Edwards and Obama on the Blackwater Scandal

Here are statements from John Edwards and Barack Obama on the Blackwater scandals.

Edwards

"The recent incidents of violence involving Blackwater contractors in Iraq, including the shooting of Iraqi civilians in Baghdad last month, have caused tremendous damage to America's battle for the hearts and minds of Iraqis," said Edwards. "These incidents hurt America's moral standing, both in Iraq and around the world. And they serve as a tragic reminder of how the Bush Administration has outsourced our military responsibilities to corporate contractors and political cronies who operate outside of the rules of engagement and without any meaningful oversight.

"As president, I will end our current system of outsourcing security missions to private contractors. It is imperative that we do so and return to an all-volunteer military that responds to the will of the American people."

Obama

"We cannot win a fight for hearts and minds when we outsource critical missions to unaccountable contractors," Obama said. "To add insult to injury, these contractors are charging taxpayers up to nine times more to do the same jobs as soldiers, a disparity that damages troop morale."

Obama said he authored an amendment to a bill that passed last week in the Senate that would force the Bush administration to describe the size and scope of private security contractors' work in Iraq.

"I've also proposed tougher government reform than any other candidate in this race -- reforms that would eliminate the kind of no-bid contracts that this administration has given to Blackwater," he said.

So basically Blackwater is hurting our moral standing in the world and they are not helping us win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi's. At the same time, Blackwater is fleecing the national treasury by charging taxpayers way more money than our brave troops earn.

Here's more info from Open Left.