Business Plan by mike · 2004-04-19 [private] security costs could claim up to 25 percent of the $18 billion budgeted for reconstruction … that could delay or force the cancellation of billions of dollars worth of projects to rebuild schools, water treatment plants, electric lines and oil refineries … officials said they have no precise tally of how many private security guards are being paid with government funds, much less how many have been killed or wounded … One measure of the growing danger comes from the federal Department of Labor, which handles workers’ compensation claims for deaths and injuries among among contract employees working for the military in war zones. Since the start of 2003, contractors have filed claims for 94 deaths and 1,164 injuries. For all of 2001 and 2002, by contrast, contractors reported 10 deaths and 843 injuries … an overwhelming majority of the cases since 2003 were from Iraq. Earlier here. Related