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

“A crackling exposé of the secretive military contractor Blackwater.”

—New York Times Book Review

“The biggest book of the year is Jeremy Scahill’s Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Long before the mainstream media and Congress were paying attention, Scahill exposed the workings of this lawless private army. It’s an amazingly researched and well-told story of the nexus between far-right fundamentalists, the Bush-Cheney war machine, privatization, and profiteering.”

—Matthew Rothschild for The Progressive

“Scahill provided me information … which I have not been able to get from the U.S. military…. I have read more from Mr. Scahill, than I’ve got from our own government.”

—Representative Marcy Kaptur, Defense Appropriations Committee

“[T]his is no uninformed partisan screed… Meticulously documented and encyclopedic in scope … it’s a comprehensive and authoritative guide … this book serves as a provocative primer for advancing the debate.”

—Bill Sizemore, Pulitzer-prize nominated journalist, Virginian-Pilot

“The utterly gripping and explosive story of how the Bush administration has spent tens of millions of dollars building a parallel corporate army that functions in Iraq outside the law… When Blackwater first came out, it was barely reviewed and TV news was so afraid of lawsuits that the book was nearly shut out. Fast-forward to this autumn, when the Iraqi government accused Blackwater of massacring civilians in downtown Baghdad. Suddenly the book looked prescient and we learned that the same press corps that had cheered on the war had also missed the biggest story in the war zone: that Iraq is more than a failed occupation; it’s a radical experiment in corporate rule.”

—Naomi Klein, The Guardian (London)

“Andy McNab couldn’t have invented this prescient tale of the private army of mercenaries run by a Christian conservative millionaire who, in turn, bankrolls the president. A chilling expose of the ultimate military outsource.”

—Christopher Fowler, The New Review’s “Best Books of 2007”

“Fascinating and magnificently documented… Jeremy Scahill’s new book is a brilliant exposé and belongs on the reading list of any conscientious citizen.”

—Scott Horton, International and Military Law Expert, Columbia University Law School

“Scahill is rightfully concerned about the moral and policy ramifications of such a powerful and unaccountable surrogate military, let alone the effect that its forces—who are paid six-figure salaries—have on the morale of normal soldiers. But the sternest message of this book has to do with the dangers a mercenary army poses, and always has: that it can always be turned on its host.”

—Star-Ledger

“[Scahill’s] book is so scary and so illuminating.”

—Bill Maher, host of HBO’s Real Time

“Jeremy Scahill’s account of the increasing governmental dependence on private contractors who make massive profit via death and destruction reads like a futuristic page-turner. Only he is not writing about the future; he is writing about the present, and his research is encyclopedically documented.”

—Courier-Journal

“At Blackwater USA, Jeremy Scahill’s is the face they love to hate… [He is] perhaps the private military company’s most dogged critic.”

—Virginian-Pilot

“Jeremy Scahill’s exhaustive Blackwater appears with perfect timing… Dwight Eisenhower warned decades ago against the emergence of a military-industrial complex. Scahill sees in the rise of Blackwater the fulfillment of that dark prophecy.”

—Weekend Australian

“Blackwater being rarely out of the news lately, this is a very useful survey of modern mercenaries—or, as they prefer to be called, ‘private security contractors’ in the ‘peace and stability industry’… Scahill is a sharp investigative writer.”

—The Guardian (London)

“It should be mandatory reading. It’s very interesting—and scary.”

—Scarlett Johansson, actor

“Jeremy Scahill actually doesn’t know anything about Blackwater.”

—Martin Strong, vice president, Blackwater Worldwide