Book Recommendation
Thought I would throw this out there as every once in a while we get threads about books that we've read, enjoyed and recommended.
I just completed "BlackWater, the rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army" by Jeremy Scahill.
Now before we get to deep into this, and for those who have read my posts, I'm a bit of a hawk, but I also think that I'm pretty fair in my analysis of things. But even as a hawk, this book shook me up a bit, especially as it peels back the layers on the use of private contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans.
On the technical side, this book is very well written, but what gives it credibility is how well researched it is, every situation, every quote, every conclusion is backed by research points, footnotes and newspaper reports that range from CNN to Al Jazzera(sp?) to some of the more obscure publications.
This book is laid out in fairly logical order as it tracks the rise of BlackWater's founder Erik Prince from his days as a Navy Seal through to the founding of the incredibly powerful and well connected BlackWater.
It tracks you through the heartache of the death of four contractors who were shot, beaten burned and hung from a bridge, through to the abuses that their families went through in the search for the truth. It looks at the corner cutting that BlackWater did to save money that lead to these deaths.
Jeremy Scahill looks at the power players that make up BlackWaters executive team, including former Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, and the way that BlackWater used the courts and the Pentagon to gain immunity from any kind of prosecution. The book also looks at America's poor handling not of the conquest of Iraq but in pacifying the country where blame has to fall squarely on the head of Paul Bremer who's handling of the Iraqi's and the siege of Fallujah lead to the rise of the Iraqi insurgency. to be honest, Bremer comes across as a monster. The book also covers J Cofer Black the former head of counter terrorism for the CIA, the man who caught Carlos the Jackal, was given charge of killing Bin Laden, and the intelligence fumbles that happened as instead of focusing on intelligence, Black used Billions of dollars to try to subvert the Directorate of Intelligence to his vision, which was a group of assassins. Black is now the Chairman of BlackWater.
the book then continues on to the tragic death of U.S. service men on BlackWater flight 61 which crashed in Afghanistan which was directly caused by poor training and poor preparation by BlackWater.
The book also goes from a excellent recap of the famous gunfight between BlackWater and Iraqi protesters that was never truly investigated, to the devastating conclusion that billions of dollars that could have been used to properly support the real soldiers and reconstruction contracts were given to BlackWater in sweetheart no bid contracts.
I guarantee that you'll also cringe at the recruiting practices that saw Columbian, Honduras and other former death squad commandos were recruited to serve in Iraq.
The book continues on as BlackWater makes money hand over fist during the Katrina crisis as they became an armed private army in New Orleans where they actually got into a gun fight with gang members.
This is a very deep and detailed and depressing book, but to me its also interesting because it details the rise of the 21st century mercenary business. For anyone that wants to know about the underlying Dick Cheney strategy of using mercenaries and contractors to round out the U.S. Military. At nearly 400 pages it did take me about a week to plow through it.
I would give this book a strong recommendation for anyone who wants to learn more about the distasteful side of Iraq and how America lost control of its own contractors.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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