Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated]
by Jeremy Scahill
![Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated]](/images/Blackwater-The-Rise-of-the-World-Most-Powerful-Mercenary-Army-Revised-and-Updated-156858394X-L.jpg)
List Price:
Our Price: $4.51
You Save: $12.44 (73%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.55 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jeremy ScahillEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-26
ISBN: 156858394X
Number of pages: 452
Publisher: Nation Books
Book Reviews of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated]
Book Review: Interesting, but the real question remains unanswered
Summary: 3 Stars
A well-researched book that provides much interesting background, but the author's personal convictions (to which he is of course fully entitled) tend to get in the way of objective reporting.
Most readers will remain unconvinced, for instance, by the stark contrast between the many misdeeds of evil mercenaries and trigger-happy US soldiers on the one hand and "the bold resistance of Fallujah's residents" (page 141) on the other. Note also that everything the US government and military spokesmen say is "propaganda", while Al-Jazeera is exclusively engaged in "reporting".
What exactly is the problem with Blackwater and other firms like it?
Up until a couple of centuries ago, when (so-called "civilized") nations went to war, private contractors took care of supply and transport. In many armies civilian drivers and their teams of horses brought the field guns right up to the firing line; only when they were in position did the artillerymen take over.
This approach obviously had its drawbacks, and by the twentieth century the military, generally speaking, had taken over all the logistic and other services it needed. Large conscript armies had the manpower to do so, and it was not really a waste of resources if a poorly paid conscript with only basic training spent his time in the army sorting underwear in sizes.
Now the pendulum has swung back again and the Pentagon (soon to be followed by the defence departments of other nations) is contracting out all sorts of activities, which sometimes involve carrying guns.
Enter the "mercenaries". However, this term is not particularly helpful if we want to understand the phenomenon; as is clear from Scahill's description, today's private military contractor is a very different animal. Their operations are run from gleaming corporate headquarters, not from some seedy corner caf? in Charleroi (Belgium) as was the case 30 or 40 years ago.
Also, the PMC firms in the US want to be as closely associated with the government and the armed forces as possible - as Scahill explains - and are in that respect almost comparable to the French Foreign Legion or the Gurkha battalions in the British army. Unlike with the condottieri of old, there clearly is no danger that they will suddenly leave or change sides in the middle of a campaign.
The people who run these firms are also smart enough to realize that their industry needs to be regulated, and that all forms of excess need to be avoided, if they want to win long-term acceptance from governments and the public. Why Scahill takes it as a given that this is mere window dressing to hide unspecified sinister designs is not made clear.
Finally, Scahill also takes it for granted that it should be deeply worrying to the reader that the people behind Blackwater are devout Christians. Now I would agree that people who believe that they have a direct line to God should be prevented somehow from holding public office, but I don't think, in reason, that they can be kept out of the private sector as well.
The real question to be answered is: are PMCs providing value for money? Are they getting the job done?
If you consider, for example, the excruciating slowness, pharaonic costs and dismal results of various UN operations in the recent past, PMCs could certainly offer an alternative worth thinking about, even if there are all sorts of political, ethical and practical problems to be sorted out.
For further reading, I recommend "Making a Killing" by James Ashcroft, an interesting account by a British PMC of his experiences in Iraq.
More Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated] reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Newest Review
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Newest Review
Business & Investing Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Books That Will Raise Your Consciousness
The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Authorby Richard Dawkins
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.71
Price in other shops:
God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Existby Victor J. Stenger
Prometheus Books; Published: 2008-04-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.63
Price in other shops:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)by John Milton
Penguin Classics; Published: 2003-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Anxiety, Phobias, and Panicby Reneau Z. Peurifoy
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2005-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.74
Price in other shops:
The Anti-Christby Friedrich Nietzsche
Wilder Publications; Published: 2008-04-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
I May Not Be Totally Perfect, but Parts of Me Are Excellent (Brilliant Thoughts Series No 1)by Ashleigh Brilliant
Brilliant Enterprises; Published: 1997-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
World as Will & Idea (Everyman's Library (Paper))by Arthur Schopenhauer
Everyman Paperbacks; Published: 1995-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops:
The Portable Nietzsche (Viking Portable Library)by Friedrich Nietzsche
Penguin Books; Published: 1977-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.46
Price in other shops:
Ethics (Penguin Classics)by Benedict de Spinoza
Penguin Classics; Published: 2005-07-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.94
Price in other shops:
Beyond Good and Evil (Penguin Classics)by Friedrich Nietzsche
Penguin Classics; Published: 2003-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Fair Game: How a Top CIA Agent Was Betrayed by Her Own Governmentby Valerie Plame Wilson
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.31
Price in other shops:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Manby John Perkins
Plume; Published: 2005-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10by Marcus Luttrell
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2009-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.08
Price in other shops:
Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Updated Edition (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)by P. W. Singer
Cornell University Press; Published: 2007-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on Americaby Chris Hedges
Free Press; Published: 2008-01-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.93
Price in other shops:
The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the Worldby John Perkins
Plume; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.45
Price in other shops:
Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Teamby Michael Smith
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2008-03-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.23
Price in other shops:
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriotby Naomi Wolf
Chelsea Green Publishing; Published: 2007-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terrorby Robert Young Pelton
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2007-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalismby Naomi Klein
Picador; Published: 2008-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.74
Price in other shops: