Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army Paperback – 27 May 2008

Goes on a bit at times repeating its self. I have learnt that the UK is not the only country hell bent on privatising everything.Good read and educating it's shows how the US and UK completely messed up Iraq.

An absolutely riveting read I couldn't put it down . An alarming account of the privatisation of the military and the intelligence world . A secretive move towards private armies serving over seas and at home with no one to answer to but themselves.

It's a very informative book and very well written. The only reason it has 4 stars is because I felt there is a significant and particular opinion which comes over throughout the book by the author and his influence is defiantly orientated in a particular way. No matter what you think of a particular organisation I personally like to be presented with facts so that I can make my own mind up about things. That said it's a very good read and if you don't find anything though provoking about this book I would be very surprised indeed.

A well-researched book that provides much interesting background, but the author's personal convictions (to which he is of course fully entitled) tend to get in the way of objective reporting.Most readers will remain unconvinced, for instance, by the stark contrast between the many misdeeds of evil mercenaries and trigger-happy US soldiers on the one hand and "the bold resistance of Fallujah's residents" (page 141) on the other. Note also that everything the US government and military spokesmen say is "propaganda", while Al-Jazeera is exclusively engaged in "reporting".What exactly is the problem with Blackwater and other firms like it?Up until a couple of centuries ago, when (so-called "civilized") nations went to war, private contractors took care of supply and transport. In many armies civilian drivers and their teams of horses brought the field guns right up to the firing line; only when they were in position did the artillerymen take over.This approach obviously had its drawbacks, and by the twentieth century the military, generally speaking, had taken over all the logistic and other services it needed. Large conscript armies had the manpower to do so, and it was not really a waste of resources if a poorly paid conscript with only basic training spent his time in the army sorting underwear in sizes.Now the pendulum has swung back again and the Pentagon (soon to be followed by the defence departments of other nations) is contracting out all sorts of activities, which sometimes involve carrying guns.Enter the "mercenaries". However, this term is not particularly helpful if we want to understand the phenomenon; as is clear from Scahill's description, today's private military contractor is a very different animal. Their operations are run from gleaming corporate headquarters, not from some seedy corner café in Charleroi (Belgium) as was the case 30 or 40 years ago.Also, the PMC firms in the US want to be as closely associated with the government and the armed forces as possible - as Scahill explains - and are in that respect almost comparable to the French Foreign Legion or the Gurkha battalions in the British army. Unlike with the condottieri of old, there clearly is no danger that they will suddenly leave or change sides in the middle of a campaign.The people who run these firms are also smart enough to realize that their industry needs to be regulated, and that all forms of excess need to be avoided, if they want to win long-term acceptance from governments and the public. Why Scahill takes it as a given that this is mere window dressing to hide unspecified sinister designs is not made clear.Finally, Scahill also takes it for granted that it should be deeply worrying to the reader that the people behind Blackwater are devout Christians. Now I would agree that people who believe that they have a direct line to God should be prevented somehow from holding public office, but I don't think, in reason, that they can be kept out of the private sector as well.The real question to be answered is: are PMCs providing value for money? Are they getting the job done?If you consider, for example, the excruciating slowness, pharaonic costs and dismal results of various UN operations in the recent past, PMCs could certainly offer an alternative worth thinking about, even if there are all sorts of political, ethical and practical problems to be sorted out.For further reading, I recommend "Making a Killing" by James Ashcroft, an interesting account by a British PMC of his experiences in Iraq.

This is a fantastic read for anyone who is interested in truth and learning about the extent to which governments have gone through and still go through in order to impose their ideologies, which often violate the principles which they claim to be fighting for.

Sounds very interesting but I've got a few books to read so haven't got round to this one yet. Good seller.

I remember the deaths of the mercenaries as if it was yesterday and all the lies on the mainstream news. Calling them aid workers. All lies.

A great book but came rather damaged with pages torn

Everybody need to read this book!

very fast delivery !!! thank you, very good book!

Nice Book and Good service

Very detailed, both in terms of information about the subject and description of the events. Great analysis about the "private war" business.

Excellent, in dept book - I strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about Blackwater, how it came to be and how iy internally works