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| Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated] | ![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
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $4.23
You Save: $12.72 (75%)
New (56) Used (23) from $4.22
Avg. Customer Rating:  242 reviews
Sales Rank: 19535
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
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Important and Timely: buy it for you and your friends. March 20, 2007
70 out of 101 found this review helpful
This expose is yet another in a line of Journalistic accounts of how the US is losing the "war on terror" (as it has already lost the "war on drugs"). When you need to outsource any aspect of your own dirty work to private for-profit corporations, you know you're in trouble. This country is in big, big trouble and this book simply highlights (another) reason why and how this sad state of affairs came to be.
Do not be swayed by the negative reviewers here: they claim this author is biased and unfair. I would claim that *they* are biased and unfair and perhaps if they wrote more than one review (this one), I would tend to believe their claims. They are smearing this book and its facts because they are scared of the truth; they are scared of this book so they attack it like they attack everything else that frightens them: by terrorizing others with lies, fraudulent "patriotism" and dirty bombs.
Soldiers of fortune March 22, 2007
69 out of 93 found this review helpful
I recently heard Jeremy Scahill on "Democracy Now!" and "The Thom Hartmann Show." It's great to see him receiving the publicity his work demands. With some emails to NPR and other outlets, I imagine people could help get Scahill more media appearances.
One of the many disturbing aspects of Blackwater is how the owner, Eric Prince, has been bankrolling organizations like Gary Bauer's "Family Research Council" and James Dobson's "Focus on the Family." This mix of militarism and Christian dominionist ideology (couched in pleasant-sounding verbiage about "the family" - maybe they're talking about "the family" in the mafia sense of the term) is exactly what Chris Hedges writes of in his book "American Fascists."
Another disturbing aspect of private mercenaries is how they circumvent democracy. For example, 92% of the Chilean people were against the attack on Iraq; nevertheless, Blackwater has recruited Chilean commandos and set them to work on the corporatist crusade in Iraq. Additionally, the private military companies (Blackwater, Dyncorp, Executive Outcomes, Vinnell, and others) face very little oversight. Some US soldiers who have gone from our military to these PMCs have been disgusted by the bigotry and brutality they witnessed. While other people will defend the soldier of fortune racket because they are making a ton of money. For some, war is a force that gives them meaning. Listening to some right-wing radio programs, one can hear the utter hatred that is directed towards Muslims by some US military personnel and those troops who move on to the much more lucrative organizations like Blackwater. The US has a history of wiping out tribal people in an effort to control their resources and extinguish their culture (Ironically, we even attack them with helicopters named after tribes we demolished - Apache, Black Hawk, Kiowa). This imperial aggression isn't limited to the Middle East, but is being conducted throughout Africa and Latin America as well.
Most recently, Blackwater has made efforts to open training camps in Mt. Caroll, Illinois and San Diego. Thankfully, they've been met with grassroots resistence. We can contribute to the effort to stop this ominous trend in organized killing by supporting authors like Scahill. An act as simple as buying this book and sharing it with others can contribute to building the consciousness that undercuts all sorts of ugly trends in our society. I'd also recommend DVDs like "Why We Fight" and subscriptions to progressive magazines that can give us info and ideas as to how to respond to the militarization of our world.
"The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery."
-Clarence Darrow, "Resist Not Evil"
Jesus's little hench-monkeys March 4, 2007
66 out of 92 found this review helpful
What the detractors fail to realise is that this private militia has absolutely no federal oversight or accountability. These creatures have no obligation to protect your constitutional rights whatsoever.In New Orleans, the escalating crime rates can be attributed to the deployment of these goons. They can detain people and perform armed searches and intrusions with no legal guidelines to keep them in check and people cannot sue them for brutality or for trampling their constitutional rights
Those that think that this is OK, just wait until they are deployed in your neighborhood for whatever reason. And with the way things are going in this once free country, It may be sooner than you think.
We'd better pay attention to Mr Scahill March 12, 2007
61 out of 79 found this review helpful
Jeremy might seem a bit on a rant, but what it is instead is an excited cry for attention. Not attention to Jeremy himself but to the matter of Blackwater, and it's unaccountable war machine. This is a call to the US to pay attention to what's going on. Jeremy proves he's done his homework. We might not like to hear what he has to say but, we'd better pay Mr Scahill and this book close attention.
Scahill's bigger Truth March 5, 2007
57 out of 86 found this review helpful
Jeremy Scahill has written an important book in the fight against U.S. imperialism. Critics who point out the factual errors don't understand that the Truth is more important than facts. Scahill is faithful to his roots as an anti-military activist - when symbolism conveyed a bigger truth than mere debate about facts.
The implications of Scahill's book are clear: the post-cold war Pentagon must rely on private military contractors (PMC) if Amerika is going to project power around the world to protect "vital national interests."
Scahill shows how as far back as the Clinton Administration it had become apparent that the only way the Pentagon's mission could be accomplished was to count on private military contractors to take up the slack left by a down-sized military.
The logical conclusion to Scahill's findings is that if we want to destroy the Pentagon's war machine we must first crush the private military contractors - by whatever means necessary. According to Scahill, even civil litigation is being brought to bear on the PMCs - litigation that can tie down both the Pentagon and the PMCs and make it harder for them to conduct this war - or any war. If a battalion of trial lawyers can be deployed in America's courtrooms - we won't have to worry about any Presient trying to threaten force against the oppressed people of the world. All foreigners in Iraq who carry a gun for pay - including the U.S. military - are just mercenaries to be scorned. Read Scahill's book and you will agree.
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