Labor Dept: 1,001 mercenaries have died in Iraq

More than 1,000 civilian contractors (read: mercenaries) have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion more than four years ago, according to Labor Department records made available.

Those contractor (hired mercenary) fatalities are in addition to the 3,668 military personnel the Defense Department had confirmed dead in Iraq from the start of the war in March 2003 until today.

Another 76 civilian contractors have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations there, the Labor Department records show.

Besides those killed, 4,837 in Iraq and 879 in Afghanistan suffered injuries severe enough to miss at least four days of work, the Labor Department said.

The United States has about 162,000 troops serving in Iraq. (Plus by estimate, 126,000 private military "contractors" in Iraq, and of whom most Americans know next to nothing about. )

[The Houston Chronicle]