dianavan, maybe it would help to understand that there's more than one kind of civilian contractor involved here. There are the some civilians providing security but there are even more involved in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure or providing various types of aid.

Like Amos, my company has a contract to provide services in Iraq. It's similar to the one we have in Afghanistan or any of several countries where no one's fired a shot in anger in years. We had a similar contract with the State of Oklahoma, for heavens sake. Our guys over there are civilians doing ordinary civilian jobs even if in this instance they're getting hazard pay. It's what we do, at least some of us, any way.