Along the general vein of privatization, an article in the local newspaper reports there are now more private contractors in Iraq than US troops. The article reported there are 180K civilians working under US contracts. Peter Singer from the Brookings Institute said, "This is not the coalition of the willing. It is the coalition of the billing." Mercenary numbers were not in the tally, err, I mean private security contract personnel were not in the head count. Estimates vary on the number of 'guards' in country, from 6-30K. Gen. Nash (ret) claims the Pentagon "is hiring guns. You can rationalize it all you want, but that's obscene." Who are the real camp followers here - the US military or private contractors?