The Congressional Budget Office today released a report providing some of the most comprehensive estimates we’ve seen to date on the number and cost of contractors in Iraq. The report is significant because it covers the early years of the war, which have received very little fiscal scrutiny or documentation.

Some highlights:

• From 2003 through 2007, U.S. agencies awarded $85 billion in contracts for Iraq operations, accounting for almost 20 percent of total Iraq funding.
   
• The Department of Defense (DoD) awarded contracts totaling $76 billion, while the U.S. Agency for International Development obligated $5 billion and the Department of State $4 billion.
   
• The U.S. now employs roughly one contractor for every U.S. soldier, a ratio that is at least 2.5 times higher than during any other major U.S. conflict (though it is comparable to U.S. operations in the Balkans). Only 20 percent of the 190,000 contractors now in Iraq are U.S. citizens.