Congress Does the Math: Not only are there 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, there are over 100,000 private contractors working U.S. funded contracts. Many of them are doing jobs that the military once did. They may not be Americans, but they are drawing their pay stubs from the U.S. treasury — making them the largest deployed private military force in history.
Defense News, cash cow for Army Times and largely supported by defense contractor advertising, acknowledges the facts.