Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill

Aug 06, 2009 Eric_W rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: current-affairs

Addendum 8/6/09: Erik Prince accused of murder. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817...

I had no idea the depth of antagonism toward the Clinton election evinced by such stalwarts as Scalia, Colson, Dobson, et al who, in public statements, suggested that any ruler, elected or otherwise, who was not following the divine mandate as they understood it to be, deserved to be overthrown, violently if necessary. The level of their vitriol is astonishing. Place the rise of Erick Prinz's private army, th...more
Addendum 8/6/09: Erik Prince accused of murder. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817...

I had no idea the depth of antagonism toward the Clinton election evinced by such stalwarts as Scalia, Colson, Dobson, et al who, in public statements, suggested that any ruler, elected or otherwise, who was not following the divine mandate as they understood it to be, deserved to be overthrown, violently if necessary. The level of their vitriol is astonishing. Place the rise of Erick Prinz's private army, the Blackwater folks, and you have a scarry scenario, since Prinz and his family were in the forefront of support for these guys.

Support for privatization of military support had begun with Cheney and Rumsfeld long before their Bush the 2nd years as they reduced the military budget. Cheney's connections to Halliburton and KBR made his motivation suspect since they would be primary beneficiaries of government largess for such a scheme. There is no question that the Blackwater "mercenaries" (I think they meet the standard definition of the word and Blackwater hired many non-US nationals, so why quibble unless you are trying to obfuscate.)

The biggest concern I have after reading this book is that the United States government had ceded foreign policy to a corporate entity. Clearly, the Blackwater folks had a very broad mandate in their charge to protect civilians. They could interpret that charge in any way they saw fit and we all know that a good offense is the best defense. The military, whose soldiers made about a fifth of the mercenary salary, were often forced to come to the aid of the Blackwater folks who might have begun a larger engagement in a situation, where, for policy reasons, the US government or military did not want to engage troops. That the mercenaries had been specifically exempted from the standard rules of engagement which applied to the military could only make things worse. This included the use of non-standard weapons. One Blackwater type admitted to using "blended metal bullets" which made virtually any impact fatal.

In its infinite wisdom, the administration (Bremer) decided to make contractors immune from any prosectution for crimes committeed while in Iraq while performing their role under contract. That gave them virtual license to do whatever they wanted since Bremer had also ruled that the Uniform Code of Military Justice also did not apply. In addition, Congress and the administration permitted them to conduct their business in secret (since they were private companies) and even managed to vote down an anti-war-profteering bill proposed by Senator Leahy. Now think about that, they were saying, in essence, go ahead and make all the money you want, however you want, and screww the government all you want, because we say it's OK.

Let's face it, it's all about money. Rumsfeld and Cheney wanted most of the cost of the war off the books, they didn't want any kind of draft that would have forced the US to take a close look at their policies, they wanted their companies (Halliburton and Blackwater - a major Republican contributor) to make a shitload of money, which they have. Not only that, but these private armies became instruments of hidden policy. The "Caspian Guard" operation used Blackwater troops to guard the oil pipeline through Georgia (after the US helped to subvert the government of Eduard Amvrosiyevich Shevardnadze during the so called Rose Revolution in favor of Mikheil Nikolozis dze Saakashvili because the former wasn't pro-US enough.) Using these private armies, I believe, carries significant risks for the United States. Should they be attacked, it's most likely whatever administration is in power would come under enormous pressure to send in the troops. Not only that, but the companies insist they are not responsible for benefits for the families of those killed while under contract. That's the US government's job. So we get screwed twice.

It's time for a serious debate on the role of private contractors as instruments of foreign policy, and I suggest it may go beyond the military's impact. Clearly corporations with a large presence in a foreign country will have a decidedly different view of US hegemony and imperialism than Washington.

So here I am reading this book and a thought springs to mind. What organization in the United States would have the manpower, the most to lose, the true belief, and the money to engage in regime change in the United States. Blackwater? Nah, I must be just paranoid, right?

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Jul 11, 2007 Joshua rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people with a conscience

Okay, first some literary criticism. And I hate to do this, because I saw Jeremy Scahill speak a few months ago and I genuinely liked him. He's brilliant, he obviously knows what's going on in the world, he's a first-class investigative journalist, a crusader for the truth, and I sincerely applaud him for what he does. But, though the story of Blackwater is gripping, chilling, and more than just a little sinister (more on that later), I have to honestly say that carrying around this book and rea...more Okay, first some literary criticism. And I hate to do this, because I saw Jeremy Scahill speak a few months ago and I genuinely liked him. He's brilliant, he obviously knows what's going on in the world, he's a first-class investigative journalist, a crusader for the truth, and I sincerely applaud him for what he does. But, though the story of Blackwater is gripping, chilling, and more than just a little sinister (more on that later), I have to honestly say that carrying around this book and reading it over the course of about a month was more of a burden than a joy. Yes, of course there's nothing about it that should make one feel joy, and maybe it had more to do with my state of mind at the time, but something about the actual style and mode of writing turned me off. Fact thrown upon fact thrown upon fact, reinforced by supporting facts, and somewhat long and convoluted digressions of even more facts thrown in just to make sure the reader is paying attention. Yes, we get it, you did your research. But the story itself--and the dramatic pacing specifically--suffer because of this never-ending barrage of facts. Yes, again, I understand this is nonfiction--not the latest Michael Crichton political thriller--and maybe others feel differently, but reading this book was like trudging through mud, or wading in quicksand, or stumbling up all 108 flights of stairs in the Sears Tower dragging a ball and chain: you know it's going to be cool when you get to the top and finally grasp the enormity of the panoramic landscape spread out before you, but it was one tough climb getting there.

Maybe I'm being too critical. I sure hope Mr. Scahill doesn't read this. Don't get me wrong, I am disturbed by the fact that our government is semi-secretly building a corporate army (the new "Praetorian Guard" as the author calls it) to loyally serve the far right, that this army seems so far to be impervious to any attempt to hold it accountable for its actions in the way that the actual military is (to some degree anyway), etc. (Even writing a review of this book has drained me to the point where I just throw an "et cetera" at the end of my sentence because I don't feel like going on anymore.) I'll end on this note: of all the frightening, alarming, horrific things this book touches upon, if one thing really stands out in my mind it is this: what incentive does a private, profit-driven mercenary army have to create and maintain peace and democracy, and to eradicate suffering and anarchy? Oh yeah, the same incentive that our current government has--none, to be exact. And that is scary. So, thank you Mr. Scahill for your hard work and dedication in exposing this story and bringing it to a mass audience. I promise I will never again say a bad word about you.(less)

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May 23, 2013 Jerome rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good book about subject matter that raises a lot of questions, but Scahill doesn't always do a satisfactory job of answering them.

Scahill has done his best to penetrate the veil of secrecy that surrounds Blackwater and its operations, and has probably done as good a job as anyone could in the circumstances. But he's better at the small-scale stuff (the story of how a bunch of Chilean Blackwater recruits ended up fighting an American war in Iraq, for instance) than he is at the big-picture cont...more A good book about subject matter that raises a lot of questions, but Scahill doesn't always do a satisfactory job of answering them.

Scahill has done his best to penetrate the veil of secrecy that surrounds Blackwater and its operations, and has probably done as good a job as anyone could in the circumstances. But he's better at the small-scale stuff (the story of how a bunch of Chilean Blackwater recruits ended up fighting an American war in Iraq, for instance) than he is at the big-picture context, and that's what ended up making this a disappointing read for me. I learned a lot about Blackwater and its founder, Erik Prince.

This book is pretty one-sided for the most part. This is probably since Blackwater is so secretive, and because few of Blackwater's people wanted to do interviews with Scahill, which is a shame, since then we pretty much only hear Scahill's side of the story.

Scahill shockingly omits the fundamentally important fact that the overwhelming majority of contractors doing security and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan are Iraqis and Afghans - the very people who should be doing security in reconstruction in their own country. While military operations certainly have their place in stability operations, it is wages and capacity building from the stability operations industry are the building blocks for long term state viability.

Also while the U.S. military is designed to be the most capable organization in the world, it is not really designed to be cost-effective. It is estimated that the Pentagon was paying $15-25,000 per month per soldier in Iraq. Contractors, brought in to support the effort from a hundred different countries, bring remarkable cost effectiveness, capabilities and expertise. And yes, not surprisingly they cost far less than trained combat soldiers. There are tasks that only the military should be doing, but supporting the military can been done better and cheaper utilizing private services.

Phrases such as " ...unloading cartridges of ammo..." (pages xii and 102) boggled my mind. My English teachers wouldn't have allowed such poor English in my papers. It's like saying "sandwiches of food." What did author Scahill mean by "..a heavy SAW machine gun with a 180-degree scope..." anyway? Did he mean "field of fire?" The M4 Carbine is properly referred to as either a carbine or a rifle--but not a "carbine rifle " (pages xxiii and 369).

Visual Flight Rules (VFR) was wrongly defined on page 240--under VFR pilots DO use instrumentation (turn and bank indicators, altimeter, gyro compass, magnetic compass, GPS navigation, rate-of-climb) much like they do under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)--but you need to ask a real pilot to explain the difference. The main difference is that VFR bans flying when visibility is too poor and IFR permits flying when VFR grounds aircraft.

But a bigger problem for me was Scahill's bias and sometimes misleading reporting. For example, Scahill quotes people comparing Blackwater to Hitler's SA brownshirts, which is laughable.

Scahill also finds it "scary" that Erik Prince is a Christian, and he calls Chuck Colson and Gary Bauer "militant Christian extremists." Scahill calls every Christian organization affiliated with Prince "extremists", but he never bothers to explain what supposedly makes them so extremist. Scahill pretends that Prince's Christian "connections" and viewpoints have serious implications, but he never bothers to explain what those implications are.

Scahill also accuses William Boykin, former undersecretary of defense for intelligence, of going on "anti-Muslim rants" in public speeches, but if you've ever studied any of those speeches, they are not anti-Muslim and were given in front of Christian audiences. Scahill also writes that Boykin was put in charge of hunting "high-value targets", which is not true, and has nothing to do with the position that Boykin occupied. After Scahill is done reporting his "facts", he utterly fails to connect them in any way whatsoever to the larger narrative about Blackwater. If Boykin had nothing to do with Blackwater, then Scahill's anti-Boykin's rants are distracting and utterly pointless.(less)

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Dec 11, 2007 Chad Walker rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2nd-life, history-politics

First, a little background on my own biases: I saw September 11th with my own eyes, and fully supported a military response (of whatever form necessary) to capture Osama bin Laden and break up Afghani training camps for Al-Qaeda. I opposed the invasion of Iraq from day one, though was happy to see one less dictator in the world who had committed genocide against a portion of his own population. I used to subscribe to The Nation, but eventually found its "reporting" to be wildly simplistic, dogma...more First, a little background on my own biases: I saw September 11th with my own eyes, and fully supported a military response (of whatever form necessary) to capture Osama bin Laden and break up Afghani training camps for Al-Qaeda. I opposed the invasion of Iraq from day one, though was happy to see one less dictator in the world who had committed genocide against a portion of his own population. I used to subscribe to The Nation, but eventually found its "reporting" to be wildly simplistic, dogmatic and plain uninteresting. I have interned for the UN in Rwanda, and read widely about international affairs.

This is a book on a fascinating topic, written moderately well. The question at its center - are we comfortable with the increasing privatization of our military, and all the attendant questions it raises - is a good one. Unfortunately, the author's answer is a foregone conclusion from page one, and the reader is expected to agree from the same starting point. This was frustrating, and this book did not answer my questions, merely emphasizing them. Often, the author cites DoD officials, leaders in the "private security contracting" industry, and political supporters as if the points they raise are so ridiculous they speak for themselves. If the reader is not beholden to a specific political agenda, but genuinely curious about these issues, I think s/he will find many times that these individuals will raise a good point. Scahill needed to argue clearly and concisely why the things they were saying were so offensive. Lots of research done for this book, but it did not quite up to the damning conclusion the author reaches.

If anything, the disaster in Iraq should prove that the world's emerging security threats cannot be solved through traditional military solutions. Many of the cases cited in the book, from Sierra Leone, to car bombings in the Middle East, to the ravages of Darfur, prove that the worst cases require new answers - more mobile, more efficient, more versatile forces, buoyed by more in-depth intelligence.

There are many questionable aspects to the rise of mercenary forces in the "war on terror." The fact that they sit outside of any legal jurisdiction for their actions is perhaps the most damning, especially when so many of these soldiers come from countries with notoriously bad human rights records. The amount of connections Blackwater (specifically) has with curious, secretive government initiatives (such as the readying of military bases all along the Caspian border countries) should get anyone's inner conspiracy theorist buzzing. The extreme religious outlook of its leaders, given the places its troops are primarily active, should give one pause as to the true motives of this company.

But like I mentioned, the overall effect of this is to raise some big questions - ones that the author assumes are answered from page one. In short, The Nation choir will sing its praises, but comes far short of claiming the conclusions it stakes out at the end. Still, it's well researched, dives deep into many of the questions at play, and should be read as a means of provoking discussion on an important topic.(less)

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Dec 06, 2007 Phil Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Perhaps the greatest enemy to the United States is its military-industrial complex. Add Christian fundamentalism into that mix, and a dash of stupid president, and one has the ingredients for our own downfall.

This book is already scary, and I'm only 20 pages into it. The author clearly has a liberal slant, but it is also clear he has done his homework (one can also compare his conclusions with current news on Blackwater).

In college, I once wrote a short story called Battle Corp. that dealt with...more

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Nov 30, 2008 Valerie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Valerie by: Jon Stewart

Shelves: hell-in-a-handbasket, tv-made-me-do-it

This book covers Iraq and mercenaries in great detail. However, I was unprepared for the section on Blackwater and Hurricane Katrina. The author makes the point that guns were on the ground long before humanitarian aid was deployed. I checked Blackwater's website and they claim to have donated time and effort, although they hide behind wording like 'in the first few days', leading one to believe this book's claim that they were well paid after those first few days. I was also disturbed by the po...more

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Apr 06, 2008 Wes rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

I picked up this book hoping it would provide some good basic information about Blackwater, with the understanding from the dust jacket that it likely would reach certain ultimate conclusions I might not agree with. In reality, the book provides only superficial information, merely regurgitating the reporting of several already-public incidents, then quoting supporters and detractors of Blackwater and similar private military companies. Mr. Scahill almost invariably characterizes statements from...more

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Jun 01, 2007 Nate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics, biography, own

Nation contributor Jeremy Scahill gives readers a terrifying examination of Blackwater, one of the world's largest and most powerful mercenary companies. Run by the Christian neocon Erik Prince, Blackwater has numerous ties to the Bush administration and has thousands of mercenaries operating in Iraq.

As the US army and public support for military operations are increasingly stretched thin, Blackwater has positioned itself as the perfect solution for the neocons...guns for hire that are not ac...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Ray rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Someone who seriously wants to learn about Blackwater

This was a difficult book to read. I don't think of myself as a Pollyanna, and I knew, in general, about Blackwater, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of money we taxpayers are paying to mercenaries. Nor was I prepared to learn how many people WANT to go to war and make money doing it . . . . it doesn't seem too much about fighting for good. I guess I am a Pollyanna.

I believe that the book was very well researched, and sometimes I felt like I was slogging through facts. The facts certainly o...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: political-conspiracy

One more way to monetize war…. Mercenaries have been around as long as recorded history. Private Armies for hire…… It was shocking to learn they are above the law and exempted from the military code of conduct……. The drop in quality of top tier operators once exclusively hired from US & UK Special Forces making a thousand dollars a day have fallen to 4th tier operators making $34.a day is extremely disturbing …….. The casualties’ counts of contractors are kept secret along with the number of...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Woot842 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

good book explaining what a PMC is and what they do. the book could do with some additonal editing and organization but overall an easy and compelling read. my honors thesis was onPMCs back in 2004 and what happened in iraq was, unfortunately, inevitable. every country that PMCs have operated in crap has hit the fan. thats what you get with privatizing violence, hiring mercenaries whose loyalty is questionable and whose actions tend to be disproportionate.

law is geared to cover criminal acts by...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Brandon Hund rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'd had this one sitting around for a bit before reading it - long enough to have forgotten about it and what the book jacket might have said about the nature of the book (yeah, the title doesn't hide much, but...) and to have come up with a lot of reasons to keep putting it off. It looked to be a sort of expose, which I'm not always fond of, with so many being entirely propagandistic or sensationalist. It is a sort of expose, and that is NOT a bad thing. I cornering myself into reading it, and...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Jeremy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Yes, I read the whole book. Painfully so.

No, I don't think it was worth my time or money.

Like many other reviewers, I bought this book hoping to get a historical perspective on the Blackwater company. Instead, I got a heavily biased opinion piece on the US Government's use of military contractors. Scahill cites many quotes and facts in his book, but most of these are from heavily biased liberal writers or publications, and most of these cited works are opinion pieces, not factual evidence. Worse...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Jennifer Abdo rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jennifer by: NPR, Democracy Now

These are just some notes on the book so far. If I finish it, I may summarize or review it.

Edit- Didn't finish it. Don't think I will. Content is good and I'm glad he put this out there (people need to know), but I heard him every time he went on NPR, Democracy Now or any other show, so reading the book seems a little repetitive. I gave this a low rating because I couldn't get through it, not because the subject was bad or I think Blackwater/ Xe is a great company or think that government contra...more

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Dec 13, 2010 Dennis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 16, 2010 david-baptiste rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jeremy Schahill i've seen read/talk a number of times here in his hometown, Milwaukee--a superb investigative reporter--this book really blew the lid off the formerly secretive world not only of Blackwater, but the entire spectrum of connectiosn that its founder, Erik Prince, is involved with--secret organizations as well as public--of right wing religious political funding, think tanks, organizing and lobbying efforts--a mixture of right wing Fundamentalist Christian (Protestant) groups, Cathol...more Jeremy Schahill i've seen read/talk a number of times here in his hometown, Milwaukee--a superb investigative reporter--this book really blew the lid off the formerly secretive world not only of Blackwater, but the entire spectrum of connectiosn that its founder, Erik Prince, is involved with--secret organizations as well as public--of right wing religious political funding, think tanks, organizing and lobbying efforts--a mixture of right wing Fundamentalist Christian (Protestant) groups, Catholic organizations of the right (Prince is a convert to Catholicism from his family's traditional Dutch Calvinist background) and secular Jewish neocons--a "theocon" gathering wielding huge power within all branches of the US Govt first under GW Bush and continuing under the current administration, which has gone on handing out huge contracts to Prince's various paramilitary & mercenary groups--Prince/Blackwater, like Cheney & Haliburton--among the first to get heavily involved in the security which is deemed de rigeur for the conditions under which "disaster capitalism" is increasingly practiced (see also re this Naomi Klein's masterpiece, THE SHOCK DOCTRINE; Klein & Scahill are both frequent contributors to The Nation)--a fascinating & harrowing read--Scahill goes deep into Prince's family background, with its long time involvement in politics, entrepreneurship (or entrah-pren-ewer" as Dubya wd say)--providing a historical context for the decades long planning, lobbying, funding that have gone into building up the powerhouse movement of right wing conservatism's goal of taking over the entire range of power structures within the USA--i'd give this book four and a half stars if i cd figure out how to make the half star others seem to be able to manage--the book's opening description of the appearance of four mutilated American "civilians" (soon exposed as "contractors, that innocuous word for mercenaries--hired by Blackwater--and the investigation that followed instituted by the family of one of the dead men--)-- hung from bridge in Fallujah--triggers this exploration of what led up to this world wide broadcast set of images--to all that has happened up to the time of the book's appearance--Scahill's work has continued being top level--he can often be found not only in the pages/online of The nation but is often seen giving updates on the horror show on Democracy Now! public access television news--(less)

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Oct 21, 2010 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a tough book to review: it's clearly the best-researched and most-complete work on its topic, but it is also very biased. Jeremy Scahill is a first-rate investigative journalist, of that I have no doubt, but he also has a clear anti-Blackwater, anti-Prince family agenda to sell, and he wastes not a single word selling it here. While Scahill claims he requested interviews with Erik Prince and other Blackwater executives and was refused any such interviews, this is about as close to approa...more This is a tough book to review: it's clearly the best-researched and most-complete work on its topic, but it is also very biased. Jeremy Scahill is a first-rate investigative journalist, of that I have no doubt, but he also has a clear anti-Blackwater, anti-Prince family agenda to sell, and he wastes not a single word selling it here. While Scahill claims he requested interviews with Erik Prince and other Blackwater executives and was refused any such interviews, this is about as close to approaching the entire matter as in a non-biased manner as Scahill comes. There are numerous instances which, if they happened exactly as Scahill reports, were clearly abuses of power by Blackwater contractors. However, since Scahill delights in dwelling on issues such has pages upon pages explaining how many thousands of dollars the Prince family has contributed to conservative and Republican causes over the years, it is at times difficult to trust him. I am no fan of, in example, Focus on the Family (conservative Christian non-profit group) but Erik Prince has every right to donate some of his ample wealth to this group—just as, say, Barbra Streisand has every right to donate some of her ample wealth to liberal causes. I could have done without Scahill's extensive efforts to prove (over and over again) how conservative the Prince family and Blackwater's high administration are: I don't think their politics really surprise anyone. The focus should be fully on the work of Blackwater and where there were scandals and valid questions about that work.

Another issue I had with this book was how often Scahill would abandon a topic he brought up (often for something less interesting at that) such as when he starts to make connections between Blackwater and the CIA's rendition flights then, after he admits he really doesn't have any clear evidence to support his musings, simple drops the topic altogether. I would be willing to listen to Scahill's theories and see what dots he tries to connect even if lacking complete evidence given how murky a topic this is in the first place, but for him to bring something up then really not flesh it out as fully as possible was irksome. In Trevor Paglen's writing on rendition, Paglen often admits that only so many facts are availible and expectedly, a lot of conjecture must be entertained. Anyone interested in black ops will understand that, yeah, when dealing with secret projects such is expected. In contrast, Scahill seems to bring up numerous issues simply to further taint Blackwater's image; had someone who worked for Blackwater ran over a possum driving home from work or torn the little tag off their mattress, I suspect Scahill would have included that too.

The good of the book though is most of it is very well-researched and it brings up a lot of seperate incidents where Blackwater operatives engaged in actions which either got themselves or innocent bystanders killed, and often (apparently) because Blackwater couldn't be bothered with proper security or fully taking necessary measures to ensure mission safety. If you are interested in Blackwater/Xe or the war in Iraq in general even, this is a good place to start. Alas, there is nothing truly unbiased: you either get Blackwater's own stance on themselves or you get a book like this which is fully opposed to nearly everything about the company. A good 150 pages could have been trimmed out of this book and it would have contained all the key information and seemed less the vehicle of an agenda against Blackwater and more like a journalist's unbiased account.(less)

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Jun 01, 2010 AdultNonFiction Teton County Library rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

Teton County Library Call No: 355.354 SCAHILL
Kevin's rating: 5 stars

The United States has involved itself in two major wars in the Middle East since 1991. Both conflicts witnessed a host of changes away from the more traditional methods the US had historically employed to fight its battles. Stealthy technology, cruise missiles, “smart” weaponry, unmanned drones, satellite communications, and real-time intelligence gathering all made the Iraq battlefields substantially different from those in Vie...more Teton County Library Call No: 355.354 SCAHILL
Kevin's rating: 5 stars

The United States has involved itself in two major wars in the Middle East since 1991. Both conflicts witnessed a host of changes away from the more traditional methods the US had historically employed to fight its battles. Stealthy technology, cruise missiles, “smart” weaponry, unmanned drones, satellite communications, and real-time intelligence gathering all made the Iraq battlefields substantially different from those in Vietnam, Korea, or during the two World Wars. In his book, Blackwat...more The United States has involved itself in two major wars in the Middle East since 1991. Both conflicts witnessed a host of changes away from the more traditional methods the US had historically employed to fight its battles. Stealthy technology, cruise missiles, “smart” weaponry, unmanned drones, satellite communications, and real-time intelligence gathering all made the Iraq battlefields substantially different from those in Vietnam, Korea, or during the two World Wars. In his book, Blackwater : the rise of the world’s most powerful mercenary army, Jeremy Scahill introduces his readers to yet another subtler difference: outsourcing.

Thoroughly researched and extremely well documented, Scahill’s Blackwater traces the origins of outsourcing, the contracting of various traditional government and military war-time responsibilities to private businesses. Many of the jobs outsourced to companies like Blackwater, the main “antagonist” in Scahill’s work, include providing security for “high value” diplomatic personnel working in or visiting a war zone, establishing security for key installations, transporting supplies within a war zone, escorting convoys between destinations, etc. These tasks once fell within the jurisdiction of the US military or a particular US government agency like the FBI or the US Secret Service, but no longer if firms like Blackwater continually have their way.

Scahill examines the origins of outsourcing, concepts and ideas first explored by senior officials of the Presidential administration of George H. W. Bush (including then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney) prior to the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Scahill demonstrates how their concepts of outsourcing grew in popularity during the Clinton years, and he shows his audience how outsourcing came into wide scale practice during the Iraq war from 2003- present, giving purpose for the existence of Blackwater and its competitors.

Proponents of outsourcing claim that private enterprise can perform certain jobs and complete many tasks in a more efficient, timely and concise manner than can a bureaucracy like the US State Department or the US military. Blackwater, as Scahill shows, was at the forefront of these efforts, an industry leader that was awarded dozens of US Government contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, many of them given to Blackwater with no-bid provisions. Scahill provides his readers numerous examples of situations where the US government opted to privatize an aspect of the Iraq war and turned the responsibility over to companies like Blackwater in an effort to save time and money and, as Scahill claims, often at the expense of the safety and effectiveness of Blackwater employees.

Scahill’s work follows the development and creation of Blackwater by its founder, former Navy SEAL Eric Prince, from its humble beginnings in rural North Carolina, to its first contracts with the US Government in Iraq. The culminating event in Scahill’s story is the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater contractors following an ambush on their inadequately protected supply convoy as it traveled through the Iraqi city of Fallujah in March of 2004. The subsequent publicity given to Blackwater after the incident gave the company’s name household recognition, and it will forever be linked to the Bush Administration’s War on Terror.

Blackwater is nothing less than a sweeping indictment of outsourcing, the Blackwater firm and its competitors, Eric Prince, and the “contractors” or mercenaries (many of them foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds and qualifications claims Scahill) operating within the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan on behalf of the US government. The Pentagon’s practice of outsourcing key war making practices to private companies is setting a dangerous precedent claims Scahill, one that will continually blur the line that should exist between private enterprise and the federal government, the so called military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned the nation about in his farewell address almost 50 years ago.

This was a great read. Sometimes I couldn’t put it down. Scahill does have his share of prejudices and axes to grind, and they will become readily apparent to any reader. Nevertheless, Scahill tells a very interesting story, one that at times will leave you amazed, angry, and surprised. I’d recommend it to any fan of military history or to anyone with an interest in political science. (less)

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Dec 17, 2009 Previous TCL Reviews rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The United States has involved itself in two major wars in the Middle East since 1991. Both conflicts witnessed a host of changes away from the more traditional methods the US had historically employed to fight its battles. Stealthy technology, cruise missiles, “smart” weaponry, unmanned drones, satellite communications, and real-time intelligence gathering all made the Iraq battlefields substantially different from those in Vietnam, Korea, or during the two World Wars. In his book, Blackwater :...more The United States has involved itself in two major wars in the Middle East since 1991. Both conflicts witnessed a host of changes away from the more traditional methods the US had historically employed to fight its battles. Stealthy technology, cruise missiles, “smart” weaponry, unmanned drones, satellite communications, and real-time intelligence gathering all made the Iraq battlefields substantially different from those in Vietnam, Korea, or during the two World Wars. In his book, Blackwater : the rise of the world’s most powerful mercenary army, Jeremy Scahill introduces his readers to yet another subtler difference: outsourcing.
Thoroughly researched and extremely well documented, Scahill’s Blackwater traces the origins of outsourcing, the contracting of various traditional government and military war-time responsibilities to private businesses. Many of the jobs outsourced to companies like Blackwater, the main “antagonist” in Scahill’s work, include providing security for “high value” diplomatic personnel working in or visiting a war zone, establishing security for key installations, transporting supplies within a war zone, escorting convoys between destinations, etc. These tasks once fell within the jurisdiction of the US military or a particular US government agency like the FBI or the US Secret Service, but no longer if firms like Blackwater continually have their way.
Scahill examines the origins of outsourcing, concepts and ideas first explored by senior officials of the Presidential administration of George H. W. Bush (including then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney) prior to the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Scahill demonstrates how their concepts of outsourcing grew in popularity during the Clinton years, and he shows his audience how outsourcing came into wide scale practice during the Iraq war from 2003- present, giving purpose for the existence of Blackwater and its competitors.

Proponents of outsourcing claim that private enterprise can perform certain jobs and complete many tasks in a more efficient, timely and concise manner than can a bureaucracy like the US State Department or the US military. Blackwater, as Scahill shows, was at the forefront of these efforts, an industry leader that was awarded dozens of US Government contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, many of them given to Blackwater with no-bid provisions. Scahill provides his readers numerous examples of situations where the US government opted to privatize an aspect of the Iraq war and turned the responsibility over to companies like Blackwater in an effort to save time and money and, as Scahill claims, often at the expense of the safety and effectiveness of Blackwater employees.

Scahill’s work follows the development and creation of Blackwater by its founder, former Navy SEAL Eric Prince, from its humble beginnings in rural North Carolina, to its first contracts with the US Government in Iraq. The culminating event in Scahill’s story is the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater contractors following an ambush on their inadequately protected supply convoy as it traveled through the Iraqi city of Fallujah in March of 2004. The subsequent publicity given to Blackwater after the incident gave the company’s name household recognition, and it will forever be linked to the Bush Administration’s War on Terror.
Blackwater is nothing less than a sweeping indictment of outsourcing, the Blackwater firm and its competitors, Eric Prince, and the “contractors” or mercenaries (many of them foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds and qualifications claims Scahill) operating within the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan on behalf of the US government. The Pentagon’s practice of outsourcing key war making practices to private companies is setting a dangerous precedent claims Scahill, one that will continually blur the line that should exist between private enterprise and the federal government, the so called military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned the nation about in his farewell address almost 50 years ago.

This was a great read. Sometimes I couldn’t put it down. Scahill does have his share of prejudices and axes to grind, and they will become readily apparent to any reader. Nevertheless, Scahill tells a very interesting story, one that at times will leave you amazed, angry, and surprised. I’d recommend it to any fan of military history or to anyone with an interest in political science.

Teton County Library Call No: 355.354 SCAHILL
Review by: Kevin Chatham(less)

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Jun 17, 2009 Trevor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, social-theory

There is little need for me to do a review of this one as the review that encouraged me to read it in the first place pretty well sums up my feelings about it too: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... Another excellent review by my mate Eric.

Now, one of the recent books I have read called Mistakes Were Made, but not by me points out that the most dangerous people in the world are people who have high self-esteem and they are at their most dangerous when they are forced to do bad things to p...more There is little need for me to do a review of this one as the review that encouraged me to read it in the first place pretty well sums up my feelings about it too: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... Another excellent review by my mate Eric.

Now, one of the recent books I have read called Mistakes Were Made, but not by me points out that the most dangerous people in the world are people who have high self-esteem and they are at their most dangerous when they are forced to do bad things to powerless people. You might think that there may well be a parallel here – given that it is possible that the US is the nation with the highest apparent ‘self-esteem’ in the world and in Iraq they are dealing with people of very limited power to retaliate.

I thought about this a lot during this book – I also thought that the people who set up Blackwater are fundamentalist Christians and I thought it might be a good thing to say something along the lines that when people who have very strict moral standards are confronted with people who have different moral standards the first group of people often tend to do incredibly nasty things to the second group of people if they can get away with it.

But what I find most fascinating is that these ‘faith-based’ organisations – and, believe it or not, Blackwater is ‘faith-based’ – almost invariably do things (even to their ‘friends’) that simply cannot be considered moral in any sense. These people are low-life, pure and simple.

I used to think that people would need to be able to believe something before they could espouse it. Let’s stay with Christianity for a moment and its links to free market economics. You know, Jesus Christ didn’t really say very much about economics, but one of the things he did say was that the rich will have a rather hard time getting into the kingdom of heaven – something like a camel struggling through the eye of a needle. And he said that if you want to be good you should follow his example and give everything you own to the poor.

The only quote by him that seems to justify the right wing excesses that his religion seems inspire is perhaps “The poor are with you always” – as an excuse for him getting pampered for a while with essential oils and such. Even great men are allowed a moment of weakness, I guess. But honestly, the whole kill or be killed, an eye for a tooth, make money at any cost, stomp on your brother before he stomps on you – is so opposite to the clear message of Christ that it is hard to know how these guys like Prince and Black can live with the dissonance.

The other interesting thing is how often these guys say things like, private armies are more effective and cheaper than regular armies. Naturally, no proof is required and the US government hides the figures so no one can check – a clear indication that there is something worth hiding. They also quote the US founding fathers whenever possible, but never that crap Washington came off with about never telling a lie – what was that guy on, anyway?

This is another deeply disturbing book in the mode of Blowback, Failed States and The Shock Doctrine. Although not as disturbing as The Shock Doctrine (even when they cover the same territory) this is still a confronting read.
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May 11, 2009 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Scahill's book accomplishes what a few different genres can do well. First of all, it describes with journalistic precision and brutality what war is like on the ground. In the case of Iraq, the impression you get is one of tedium and boredom as much as the terror and excitement of living in the maw of death. It also has that Nation-esque documentation of corporate abuses, and an unflinching determination to follow the money that pays the perpetrators of the Iraq War (and other places). I read t...more

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May 05, 2009 DoctorM rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: military

When I was a boy, I did want to be a mercenary soldier one day--- I'll admit that. And in grad school I wrote extensively about Fritz Redlich's idea of the "military entrepreneur" in the late 16th/early 17th.-c. So I dislike seeing "mercenary" always used as a pejorative. That said, I'll say that Jeremy Scahill's "Blackwater" gets points for reportage, for his interviews and legwork. "Blackwater", unlike P.W. Singer's "Corporate Warriors" sets out to be an expose rather than a work of analysis,...more When I was a boy, I did want to be a mercenary soldier one day--- I'll admit that. And in grad school I wrote extensively about Fritz Redlich's idea of the "military entrepreneur" in the late 16th/early 17th.-c. So I dislike seeing "mercenary" always used as a pejorative. That said, I'll say that Jeremy Scahill's "Blackwater" gets points for reportage, for his interviews and legwork. "Blackwater", unlike P.W. Singer's "Corporate Warriors" sets out to be an expose rather than a work of analysis, and Scahill is a fine reporter. He just hasn't been able to get beyond his need to Find the Bad Guys. "Blackwater" is a polemic, and Scahill far too often forgets the data his research has uncovered to Find the Bad Guys.

Companies like Blackwater (now re-named) developed in order to sell technical training to police and military, and only second to provide armed security and direct military service. As the US (and other) militaries downsized in the 1990s, private contractors filled in the gaps in training and technical services and provided things like diplomatic security details and bodyguards that armies no longer had the manpower to do. Governments liked not having to pay overhead costs--- no training, no pensions, no recruitment costs, no maintenance. This is the MBA "just-in-time" idea: hardly the right-wing conspiracy Scahill imagines.

Scahill overstates the sheer size of Blackwater and other companies' presence in war zones. There may well have been up to 100,000 private contractors in Iraq, but few of those are armed men. Most are transport and logistics personnel. By his own figures, there were at most 2300 Blackwater armed men ('trigger-pullers') worldwide. Screening personnel, assuring adherence to contracts, auditing expenses--- those are all legitimate issues, and Scahill rightly points out abuses and failings. But private military contractors require State Dept. licenses, and since 2007 military contractors in war zones are subject to the UCMJ, to military courts. Whatever the problems with private companies such as Blackwater, Scahill is simply wrong in seeing them as a threat to democracy and a deep, nefarious conspiracy. (less)

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Nov 11, 2012 Ru rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Though sometimes dubious in its objectivity, this is still a grand accounting of the successes & failures of Blackwater USA (today known as Academi). Towards the end of this book, there is a statement which I think summarizes quite nicely what Blackwater is: it is to the U.S. military what the FedEx is to the United States Postal Service. It doesn't intend to replace it, it just offers an alternative. If the American military is bogged down in a set of rules of engagement, Blackwater forces...more Though sometimes dubious in its objectivity, this is still a grand accounting of the successes & failures of Blackwater USA (today known as Academi). Towards the end of this book, there is a statement which I think summarizes quite nicely what Blackwater is: it is to the U.S. military what the FedEx is to the United States Postal Service. It doesn't intend to replace it, it just offers an alternative. If the American military is bogged down in a set of rules of engagement, Blackwater forces may not necessarily face those same restrictions.

On that premise, though, difficulties do arise; some Blackwater personnel break rules & laws & embrace a mercenary mentality where they feel they are free from repercussions, which is not the case. However, as in any large group, this is still a very small number of individuals and not a systemic failure of what Blackwater provides as a corporation. And, just as a large corporation will do, they do attempt to protect themselves from legal wranglings that would bring their entire business to its knees. This is no different in any other industry, & important to note that it isn't limited to military forces. On that same point, members of the U.S. military who break the law are provided legal counsel & are also prosecuted; there is no major difference between the two entities, in my opinion, as this book attempts to suggest.

There is the requisite amount of demonization of conservatism and the fact that Prince as the founder of Blackwater must work from an agenda, but this argument, as always, goes nowhere. At the core, Blackwater is a business; all businesses are nurtured with the hopes of growth. If Blackwater is a success, which it obviously is, then that growth fulfills a need. If political or religious values sustained that growth, then that's hardly a fault. It is true that Blackwater has succeeded because of the political climate over the early 2000's, but not on that sole basis. It was also a "new" concept for politicians, who did not exactly shun Blackwater's services, even if they weren't in favor of them.

For an alternate perspective to wartime activity on the outskirts of active government participation, this book definitely covers an exceptional amount of ground.(less)

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Dec 08, 2008 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2008, books-i-own

The first couple hundred pages were great, and then you could definitely see a steady decline for the rest of the book. I skipped the last 30 pages because it was that bad at the end. Although I was disappointed with a good portion of it, it's definitely worth getting from the library if you want to explore specific chapters, as the book is written in a format well suited to the task. Just don't pay the price for a new hardback copy.

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Mar 09, 2010 Cwn_annwn_13 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: from-public-library

This gives a history and account of various misdeeds by Blackwater and their born ultra-rich right wing Christian kook founder Erik Prince. It goes in depth with the infamous Fallujah incident where "civilian contractors" (actually they were former Special Forces guys working for Blackwater) were ambushed, yanked out of the car, burnt alive and their corpses were hung from a Fallujah bridge. It looked like an inside job set up to me when I first saw the incident in the news a few years back and...more This gives a history and account of various misdeeds by Blackwater and their born ultra-rich right wing Christian kook founder Erik Prince. It goes in depth with the infamous Fallujah incident where "civilian contractors" (actually they were former Special Forces guys working for Blackwater) were ambushed, yanked out of the car, burnt alive and their corpses were hung from a Fallujah bridge. It looked like an inside job set up to me when I first saw the incident in the news a few years back and now I am even more convinced. Between it being a last minute assignment, at least one of the guys was in the doghouse with higher ups, the Iraqis not only had a camera there to record the whole event but they had an anti-American sign written up in ENGLISH all ready to show. Plus Bush was on the campaign trail so this would fire up all the dumb rednecks in the States and they needed this as propaganda to justify going full bore into Fallujah. Sorry but the Blackwater/Fallujah incident was a blatant Psy-Op.

Another shocking thing was how politically clueless some of these Blackwater mercenaries seemed to be. There was one where he thought Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and another was quoted as saying if he was going to die it would be "out with a bang", "defending his country". Somebody please explain to me what the hell shooting at a bunch of Arab hillbillies on the other side of the world has to do with defending America? Put Blackwater on the Mexican border might be of use for defending America but that will never happen because they are really a globalist goon squad that pimp patriotism to morons when its convenient.

Probably the scariest thing is Blackwater is angling to be some sort of global mercenary "peacekeeping" force for the United Nations. If there is a problem area, instead of sending in Nato, or UN forces to the Sudan or where ever they send in Blackwater. But really corporate goon squads for the "elite" are nothing new (ever heard of the Pinkertons?) but Blackwater may end up like America as a whole, a snake eating its own tail out of their lust for short term greed. They already are using a significant number of soldiers from third world nations because they are cheaper to hire. This book does have a big left wing bias but I actually think only a leftist would write a realistic book on Blackwater. I can only imagine the garbage a book about Blackwater would be if it had been written by a Neo-Con Republican.

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Apr 13, 2009 dr. matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

overall i found the book informative and important to understanding the current state of things in iraq and elsewhere. most of what i would say has already been said by other reviewers so i will just point out 2 aspect of the book that stuck out to me.
1. it seems to me that of all the mercenary contractor companies discussed in the book, Blackwater seems to be the most professional and the one that most adheres to some sort of "ethical" and/or "patriotic" guidelines. that's not to say i am a fan...more

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Sep 09, 2010 Todd rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is full of double standards and petty fault finding. I do believe there is an issue with rampant government contracting, but Scahill picks at Blackwater like a sibling annoyed with his little brother-- EVERYTHING they do is WRONG.

He condemns Eric Prince for being a "theocon" who wants to make God have more of a roll in government, but then sees nothing wrong with Iraqi's praising God and talking about how God will kick the Americans out. The feeling I go is that religion is okay in a s...more

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Jan 16, 2010 Caitlin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Jeremy Scahill has an ax to grind and a certain amount of bias shows through in this expose of Blackwater's corporate army. That said, the book is well-researched, reasonably well-written and will definitely switch your paranoia on.

The book takes you through the creation of Blackwater and the background of its CEO, Eric Prince, a neo-conservative Evangelical Christian who believes that he is fighting the Crusades. It's clear that Scahill believes that Blackwater is evil and I can't say that I di...more Jeremy Scahill has an ax to grind and a certain amount of bias shows through in this expose of Blackwater's corporate army. That said, the book is well-researched, reasonably well-written and will definitely switch your paranoia on.

The book takes you through the creation of Blackwater and the background of its CEO, Eric Prince, a neo-conservative Evangelical Christian who believes that he is fighting the Crusades. It's clear that Scahill believes that Blackwater is evil and I can't say that I disagree with him. I'm pretty uncomfortable with the notion of outsourcing wars and mercenary armies make me think uncomfortably of the Italian city states in the 10th to 15th century and their constant state of warfare funded by citizens and waged by mercenary bands.

I do have some quibbles with this book. The focus is almost entirely on Blackwater's involvement in Iraq with a few ancillary chapters on their involvement in other localities. I would have liked a broader view of the company and its activities. While his chapter on Blackwater's man on the ground in Chile is interesting, Scahill misses an incredible opportunity to trace the history of US involvement in Central and South America and the teaching of torture at the Academy of the Americas and frankly doesn't do a good enough job of explicating these mercenary's ties to the Pinochet government and why that is problematic. There is another missed opportunity in the chapter on Blackwater after Katrina - to observe that we had boots on the ground with guns on the Gulf Coast before there was humanitarian aid is disturbing, but again I would have liked more information about this and an analysis of how outsourcing is impacting our disaster relief efforts. Lastly, I found myself wishing Scahill was a business reporter - I think there's a big story in where the money is coming from and where it's going and I don't think this is explored well.

Overall this is an interesting book, but very topical. Three years after its publication it is beginning to show its age and in another three years it'll be creaky. I think Scahill has done a great job of investigative reporting, but less well on contextualizing his subject matter.(less)

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Mar 24, 2012 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I'm even more troubled about the direction the US is heading now that I've read Blackwater. It's extremely disturbing, to say the least, to learn that we've not only outsourced the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to private security contractors, but we're now allowing them unprecedented power to take on domestic security under the guise of "relief" efforts. There is absolutely no oversight for private security contractors and yet they expect to have the same blanket protection that our men and w...more

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Feb 10, 2009 JC rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't even know where to begin! This isn't really the kind of book you like or dislike. It is a book you pick up because you are intrigued by the back cover. If your interest is piqued enough to buy it then you will most likely find it informative, enlightening and kinda scary.

It has a good balance of action, history and current information. Because it is a documentary of a war that is being fought in an age of instant information, it has the added dimension of allowing the reader to look at...more

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