Posted on 10/06/2007 7:08:56 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
AIKEN, S.C. - White House hopeful Barack Obama on Saturday said private security contractors in Iraq are raising the risk for U.S. troops because Iraqis don't distinguish between the forces.
He also criticized the pay disparity between soldiers and private contractors.
"You've got young men and women signing up to serve, willing to spill blood for America. How could they be treated less well than private contractors?" Obama told a crowd of more than 1,400 at a high school gymnasium in this early voting state.
"And these private contractors, they go out and they're spraying bullets and hitting civilians and that makes it more dangerous for our troops," Obama said.
Blackwater USA, the private contractor that provides heavily armed security for U.S. diplomats serving in Baghdad, has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. Security forces employed by the company are accused of killing 13 Iraqi civilians in a violent incident in central Baghdad last month. North Carolina-based Blackwater — which Obama did not mention by name — contends its employees came under fire first, but the Iraqi government and witnesses have disputed that, saying the guards opened fire without provocation.
Earlier Saturday in Ottawa, Ill., Obama told a crowd of about 600 that when "this war is over, we can finally get back to facing the challenges we face here at home, the challenges you're grappling with every day."
The first-term Illinois senator said the war now costs between $10 billion and $12 billion a month. He noted that President Bush had vetoed a $35 billion measure expanding a children's health program and wants almost $190 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama reminded the crowd of United Auto Workers members in Illinois and the crowd in Aiken that he opposed invading Iraq at a time when most other politicians — including chief rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards — supported it. Obama expressed his opposition in the fall of 2002 when he was a state senator and considering a run for the U.S. Senate.
"We need to ask those who voted for that war, 'How could we give the president a check and then be surprised when he decides to cash it?'" Obama told the South Carolina crowd.
He said he'd pull a division or two of U.S. troops out of Iraq every month and leave only enough there to do protect the embassy and diplomats.
Obama was to wrap up the evening at a Rock Hill, S.C., rally and attend church services Sunday in Greenville.
___
Associated Press writer Christopher Wills in Ottawa, Ill., contributed to this report.
Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, shares a laugh with Greenwood County, S.C., Council Woman, Edith Childs, right, whom he credited with giving him the idea for his popular 'Fire It Up,' campaign chant in a packed gymnasium at South Aiken High School, in Aiken, S.C., Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)
Another Idiot that thinks he is a General.
I guess his fax machine tied back to the DNC is running overtime. The talking points just keep coming in -— yes, bash anything about the war, even though it is clear you do not know a GD thing about it.
DemoRats - constantly making complete ass-clowns out of themselves. It’s easy. That is what they are, along with a host of other items.
They protected him when he was in Iraq.
Oh, yes. The soup lines, dust bowl, despair, and starvation that is America in 2007.
>said private security contractors in Iraq are raising the risk for U.S. troops
Good Lord, what an idiot.
This guy is too stupid to know that he doesn’t know snot about what he is talking about.
People like this in charge would lead to the deaths of a whole lot of Americans.
The founder of Blackwater has made it clear in interviews and editorials; their guards are paid by the ($550 - $650) day, they have no retirement, no health plan and they work only when needed and fired if they don’t perform. Furthermore, there are only about 1,000 of them in Iraq at any one time.
They do the routine, boring, VIP/convoy guard/escort work rather than combat patrols and assault, and when (30 so far) they get killed there are no angry letters written to congressmen or cynical crocodile tears from same.
They are a bargain.
this guy is outrageous. He’ll never become President (V.P. maybe, though unfortunately.
Boy are you right.
They are cheaper than normal troops..no real overhead and no long term commitment by the govt.
Hussein Osama Oboma is an idiot.
I got a problem with the crook in Illinois who served up the straw man sweetheart real estate deal . If she needs to Hillary can call in a favor for a sham indictment and drop this guy to the ground faster than Bill’s pants .
Easy for him to say, now that he’s surrounded by a phalanx of govt provided secret service men toting submachine guns.
Plus the fact that nearly all (I was surprised to learn there were only 1,000 or so) are former SEAL/Ranger/Recon so (while they need to be brought up to speed with certain tactics and equipment) they don’t need to be taught which end the buwwets come out of.
That’s so fast I had to read it twice.
Isn’t your name spelled Kubla?
The BlackWater Guards are brave, Obama best go prove himself along side them, or keep his ill informed comments to himself.
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