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Although private security forces often perform many of the same functions as U.S. troops, they are not governed by military rules mandating the amount of men and firepower they take along for tasks such as convoy protection, said Deborah Avant, associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. "There are situations when they are more at risk."

A report released last night by Democratic staff on a Senate investigations committee presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them.

Oil-for-arms deals helped cement a relationship that would later enable little-known BayOil of Houston to emerge as the largest supplier of Iraqi crude to the U.S. market under the United Nation's oil-for-food program, Senate investigators say.

The United States did not do enough to curb corruption by American companies involved in the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq, say Democrats on a Senate committee investigating abuses in the program.

All 62 were travelling on South African passports when they were detained by Zimbabwe but many were originally from Namibia and Angola -- including former members of South Africa's apartheid-era 32 Battalion, which recruited locals for bush fighting in Angola.

Top Kremlin operatives and a flamboyant Russian politician reaped millions of dollars in profits under the U.N. oil-for-food program by selling oil that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein allowed them to buy at a deep discount, a U.S. Senate investigation has concluded.

Iraq is by far the most lucrative cash cow for these soldiers of fortune, with at least 30 percent of the billions of dollars the US Department of Defence spends on Iraq every month going to "private military contractors".

Rep. David Price, D-N.C., reintroduced the legislation that would require private security firms to disclose costs, training, insurance, pay, benefits and other details about their business. The measure encompasses companies whose workers carry weapons for their contracts or are involved in security, training and logistics duties.

They're targeted for shootings, bombings - even beheadings. The cash is good. Really good. One-hundred-thousand-for-six-months-work good. Sometimes, it's even better than that. And that's nothing to scoff at for soldiers who don't make a quarter as much for a full year's work. But worth it for the job they're contracted to do?

Working in Iraq is like playing the lottery -- only in this case, you pray that your number does not come up. According to the Web site www.icasualties.org, more than 200 foreign private contractors have lost their lives in Iraq in the past two years. Iraq is an extremely hairy place -- particularly for anyone even remotely connected with the U.S. reconstruction efforts.