In Afghanistan, it's more pronounced, though, Terry, because you have about 68,000 U.S. military is of equal size to the contractor force in both of those wars. However, there's a statistic that almost never goes mentioned, and that is that there is an equal number of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan right now, meaning that the U.S. JEREMY SCAHILL (Author, "Blackwater" National Security Correspondent, The Nation): Well, right now, according to the latest DOD census, there's about 250 to 260,000 uniformed members of the United States military operating in Iraq, Afghanistan and in support of those operations. Let's start with an overview of how many private contractors and how many different companies are actually in Iraq and Afghanistan now. Now, we're going to be focusing on Blackwater, but really, they're just one of many private contractors now in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jeremy Scahill, welcome back to FRESH AIR. He's the author of the book "Blackwater," which was first published in 2007, and he's been writing about the company in The Nation magazine, where he's the national security correspondent. Jeremy Scahill has been investigating Blackwater for several years.
Recent stories broken by my guest, Jeremy Scahill, as well as the New York Times, ABC News and Vanity Fair, have raised many questions about how much access private companies should have to classified intelligence and what role, if any, they should be allowed to play in covert military and CIA operations. The private military company Blackwater, which has played a major role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is at the center of several controversies and lawsuits. Scahill is a Polk-award winning journalist and the author of the 2007 book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the CIA's predator strikes. Blackwater operatives also run a secret U.S. In his article, Scahill reports that Blackwater (which has officially changed its name to Xe Services LLC) is operating in Pakistan under a program that includes planning targeted assassinations and kidnappings of Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects.
Scahill says that even though tax payers are funding this shadow army, their operations are shrouded in secrecy.
23, uncovers the contractor's involvement in a covert program run by the U.S. He's broken many stories in The Nation, and his latest, published Nov. involvement in the Iraq war, but Jeremy Scahill has found a niche investigating Blackwater, a military contractor with a long involvement in the war. There's an abundance of journalist coverage of U.S. Journalist Jeremy Scahill testifies on the topic of private military contracting in Iraq before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee on September 21, 2007.
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