| ![Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZopVuqGsL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Author: Jeremy Scahill
Publisher: Nation Books
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  255 reviews
Sales Rank: 4916
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Upd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 452
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 2
ISBN: 156858394X
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.3540973
EAN: 9781568583945
ASIN: 156858394X
Publication Date: May 26, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 unreadable September 26, 2008
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
I quit this book about 100 pages in. I found it to be unreadable. My problem with the book was not its politics. I read The Nation and am a liberal Democrat.
My problem was the editing, or lack thereof. The author writes in a confusing nonlinear way, with too many digressions and too much irrelevant detail. Very hard to track his narrative and to figure out where he is going. He uses long quotes from other people, rather than digesting their facts and giving attribution by endnote or footnote; he thus includes many unnecessary words.
I see that the paperback version is described as revised. I do not know if it was revised to correct the style problems in the original. I hope so. If not, don't waste your time. The subject of this book is important, but I'll wait until someone who can tell a straight story, like Bob Woodward, or Jane Meyer, tackles this topic.
 War by Error September 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is hard to add usefully to the encomiums alrady heaped on this book, which details how a profit-seeking company, Blackwater, with the enthusiastic backing of the White House and Department of Defense and State Department,turned relatively innocuous administratve duties into a bloody crusade by untouchable privateers. Sad but true.
A Thoughtful, Well Researched Account September 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jeremy Scahill presents a thoughtful, well-researched, if not alarming and downright frightening account of the rise of Blackwater's Army and the extent of their access to the "powers that be" in Washington.
A question of liberty & freedom ... September 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Someone else said it in the comments, but after reading all the right/left bickering going on in the reviews, it bears repeating.
People, this is not a right/left issue. This is about basic freedom and liberty. History has shown that time and time again an army with no accountability or civilian control is a dangerous beast indeed ... and that is just what we in the United States are creating with Blackwater.
While I did grow weary of the author's rather slanted sentence structure, this is simply one of the scariest books I've read in years.
Please. Read the book and draw your own conclusions.
 It is sad September 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Blackwater: The rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army" is nice book. It's really biased, but it calls up for a problem that doesn't appears in the media: the private military contractors. Few people knows about Blackwater and other firms, its ideologies, beliefs, associations, etc. It's a company, so its primary objective is profit, with its business, but its business is war. Sounds creep, but this is the true, and it's not only in Iraq. Many humanitarian organization rely on these companies for security in risk areas and failed states.
Scahill begans his investigation narrating the incident in Nisour Square, with morbid details, and how the perpetrators were not punished. The first chapter is to make clear that this book won't be nice with Blackwater. After talking about Rumsfeld plan's to increase outsource in the military industry, he describe the life of Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince, its family, home and influences and how he started Blackwater. AS a critic of the war in Iraq, he writes about the situation of the country and the job of the PMCs. He dedicates two chapters for Scott Helvenston and describe the ambush, which resulted in his death and his teammates. Then he descibres the battles of Najaf (which Blackwater employees were giving orders to US soldiers, acting like commanders) and Fallujah. The next chapters, is about lobbying, operations in Azerbaijan, lawsuits, the "air force" of Blackwater. Then the targets are the executives: Black e Schmitz, with the death squad between their chapters. Then he talks about the operation in Katrina and other charities. And ends with a discussion about the power of the industry and the future.
When I finished the book I was astonished of how can this happen. This industry doesn't need to be a devil, but Bremer's rules are transforming they in a demon. Without regulation, since they will not simply become extinct, there will be no limits of what their soldiers can do. They don't need to answer to anyone. It's very dangerous stimulate the corruption in the human being, and it is necessary put some limits imediatily in their job.
And I didn't understand very well the connection that Scahill makes with Blackwater and the Christian right. But, I must confess that I don't understand how a man self declared Christian can make war and death his business and give glory to the Lord. I am Christian and some kind of conservative, but I don't believe in the American Christian right. See for example, this quotation: "Many Christians in Southern Sudan desire to break free form international handouts and learn free-market principles, useful skills and technologies that will move them form depence to independence". I couldn't belive that this was written. I was looking for the original article, but I didn't find a free version in the net. If it's true then I understand what Stiglitz meant with "free-market fundamentalism". Free-market is not the Gospel. It's disgusting how our brothers in Darfur are dying and nobody is doing anything, because it's just about oil, the cursed oil. China let the Sudanese government kill Christian just for the oil. If the US strike, they will only go after the oil. But it's equally disgusting how Scahill and other members of the left show no compassion with the people that are dying there. Someday everybody involved in this tragedy will receive their judgements.
Scahill also writes about the use of PMCs to protect humanitarian NGOs but, here he just relate the situation, perhaps because he understood the gravity of the situation, and let the reader decide.
Last advice: read with open mind, whether you are a conservative or liberal.
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