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

Jeremy Scahill

PublicAffairs, May 27, 2008 - History - 560 pages

The groundbreaking bestselling expose of the shadowy mercenary army that perpetrated horrific war crimes in America's name.

On September 16, 2007, machine gun fire erupted in Baghdad's Nisour Square, leaving seventeen Iraqi civilians dead, among them women and children. The shooting spree, labeled "Baghdad's Bloody Sunday," was neither the work of Iraqi insurgents nor U.S. soldiers. The shooters were private forces, subcontractors working for the secretive mercenary company, Blackwater Worldwide, led by Erik Prince

Award-winning journalist Jeremy Scahill takes us from the bloodied streets of Iraq to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to the chambers of power in Washington, to reveal the frightening new face of the U.S. military machine, and what happens when you outsource war.

"A crackling expose" -- New York Times Book Review

"[Scahill] is a one-man truth squad" -- Bill Moyers

"[An] utterly gripping and explosive story" -- Naomi Klein, The Guardian

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Kavinay - LibraryThing

You go into the book thinking Erik Prince is Darth Vader. He's not. He's more akin to Director Krennic: a manipulator of corrupt institutions that simply don't value life. The real shock of Scahill's ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - TobinElliott - LibraryThing

This book just confirms what we all know: the Untied (spelling intentional) States of America is a seriously fucked-up place. This book terrified me. Overly-powerful fanatical men, believing they are ...

Contents

• THE FACE OF BLACKWATER: 1
• BAGHDADS BLOODY SUNDAY: 3
• MAKING A KILLING: 49
• LITTLE PRINCE: 65
• BLACKWATER BEGINS: 89
• FALLUJAH BEFORE BLACKWATER: 113
• GUARDING BUSHS MAN IN BAGHDAD: 125
• SCOTTY GOES TO WAR: 145
• THE AMBUSH: 155
• WE WILL PACIFY FALLUJAH: 169
• NAJAF IRAQ 40404: 181
• THIS IS FOR THE AMERICANS OF BLACKWATER: 197
• MR PRINCE GOES TO WASHINGTON: 209
• CASPIAN PIPELINE DREAMS: 231
• BLACKWATERS MAN IN CHILE: 245
• THE WHORES OF WAR: 275
• THE CRASH OF BLACKWATER: 305
• COFER BLACK THE GLOVES COME OFF: 329
• DEATH SQUADS MERCENARIES AND THE SALVADOR OPTION: 349
• JOSEPH SCHMITZ CHRISTIAN SOLDIER: 365
• BLACKWATER DOWN BAGHDAD ON THE BAYOU: 389
• THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE: 409
• BLACKWATER BEYOND BUSH: 447
• Acknowledgments: 465
• Notes: 469
• Index: 535

About the author

Jeremy Scahill is an investigative reporter, war correspondent, and author of the international bestsellers Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army and Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. He has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere across the globe. He is a co-founder of The Intercept and has served as the National Security Correspondent for the Nation magazine and Democracy Now! Scahill is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute and was twice awarded the prestigious George Polk Award. He is a producer and writer of the award-winning film Dirty Wars, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
• Author: Jeremy Scahill
• Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2008
• ISBN: 1568584067, 9781568584065
• Length: 560 pages
• Subjects: History / Wars & Conflicts / Iraq War (2003-2011); Political Science / Security (National & International); Political Science / Terrorism