The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. July 26, 2011 U.S. Loses $34 Billion On Iraq, Afghanistan War Service Contracts ------------------------------------------------------------------ A new study being finalized by Congress has found the United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report also reveals that more than 200,000 contractors have been on the U.S. payroll at times in Iraq and Afghanistan — outstripping the number of U.S. troops currently on the ground in those countries.