Commission on Wartime Contracting to examine number of contractors in Iraq as US troops leave

Commission to examine level of contractors in Iraq

WASHINGTON — The independent Commission on Wartime Contracting wants to know whether American contractors in Iraq are adequately reducing the number of employees in the country as U.S. troops are withdrawn.

The commissioners take up the matter at a Capitol Hill hearing on Monday. At issue is whether the government is ensuring that contractors don’t have idle workers. Each contracted employee can cost thousands of dollars a month, and some 100,000 contracted employees are working in Iraq.

The number of U.S. troops in Iraq is scheduled to fall to 50,000 in August; all are to leave by the end of 2011.

KBR Inc., the Army’s primary support contractor in Iraq, was warned last fall by Pentagon auditors to cut its numbers or face nearly $200 million in penalties.

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On the Net:

Commission on Wartime Contracting: www.wartimecontracting.gov/