Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army » (Unabridged)

Jeremy Scahill is a frequent contributor to The Nation magazine and a correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now! He is currently a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute. Scahill has won numerous awards for his reporting, including the prestigious George Polk Award, which he won twice. While a correspondent for Democracy Now!, Scahill reported extensively from Iraq through both the Clinton and Bush administrations. Traveling around the hurricane zone in the wake of Katrina, Scahill exposed the presence of Blackwater forces in New Orleans and his reporting sparked a Congressional inquiry and an internal Department of Homeland Security investigation. He has appeared on ABC World News, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CNN, MSNBC, PBS’s The NewsHour, Bill Moyers Journal and is a frequent guest on other radio and TV programs nationwide. Scahill also serves as an election correspondent for HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

A fully revised, updated edition of the best-selling exposé of Blackwater USA, the shadowy private army that operates at home and abroad and has close ties to the Bush administration.

Publishers Weekly

Scahill's liberal horror story is about the company that has deployed many of the "private contractors" who have assisted the U.S. military in Iraq and been responsible for more than its share of death and disorder. Scahill, a regular contributor to the Nation, amps up the scare language in his study of both Blackwater and the wealthy, ultra-conservative Prince family that founded the company, but luckily, Weiner does not. With his booming baritone reined tightly in check, Weiner coolly and calmly delivers the bad news. The parade of scaremongering may grow wearying, but Weiner maintains his composure throughout, offsetting Scahill (to a degree) by virtue of his unyielding temperateness. Simultaneous release with the Nation hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 26). (Nov.)

The Face of Blackwater 1

Introduction Baghdad's Bloody Sunday 3

Ch. 1 Making a Killing 49

Ch. 2 The Little Prince 65

Ch. 3 Blackwater Begins 89

Ch. 4 Fallujah Before Blackwater 113

Ch. 5 Guarding Bush's Man in Baghdad 125

Ch. 6 Scotty Goes to War 145

Ch. 7 The Ambush 155

Ch. 8 "We Will Pacify Fallujah" 169

Ch. 9 Najaf, Iraq: 4.04.04 181

Ch. 10 "This Is Fdr the Americans of Blackwater" 197

Ch. 11 Mr. Prince Goes to Washington 209

Ch. 12 Caspian Pipeline Dreams 231

Ch. 13 Blackwater's Man in Chile 245

Ch. 14 "The Whores of War" 275

Ch. 15 The Crash of Blackwater 61 305

Ch. 16 Cofer Black: The Gloves Come Off 329

Ch. 17 Death Squads, Mercenaries, and the "Salvador Option" 349

Ch. 18 Joseph Schmitz: Christian Soldier 365

Ch. 19 Blackwater Down: Baghdad on the Bayou 359

Ch. 20 "The Knights of the Round Table" 409

Epilogue: Blackwater Beyond Bush 447

Acknowledgments 465

Notes 469

Index 585