{Charleston, West Virginia}...During an event at the West Virginia Air National Guard's Tire Rebuild Plant in Kanawha City, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. joined Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Wednesday to complain about waste in military spending, specifically, the number of private contractors being employed by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bowen's position was created in October 2004. Since then, he has overseen and audited the use, and possible misuse, of the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund created to rehabilitate Iraq's economy. Wednesday, Bowen and Manchin focused on the growing number of private military contractors hired by the Pentagon. Manchin says there are more than 113,000 private contractors in Afghanistan, while there are only 90,000 troops. He says there are between 20,000 and 30,000 contractors still in Iraq. Bowen said the Department of Defense has never seen a complete audit of its contractors because it is impossible to do, and that is unacceptable. The West Virginia National Guard says that, by reprocessing tires, the Kanawha City facility alone saves $27 million a year in military costs.
