors, and regularly report back to Congress. Almost immediately, 26 senators jumped on board as co-sponsors of the new bill, including Montana Sen. Jon Tester.
The bill appears headed for unanimous approval in the Senate, even as several officials within the Bush administration have blasted it. It seems they don't want to see the war machine hampered by such things as independent investigations.
But their arguments don't hold water. The Commission on Wartime Contracting seems like a logical place to start meaningful oversight of a relatively new wartime concept, and it deserves the administration's support - all the way up to top.
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