Thursday, May 12, 2011
L-3 employee James McLaughlin Jr., 55, was shot to death by an Afghan pilot on April 27
When the human price of fighting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has come up over the past decade, it’s been the death toll of American soldiers that media stories have focused on. But this choice has ignored the fact that thousands of defense contractors also have given their lives in support of the U.S. military missions in both countries.
According to a new academic paper by Steven L. Schooner, a professor at George Washington University Law School, and law student Collin D. Swan, 2,300 contractors were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001 through the first quarter of 2011 (1,537 in Iraq; 763 in Afghanistan). Another 51,031 contractors were wounded during this time.
Over the course of 10 years of war, contractor deaths have represented about 27% of U.S. fatalities. But this rate has climbed in recent years. From 2008 through 2010, the percentage was 40%, and during the first quarter of 2011, contractors represented 45% of all fatalities.
In Iraq, the situation is even more extreme: since 2009, more contractors have died than soldiers.
Overall, employees of L-3 Communications lead the list with 366 deaths, followed by The Supreme Group at 222 and Service Employees International with 125.
In FY 2010 the U.S. government paid 199,783 contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of these, 23.5% (46,982) were Americans. The rest were Iraqi and Afghani citizens or nationals of other countries.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
The Uncounted Contractor Casualties (by David Isenberg, PMSC Observer)
Dead Contractors: The Un-Examined Effect of Surrogates on the Public’s Casualty Sensitivity (by Steven L. Schooner and Collin D. Swan, George Washington University Law School) (pdf)
Attack in Kabul Worst to Hit Air Force in 15 Years (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)
U.S. Army Burn Pit Victim Dies after Battle with Leukemia (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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