Just getting around to reading this Rolling Stone story on the unbelievable advantage civilian contractors took on the willing Bush administration and, ultimately, you and I:

'According to the most reliable ­estimates, we have doled out more than $500 billion for the war, as well as $44 billion for the Iraqi reconstruction effort. And what did America's contractors give us for that money? They built big steaming shit piles, set brand-new trucks on fire, drove back and forth across the desert for no reason at all and dumped bags of nails in ditches.'

Absolutely a must-read.