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astroneatly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
fast-paced
iacobus's review against another edition
2.0
I first looked at this book in 2007 and decided to pass after a short flip through. It seemed a bit like a hatchet job. A few years go by and I decided to give it a shot.
It seems like I was right.
The book presents a detailed documentation of all the bad things Blackwater has done or has been accused of doing, even when the proof is in the reader connecting the dots. Scahill has a political and ideological objection to Blackwater and this pervades the book.
The book felt flat as an analysis of Blackwater and the policy that leads to PMC. Is Blackwater/PMC a better solution to national natural disaster than a federal/state response? Is it better for the government to pass the liability and risk for private corporations then assume it themselves in war zones? Is it better/cheaper for the US armed forces to use PMC for logistics/guard tasks and increase the fraction of soldiers that are "soldiers?"
The book never gets into this issues. It's more interested in detailing how everything Blackwater has done has been bad or how all the people are "right wing Christian zealots."
On the surface, I'm sympathetic to Scahill's political views but his ideological stances on war, corporations, profit, anyone who is Christian, etc just left me sour.
On a final note: the writing is terrible. There are words that don't make sense where used (such as a 180 degree scope of fire), some inconsistency in language that highlights Scahill's bias (repeatedly calls an M4 carbine, a rifle, a machine gun) and is generally repetitive. Quotes are trotted out multiple times ("do for the pentagon what FedEx did to the post office" and slight variations seemed to occur ever 30 pages) and whole paragraphs/discussions seem to recur.
I'd recommend passing on this book. The same information would come from a Wikipedia search with much less bias. The book provides no meaningful policy analysis or insight beyond a partisan chronology.
It seems like I was right.
The book presents a detailed documentation of all the bad things Blackwater has done or has been accused of doing, even when the proof is in the reader connecting the dots. Scahill has a political and ideological objection to Blackwater and this pervades the book.
The book felt flat as an analysis of Blackwater and the policy that leads to PMC. Is Blackwater/PMC a better solution to national natural disaster than a federal/state response? Is it better for the government to pass the liability and risk for private corporations then assume it themselves in war zones? Is it better/cheaper for the US armed forces to use PMC for logistics/guard tasks and increase the fraction of soldiers that are "soldiers?"
The book never gets into this issues. It's more interested in detailing how everything Blackwater has done has been bad or how all the people are "right wing Christian zealots."
On the surface, I'm sympathetic to Scahill's political views but his ideological stances on war, corporations, profit, anyone who is Christian, etc just left me sour.
On a final note: the writing is terrible. There are words that don't make sense where used (such as a 180 degree scope of fire), some inconsistency in language that highlights Scahill's bias (repeatedly calls an M4 carbine, a rifle, a machine gun) and is generally repetitive. Quotes are trotted out multiple times ("do for the pentagon what FedEx did to the post office" and slight variations seemed to occur ever 30 pages) and whole paragraphs/discussions seem to recur.
I'd recommend passing on this book. The same information would come from a Wikipedia search with much less bias. The book provides no meaningful policy analysis or insight beyond a partisan chronology.
walden2ite's review
4.0
This was a truly horrifying and depressing look at the use of private armies by the U.S., their impunity and the myriad problems they have caused. This is a must read for anyone attempting to understand our recent foreign policy, and especially our history in Iraq.
mubeenirfan's review against another edition
4.0
Jeremy Scahill's first investigative journalism piece in book form is about the notorious Blackwater. This mercenary company is currently named Academi, was previously called Xe and was founded as Blackwater till their PR decided a need for re-branding due to reasons noted in detail in this book.
We, the Pakistanis, know about Blackwater because one of their Contractor was involved in a bloody shoot out (?) in Lahore. He killed 3 people who presumably were innocent (per their families) and was later released due to a diplomatic stand off regarding his immunity to crimes committed on Pakistani soil on account of him being a consular staff. As per my current knowledge he has not been charged in US courts for these killings.
But the book is not about Raymond Davis. It is about the rise of military contractors available for hire taking advantage of the US Governments through lobbying and wilful misconduct on part of key government officials in handing them Contracts of billions of dollars to provide training, security, logistics and protection of installations for US DOD and later State Department. Rise of neo-conservatism has resulted in these defence contractors to develop as self-functioning empires that they are today. Jeremy Scahill has dug deep into the roles of prominent functionaries of US Government who facilitated Blackwater to advance their own war agenda or to gain some monetary advantage for their own selves.
The book is heavy on sources and notes but that is what it should be when writing about such an incriminating topic. My only wish is for Mr. Scahill to update it for 2017 so that it is more relevant to current scenario where the famed Eric Prince is selling his services to the Governments of Middle East.
We, the Pakistanis, know about Blackwater because one of their Contractor was involved in a bloody shoot out (?) in Lahore. He killed 3 people who presumably were innocent (per their families) and was later released due to a diplomatic stand off regarding his immunity to crimes committed on Pakistani soil on account of him being a consular staff. As per my current knowledge he has not been charged in US courts for these killings.
But the book is not about Raymond Davis. It is about the rise of military contractors available for hire taking advantage of the US Governments through lobbying and wilful misconduct on part of key government officials in handing them Contracts of billions of dollars to provide training, security, logistics and protection of installations for US DOD and later State Department. Rise of neo-conservatism has resulted in these defence contractors to develop as self-functioning empires that they are today. Jeremy Scahill has dug deep into the roles of prominent functionaries of US Government who facilitated Blackwater to advance their own war agenda or to gain some monetary advantage for their own selves.
The book is heavy on sources and notes but that is what it should be when writing about such an incriminating topic. My only wish is for Mr. Scahill to update it for 2017 so that it is more relevant to current scenario where the famed Eric Prince is selling his services to the Governments of Middle East.
enelvee's review against another edition
4.0
These right wing nazi bastards can't go to jail fast enough.
nickel_is_neat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
I just wish that books like this didn't feel immediately out of date. It was a gripping but intense read.
nicolaspratt's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting, but a long and somewhat tedious read.
itsmytuberculosis's review against another edition
4.0
i explained this book to my mom in line as the post office and her reaction was, "that does not sound like something we should be doing. that sounds like bad guy behavior".
Blackwater: The Rise of the Bad Guy Behavior
This books starts with the rise of Blackwater and Eric Prince the founder. A guy who turns out to have help fund Hope College, where my parents both graduated. As well as Hillsdale College, the crazy libritarian college my grandpa donates to and wanted me to go to so badly. I tried to ask casually if maybe the reason my grandpa was so rich is that he was an investor in Blackwater but he seemed to not get my cues of asking, "What do you think about military contracting company Blackwater in Iraq" and then looking at him really dramatically.
Blackwater as a company is trying to create a private army that you as a company or nation state can hire a la the likes of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Since this books publication in 2007, Blackwater has changed their name several times, but for the sake of this review I am going to keep calling them Blackwater.
The rise of Blackwater really has to do with the Conservative Christian connections that Eric Prince had inside the Bush administration as well as with Paul Bremer, the secretary of the DOS, who was in charge of the occupation in Iraq. What I did not understand before this book is that the US was leading an occupation in Iraq and the lack of medical, educational, and all around rebuilding efforts by the US is what lead to an increase in anti-American rhetoric among the people in Iraq. Bremer was, "an expert at profiting from the war on terror and at helping US multinationals make money in far off places where they are unpopular and unwelcome. In other words, he's the perfect man for the job".
Starting off on a great foot in Iraq. It was Bremer's all around unpopularity which lead to him needing a large security detail and Bremer, who was a Christian zealot, thought Blackwater would do a better job protecting him then the US military because if he died, Blackwater as a company would die with him. The private market takes care of itself! Just like Reagan always said!
The fervor and rampant need for Blackwater to prove that they can get things done, faster, cheaper and easier then NATO or the US military is what lead to the tragedy that occurred in Fallujah where four Blackwater contractors died a gruesome death escorting kitchen equipment. Instead of armored vehicles they were driving around in Jeeps which a metal "bulletproof" plate SCREWED ONTO the back of the vehicle. Instead of a minimum of three people per car, driver, navigator, and gunner, there were two people per car AND they were driving without directions through the most dangerous and anti-American city in Iraq. RIGHT AFTER the USMC came in, occupied a middle school, and then shot at bunch of civilians who were protesting that the school was being closed to accommodate the US military. Never mind the war crimes the USMC committed by shooting at civilians and shooting at people trying to give aid to civilians - the revenge Blackwater and the US military took on Fallujah after the killing of the four contractors was described as "gross collective punishment".
In order to justify the gross violence committed in Fallujah, Blackwater starts to lobby for the increased use of military contactors in Iraq, the occupation, instead of being handed over to Bremer's Iraqi government, is now extended, and the US continues to occupy Iraq in order to "clean out the rat's nest of terrorists" still within the boarders. And who is going to do this cheaper, easier, and faster then the US military - Blackwater.
Now in order to compensation for the shortage of manpower to fulfill the millions of dollars worth of military contracts Blackwater turns to recruiting ex-Chilean commandos who served during the dictatorships of Pinochet. These commandos where trained by the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) in the 1970s to topple the elected socialist government (which didn't want to bargain with the US for natural resources) and install Pinochet into power (who was thankful the US helped him throw a coup).
Back in the US these contractors are being hailed as heroes while Blackwater is simultaneously lying to their families about what they were doing in Fallujah and how the negligence of Blackwater caused their deaths. The eeriest part is one of the contractors calling his mother before his deployment to read her his life insurance policy number because she would need it soon. These families eventually laid a lawsuit against Blackwater for causing the deaths of their sons which were preventable if they hadn't been negligent.
Now this is where Blackwater argues that it can't be sued because it is part of the "total force" of the US military, and much like you can't sue the military for dying, you can't sue Blackwater. If Blackwater has to worry about the deaths of its operators then it can't go and do 'what it needs to do in Iraq'.
This leaves Blackwater in an ungovernable unlawful place where its operators are acting overseas (and eventually domestically during Hurricane Katrina) without any regulations. They aren't subjected to being court marshaled the way a soldier would. And you now who eventually started sneaking in legislation (that would end up not being upheld) to govern military contractors? LINDSEY GRAHAM.
As of the books publication, no military contractor has ever faced legal ramifications for crimes committed domestic or abroad.
The book then takes a turn to talk about the people who worked for the Federal Government who were eventually poached by Blackwater. People like Cofer Black (no affiliation to the name) who the the CIA director on counter terrorism who says shit like, "If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job".
It also talks about Blackwaters participation as a contractor in the US intelligence agencies' "Torture Taxi" program. "Under this clandestine program, prisoners are sometimes flown to countries with questionable or terrible human rights records, where they are interrogated far from any oversight or due process." Blackwater would be contracted to pick up detainees and take them from one US military base to the other, not acting as the US military but as a third party. "The plane would have clearance to land at US military bases, Upon arriving in foreign countries, rendered suspects often vanish. Detainees are not provided lawyers and many families are not informed of their whereabouts".
The book closes with Blackwater creating "Greystone Limited" a company held in Barbados which is the amalgamation of every war crime that they have committed so far and rolled into one company that is offshored as to escape taxes. Greystone is a partner with International Peace Organization, a fucking sci-fi movie level of a fucking joke as Greystone says it provides, "peacekeeping and humanitarian aid to countries during war, natural or man made disasters." Peacekeeping obviously referring to private armed forces. This is to provide competition to the US MILITARY like it's a fucking MCDONALDS and we need a BURGER KING in order to keep prices low. Greystone is the final form to Blackwater, providing For Hire military options to the US who want to go secure US assets in countries without the permission from it's civilians or other peace keeping nations.
Schahill's book is well investigative and provides a whole look at the occupation into Iraq and how Blackwater played a vital role in the armed conflict there and also in extending the occupation. At some points it becomes overloaded with information and you lose the plot of how everything ties into each other. It also spent A LOT of time in the later half talking about ex-feds who worked for Blackwater which I felt distracted from the main point of the book.
And to Erik Prince's favorite quote of, "If you want to overnight something do you use the Post Office or Fed Ex?"
I'm OBVIOUSLY a Post Office girlie.
Blackwater: The Rise of the Bad Guy Behavior
This books starts with the rise of Blackwater and Eric Prince the founder. A guy who turns out to have help fund Hope College, where my parents both graduated. As well as Hillsdale College, the crazy libritarian college my grandpa donates to and wanted me to go to so badly. I tried to ask casually if maybe the reason my grandpa was so rich is that he was an investor in Blackwater but he seemed to not get my cues of asking, "What do you think about military contracting company Blackwater in Iraq" and then looking at him really dramatically.
Blackwater as a company is trying to create a private army that you as a company or nation state can hire a la the likes of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Since this books publication in 2007, Blackwater has changed their name several times, but for the sake of this review I am going to keep calling them Blackwater.
The rise of Blackwater really has to do with the Conservative Christian connections that Eric Prince had inside the Bush administration as well as with Paul Bremer, the secretary of the DOS, who was in charge of the occupation in Iraq. What I did not understand before this book is that the US was leading an occupation in Iraq and the lack of medical, educational, and all around rebuilding efforts by the US is what lead to an increase in anti-American rhetoric among the people in Iraq. Bremer was, "an expert at profiting from the war on terror and at helping US multinationals make money in far off places where they are unpopular and unwelcome. In other words, he's the perfect man for the job".
Starting off on a great foot in Iraq. It was Bremer's all around unpopularity which lead to him needing a large security detail and Bremer, who was a Christian zealot, thought Blackwater would do a better job protecting him then the US military because if he died, Blackwater as a company would die with him. The private market takes care of itself! Just like Reagan always said!
The fervor and rampant need for Blackwater to prove that they can get things done, faster, cheaper and easier then NATO or the US military is what lead to the tragedy that occurred in Fallujah where four Blackwater contractors died a gruesome death escorting kitchen equipment. Instead of armored vehicles they were driving around in Jeeps which a metal "bulletproof" plate SCREWED ONTO the back of the vehicle. Instead of a minimum of three people per car, driver, navigator, and gunner, there were two people per car AND they were driving without directions through the most dangerous and anti-American city in Iraq. RIGHT AFTER the USMC came in, occupied a middle school, and then shot at bunch of civilians who were protesting that the school was being closed to accommodate the US military. Never mind the war crimes the USMC committed by shooting at civilians and shooting at people trying to give aid to civilians - the revenge Blackwater and the US military took on Fallujah after the killing of the four contractors was described as "gross collective punishment".
In order to justify the gross violence committed in Fallujah, Blackwater starts to lobby for the increased use of military contactors in Iraq, the occupation, instead of being handed over to Bremer's Iraqi government, is now extended, and the US continues to occupy Iraq in order to "clean out the rat's nest of terrorists" still within the boarders. And who is going to do this cheaper, easier, and faster then the US military - Blackwater.
Now in order to compensation for the shortage of manpower to fulfill the millions of dollars worth of military contracts Blackwater turns to recruiting ex-Chilean commandos who served during the dictatorships of Pinochet. These commandos where trained by the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) in the 1970s to topple the elected socialist government (which didn't want to bargain with the US for natural resources) and install Pinochet into power (who was thankful the US helped him throw a coup).
Back in the US these contractors are being hailed as heroes while Blackwater is simultaneously lying to their families about what they were doing in Fallujah and how the negligence of Blackwater caused their deaths. The eeriest part is one of the contractors calling his mother before his deployment to read her his life insurance policy number because she would need it soon. These families eventually laid a lawsuit against Blackwater for causing the deaths of their sons which were preventable if they hadn't been negligent.
Now this is where Blackwater argues that it can't be sued because it is part of the "total force" of the US military, and much like you can't sue the military for dying, you can't sue Blackwater. If Blackwater has to worry about the deaths of its operators then it can't go and do 'what it needs to do in Iraq'.
This leaves Blackwater in an ungovernable unlawful place where its operators are acting overseas (and eventually domestically during Hurricane Katrina) without any regulations. They aren't subjected to being court marshaled the way a soldier would. And you now who eventually started sneaking in legislation (that would end up not being upheld) to govern military contractors? LINDSEY GRAHAM.
As of the books publication, no military contractor has ever faced legal ramifications for crimes committed domestic or abroad.
The book then takes a turn to talk about the people who worked for the Federal Government who were eventually poached by Blackwater. People like Cofer Black (no affiliation to the name) who the the CIA director on counter terrorism who says shit like, "If you don't violate someone's human rights some of the time, you probably aren't doing your job".
It also talks about Blackwaters participation as a contractor in the US intelligence agencies' "Torture Taxi" program. "Under this clandestine program, prisoners are sometimes flown to countries with questionable or terrible human rights records, where they are interrogated far from any oversight or due process." Blackwater would be contracted to pick up detainees and take them from one US military base to the other, not acting as the US military but as a third party. "The plane would have clearance to land at US military bases, Upon arriving in foreign countries, rendered suspects often vanish. Detainees are not provided lawyers and many families are not informed of their whereabouts".
The book closes with Blackwater creating "Greystone Limited" a company held in Barbados which is the amalgamation of every war crime that they have committed so far and rolled into one company that is offshored as to escape taxes. Greystone is a partner with International Peace Organization, a fucking sci-fi movie level of a fucking joke as Greystone says it provides, "peacekeeping and humanitarian aid to countries during war, natural or man made disasters." Peacekeeping obviously referring to private armed forces. This is to provide competition to the US MILITARY like it's a fucking MCDONALDS and we need a BURGER KING in order to keep prices low. Greystone is the final form to Blackwater, providing For Hire military options to the US who want to go secure US assets in countries without the permission from it's civilians or other peace keeping nations.
Schahill's book is well investigative and provides a whole look at the occupation into Iraq and how Blackwater played a vital role in the armed conflict there and also in extending the occupation. At some points it becomes overloaded with information and you lose the plot of how everything ties into each other. It also spent A LOT of time in the later half talking about ex-feds who worked for Blackwater which I felt distracted from the main point of the book.
And to Erik Prince's favorite quote of, "If you want to overnight something do you use the Post Office or Fed Ex?"
I'm OBVIOUSLY a Post Office girlie.