our mercenaries in Iraq

Private security companies(mercenaries), funded by billions of dollars in U.S. military and State Department contracts, are fighting insurgents on a widening scale in Iraq,
enduring daily attacks, returning fire and taking hundreds of casualties that have beenunderreported and sometimes concealed, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials and company representatives.

While the military has built up troops in an ongoing campaign to secure Baghdad, the security companies,out of public view, have been engaged in a parallel surge, boosting manpower, adding expensive armor and stepping up evasive action as attacks increase, the officials and company representatives said.

The industry's enormous growth has been facilitated by the U.S. military, which uses the up to 30,000 contractors (mercenaries) to offset chronic troop shortages. Private Army mercenary companies
include: Falcon Security, Agility, Granite Tactical Vehicle, ArmorGroup International, Public Warehousing Co, Hart Security, and Blackwater USA, to name just a few.

The U.S. military has never released complete statistics on contractor(mercenary) casualties.The majority of the more than 100 security companies (mercenaries) operate outside of Iraqi law.