Report details Iraqi security contractors

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A report on private security companies that have received U.S. contracts in Iraq lists 310 companies, including ones based in Uganda and Romania.

Investigators for the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction examined databases kept by the departments of Defense and State as well as other agencies to compile the list, The New York Times reports. The Pentagon would confirm that only 77 of the companies had received defense contracts.

The list includes companies better known for other types of contracts. The German firm Toifer, for example, is a major supplier of portable toilets used by U.S. troops in Iraq.

Other companies on the list have had troubled histories. They include Blackwater, involved in a shootout in Baghdad that killed 17 civilians, and Custer Battles, which has been banned from Defense Department contracts.

The list has been given to some members of Congress and to federal agencies, the Times said.