A senior foreign policy adviser to leading Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has told The Nation that if elected Obama will not "rule out" using private security companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq. The adviser also said that Obama does not plan to sign on to legislation that seeks to ban the use of these forces in US war zones by January 2009, when a new President will be sworn in. Obama's campaign says that instead he will focus on bringing accountability to these forces while increasing funding for the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the agency that employs Blackwater and other private security contractors.
Both Obama and Clinton have been aggressive on private contractors, Obama probably more so than Clinton. Has this situation reversed itself? While Clinton has signed on to legislation to ban the use of Blackwater and other mercenary groups, Obama's position seems confusing. Where is he on the use of mercenaries?
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