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

Scahill, a regular contributor to the Nation, offers a hard-left perspective on Blackwater USA, the self-described private military contractor and security firm. It owes its existence, he shows, to the post–Cold War drawdown of U.S. armed forces, its prosperity to the post-9/11 overextension of those forces and its notoriety to a growing reputation as a mercenary outfit, willing to break the constraints on military systems responsible to state authority. Scahill describes Blackwater's expansion, from an early emphasis on administrative and training functions to what amounts to a combat role as an internal security force in Iraq. He cites company representatives who say Blackwater's capacities can readily be expanded to supplying brigade-sized forces for humanitarian purposes, peacekeeping and low-level conflict. While emphasizing the possibility of an "adventurous President" employing Blackwater's mercenaries covertly, Scahill underestimates the effect of publicity on the deniability he sees as central to such scenarios. Arguably, he also dismisses too lightly Blackwater's growing self-image as the respectable heir to a long and honorable tradition of contract soldiering. Ultimately, Blackwater and its less familiar counterparts thrive not because of a neoconservative conspiracy against democracy, as Scahill claims, but because they provide relatively low-cost alternatives in high-budget environments and flexibility at a time when war is increasingly protean. (Apr. 10)
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JEREMY SCAHILL is a Polk Award-wirinvestigative journalist. He is a frequent ctor to The Nation magazine and a correspoJ for the national radio and television show
Democracy Now! Scahill has reported extei from Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and Nigel is currently a Puffin Foundation Writing Fel at The Nation Institute. Scahill lives in Bro New York. Blackwate The Rise of the Wor,Most Powerful Mercenary Army is his first.

Author's Note
3.31.04
Preface: Making a Killing
CHAPTER ONE
THE LITTLE PRINCE
CHAPTER TWO
BLACKWATER BEGINS
CHAPTER THREE
FALLUJAH BEFORE BLACKWATER
CHAPTER FOHR
GUARDING BUSH'8 MAN IN BAGHDAD
CHAPTER FIVE
SCOTTY GOES TO WAR
CHAPTER SIX
THE AMBUSH
CHAPTER SEVEN
"WE WILL PACIFY FALLUJAH"
CHAPTER EIGHT
NAJAF, IRAO:4.04.04
CHAPTER NINE
"THIS IS FOR THE AMERICANS OF BLACKWATER"
CHAPTER TEN
MR. PRINCE GOES TO WASHINGTON
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CASPIAN PIPELINE DREAMS
CHAPTER TWELVE
BLACKWATER'8 MAN IN CHILE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"THE WHORES OF WAR"
CHAPTER FOHRTEEN
THE CRASH OF BLACKWATER 61
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
COFER BLACK: THE GLOVE8 COME OFF
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DEATH SOUAO8, MERCENARIES AND THE"SALVADOR OPTION"
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
JOSEPH SCHMITZ: CHRISTIAN SOLDIER
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BLACKWATER DOWN: BAGHOAO ON THE BAYOU
CHAPTER NINETEEN
"THE KNIGHT8 OF THE ROUND TABLE"
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index