Eight days after the invasion of Iraq on March 19 2003, Paul Wolfowitz, then deputy defence secretary and a leading proponent of the war, told a Congressional committee: “We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”
2003年3月19日，入侵伊拉克的战争爆发。8天后，时任美国国防部副部长、战争的主要支持者保罗•沃尔福威茨(Paul Wolfowitz)对美国国会委员会表示：“我们正在对付的这个国家其实能够为它自身的重建提供资金，并且能够在较短的时间内做到这一点。”
A decade later, that assessment could hardly have turned out to be more wrong. The US has overwhelmingly borne the brunt of both the military and reconstruction costs, spending at least $138bn on private security, logistics and reconstruction contractors, who have supplied everything from diplomatic security to power plants and toilet paper.
10年后，这一评估被证明是大错特错的。美国承担了绝大部分军事和重建成本，在私人安保、物流及重建承包商上支出至少1380亿美元，由其供应从外交人员保安、发电厂到手纸的各种商品和服务。
An analysis by the Financial Times reveals the extent to which both American and foreign companies have profited from the conflict ? with the top 10 contractors securing business worth at least $72bn between them.
英国《金融时报》的分析显示，美国公司和其它外国公司从战争中获利颇丰，前10大承包商包揽的业务价值至少720亿美元。
None has benefited more than KBR, once known as Kellogg Brown and Root. The controversial former subsidiary of Halliburton, which was once run by Dick Cheney, vice-president to George W. Bush, was awarded at least $39.5bn in federal contracts related to the Iraq war over the past decade.
受益最大的莫过于KBR公司(前称Kellogg Brown and Root)。在过去10年内，这家有争议的哈里伯顿(Halliburton)前子公司获得至少395亿美元与伊拉克战争有关的联邦合同。哈里伯顿一度由担任乔治?W?布什(George W. Bush)政府副总统的迪克•切尼(Dick Cheney)执掌。
Two Kuwaiti companies ? Agility Logistics and the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation ? are the second and third-biggest winners, securing contracts worth $7.2bn and $6.3bn respectively.
两家科威特公司――Agility Logistics和国有的科威特石油公司(Kuwait Petroleum Corporation)――是第二和第三大承包商，它们分别获得价值72亿美元和63亿美元的合同。
The US hired more private companies in Iraq than in any previous war, and at times there were more contractors than military personnel on the ground.
美国在伊战中雇佣的私人公司数量多于此前任何战争，有时身处一线的承包商人员数目甚至超过军人。
