Private security costs in Iraq mushroom

BAGHDAD , Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. military budget for private security in Iraq is more than $200 million over budget because of the extreme danger faced by guards, it was reported.

"To pay a man or a woman to come over here ... knowing that people want to blow them up and kill them, you gotta pay to get that level of dedication," Col. Douglas P. Gorgoni, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq, told Sunday's Washington Post.

During the past three years, the U.S. military has paid $548 million to two British security firms, Aegis Defense Services and Erinys Iraq, to protect the Corps of Engineers' reconstruction projects.

That amount is more than $200 million over the original budget, The Post said.

Lawmakers are just beginning to realize the immense scope of private security in Iraq, said U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

"We're in the wake of this speedboat. We can't even catch up to the contracts," said Kaptur, who opposes the use of private forces and initiated an audit of Aegis.