How much are the Contractors in Iraq Costing Taxpayers?

There is a big figure of dollars being spent on private contractors on various fronts, say from Halliburton and other paramilitary organizations, that doubles and triples the salaries paid to our troops doing the exact same jobs.

My brother stipulated the same while he was over there as well. So, I know this is fact.

How does the administration account for that? I guess they slip it in in the tab we will be picking up in the portion of the budget that has yet to be stipulated...all the while hoping we don't notice.

Slice:

I remember times we had to post female MP's at the Oil Ministry so they could search the female employees. The Oil Ministry was heavily guarded like a fortress with tanks out front and guard towers. I met one guy that worked for Halliburton who said he was making about $150,000 a year just to make sure some of the oil revenue was going to US oil companies. He further went on to say that he was in a board meeting in Houston, Texas where he was a facilitator of a meeting about sending Halliburton to Iraq. He said he heard Cheney's name mentioned many times in reference to those who helped Halliburton get on track with being established in Iraq. He said during the meeting that Cheney was guaranteed a cut of the profits of Halliburton since he ensured and paved the way for the no bid contract in Iraq. There were contractors doing security work alongside US military and doing the exact same thing except the military would switch out duties and go on patrol in Baghdad. The other difference was the military was getting paid an average of $2,000 to $4,000 a month which would equal about $24,000 to $48,000 a year depending on the rank. The contractors doing the same job were making $50,000 to $90,000 a year plus other expenses. Where was the fairness in this. We are definitely not making progress because big business does not care about progress it cares about money.