Jeremy Scahill

"For most of the election campaign, private contractors, whether they be armed security contractors, like Blackwater, or the larger army of 180,000 contractors hasn't been an issue at all. None of the candidates have been asked about it in the debates. Occasionally they've been asked about it by voters, but it really hasn't become a premier issue.

"About 2 weeks ago I did a story about Barack Obama's position on contractors called 'Obama's Mercenary Position' for The Nation magazine. And basically what I did was I interviewed senior policy advisors for Barack Obama and said to them, 'What are you guys gonna do about the contractors?' What I found out was that Barack Obama's people are saying that they will not rule out the use of private surity contractors, like Blackwater, in Iraq and that Barack Obama will not sign on to legislation seeking to ban them or to force them out of Iraq. And the reason is actually fairly complicated..."

Jeremy Scahill is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!.

from Monday March 17th, 2008.