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Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Unabridged) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeremy Scahill
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  237 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B000XJNDRA
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Product Description
It was the Mogadishu moment of the Iraq war. March 31, 2004, four American mercenaries were ambushed in the Sunni hotbed of Fallujah, their jeeps set ablaze with the men inside. An angry mob dragged their charred corpses through the streets, hanging them from a bridge over the Euphrates River. "Fallujah is the graveyard of the Americans!" the mob declared in front of the cameras. The ensuing US slaughter in Fallujah would fuel the fierce Iraqi resistance that haunts US occupation forces to this day.Meet Blackwater USA, the world's most secretive and powerful mercenary firm and the fastest growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater was founded by an extreme right-wing fundamentalist Christian mega-millionaire ex-Navy Seal named Erik Prince, the scion of a wealthy conservative family that bankrolls far-right-wing causes. This is the dark story of the rise of a powerful mercenary army, ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to the hurricane-ravaged US gulf to Washington, D.C. where Blackwater executives are hailed as new heroes in the war on terror.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 232 more reviews...
 Twice as long as it needs to be October 6, 2008
The pages are filled with more information than is needed. There are some interesting tidbits, but a lot of it is just biased or unnecesary. Its a struggle to stay interested in. Oh, and on page 97 the word 'Constructed' is spelled wrong. It is definately thoroughly researched, but aparently it includes evey word of that research, no revision to remove any excess fluff.
 Left-wing Hit Job September 29, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is not an objective look at Blackwater but a left-wing hit job on the private security company, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and the Iraq war. If your views line up with Dennis Kucinich then this might be for you.
unreadable September 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I quit this book about 100 pages in. I found it to be unreadable. My problem with the book was not its politics. I read The Nation and am a liberal Democrat.
My problem was the editing, or lack thereof. The author writes in a confusing nonlinear way, with too many digressions and too much irrelevant detail. Very hard to track his narrative and to figure out where he is going. He uses long quotes from other people, rather than digesting their facts and giving attribution by endnote or footnote; he thus includes many unnecessary words.
I see that the paperback version is described as revised. I do not know if it was revised to correct the style problems in the original. I hope so. If not, don't waste your time. The subject of this book is important, but I'll wait until someone who can tell a straight story, like Bob Woodward, or Jane Meyer, tackles this topic.
 War by Error September 24, 2008
It is hard to add usefully to the encomiums alrady heaped on this book, which details how a profit-seeking company, Blackwater, with the enthusiastic backing of the White House and Department of Defense and State Department,turned relatively innocuous administratve duties into a bloody crusade by untouchable privateers. Sad but true.
A Thoughtful, Well Researched Account September 14, 2008
Jeremy Scahill presents a thoughtful, well-researched, if not alarming and downright frightening account of the rise of Blackwater's Army and the extent of their access to the "powers that be" in Washington.
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