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