A look at the latest numbers of personnel in the Iraq region.
Defense News: U.S. Army Gen. (ret) Barry McCaffrey returned from a March visit to Iraq and said there are 130,000 contractors in Iraq. That's an upswing of 30,000. Still no response to FOIA requests to CENTCOM for statistics.
April 2007
146,000 US Troops [1]
13,196 Coalition Troops [2]
9,500 Surge [1]
100,000 Additional Troops in the Region [4]
268,696 Subtotal
130,000 Contractors* [3]
398,696 Total Personnel
*25% of contractors in Iraq are security personnel.
References:
[1] The Iraq Index, Michael E. O'Hanlon and Nina Kamp, Brookings Institute, April 26, 2007
[2] Iraq Weekly Status Report, Department of State, April 25, 2007, page 25, coalition troop numbers
[3] McCaffrey: 600 U.S. Contractors Have Been Killed in Iraq by By Kris Osborn, Defense News, April 16, 2007
[4] Deployments: The Real Numbers by Rod Nordland, Newsweek, March 22, 2007
Previous commentaries on troop and contractor numbers:
383,000 troops in the region?
Making the War in Iraq Palatable at Home - Part 2
Making the War in Iraq Palatable at Home