Conrad Joseph Molden

What Were the Consequences of the Iraq War Contracts? Conrad Joseph Molden

President Barack Obama gave a speech on the 1st September 2010 claiming that Operation Iraqi Freedom was over and that Operation New Dawn was in effect, an operation in which the United States was taking the role of advising and assisting the Iraqi military but only engaging in combat if necessary. Seven months later a report by the Congressional Research Service estimated that as of March that same year, there were approximately 64,253 Department of Defense contract personnel in Iraq, making up 58% of the overall workforce, meaning there were more employees of private companies on the ground than military soldiers. It also found that between 2005 and 2010, $112.1 billion was spent on contracts in Iraq by the federal government. In this work Conrad Molden carefully examines the events that led to awarding of contracts to companies such as Halliburton/KBR and Black Water, and the consequences of their use in an era defined by the War on Terror.