The protection of senior Iraqi government officials and leaders of political parties in the capital Baghdad alone is costing the country about $1 billion a year, equivalent to the budget of three cities, independent Iraqi news agency Urnews reported Sunday quoting a senior defense ministry official. The unnamed official said 12 brigades on the payroll of either the defense or interior ministry were protecting senior state officials and political leaders in the capital. “Those brigades consist of more than 35,000 security forces operating in Baghdad alone.” He said the presidential office alone has about 7,000 protection forces; including two brigades from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and the prime minister has 2,500 protection forces. The defense official said the leader of a political bloc alone has 1,200 protection forces who accompany him inside the country. He said these protection forces will likely increase after the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year. “Under the individual protection act, Iraq is spending about $1 billion annually, including on fuel, equipment, military hardware and maintenance." He said the amount was equivalent to the budgets of the cities of Al-Hillah, Al-Diwaniyah, and Al-Samawa combined. He added that there was no special security service that oversees these forces and that even the government does not know where many of them live. In 2009 Iraq spent a total of $8 billion on the country's security and defense. In 2011 the national budget allocated $10.2 billion for defense and the 2012 budget plan calls for increasing the defense spending up to $17.1 billion. The dramatic expected raise in the defense spending in 2012 can be explained by the scheduled withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011.