Blackwater

The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

By: Jeremy Scahill

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

A largely untold facet of the war on terror is the widespread outsourcing of military tasks to private mercenary companies. Accountable neither to the citizenry nor to standard military legal codes, these largely unregulated corporate armies are being entrusted with ever-greater responsibilities on behalf of the nation.

Meet Blackwater USA, the most secretive, most powerful, and fastest-growing private army on the planet. Founded by fundamentalist Christian mega-millionaire Erik Prince, the scion of a conservative dynasty that bankrolls extreme-right-wing causes, this company of soldiers is now being sent "to the front lines of a global battle, waged largely on Muslim lands, that an evangelical president, whom Prince helped put in the White House, has boldly defined as a 'crusade'."

Ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to Washington, D.C., where they are hailed as heroes, this is the dark story of Blackwater's rise to power.

©2007 Jeremy Scahill (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A crackling expose." ( New York Times Book Review)
"Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater would be a masterpiece of the genre of futuristic sci fi were it not so regrettably real....It's got all the twists and turns and secret corners of a Hollywood thriller....[A] horrifying but necessary read." ( Daily Kos)

Full of irrelevancies

Tom Weiner is an excellent narrator and I look forward to listening to anything he's done. His vocal talents are second to none, and it shows in his narration of this particular book. Now that I've covered everything good about this audiobook, let's review the bad.

Scahill has written a highly irrelevant book that does nothing to address relevant questions raised about the role of civilians in military operations in the style of a private mercenary company such as Blackwater (now known as Xe). He wastes a chapter or two at the beginning describing the ancestry of Erik Prince (Blackwater's owner) and the family's political connections, relying mainly on the pejorative to make a thinly veiled argument that Christians are not to be allowed near politics.

He then enters into a multi-chaptered diatribe against the neoconservatives/Bush administration/mercenary industry, peripherally relating each chapter's subject to Blackwater but spending most of each chapter on something completely unrelated.

This book was a chore to listen to, but Weiner's vocalizations made it bearable. I recommend you avoid it and look for something with more depth.

Blackwater was eye opening

Interesting - glad I listened.

BLACKWATER SANS OBJECTIVITY

THIS IS A VERY UNSYMPATHETIC APPRAISAL OF BLACKWATER AND TOM WEINER, THE READER, IS WELL CAST FOR HIS ROLE. I LIKE HISTORIES BY ACADEMIC HISTORIANS NOT PROPAGANDISTS. IT IS CLEAR THAT THE AUTHOR DOES NOT LIKE BLACKWATER, ITS GENESIS, OR ITS FOUNDERS. PROBABLY BLACKWATER HAS A CASE TO ANSWER IN MANY AREAS BUT I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO COME TO ANY UNDERSTANDING GIVEN SUCH BLATANTLY SLANTED MATERIAL. THIS AUTHOR IS AS ABOUT AS OBJECTIVE ABOUT THE RIGHT WING AS RUSH LIMBAUGH IS ABOUT THOSE ON THE LEFT.

Opinion not fact

Obviously written by someone who has a strong opinion against military forces and private contractors.

Liberal Extremism at its finest

Would you be willing to try another one of Tom Weiner’s performances?

No, he sounds like he's stuck for eternity as the narrator of a movie preview.

Any additional comments?

The author's liberal bias blinds him from telling the full story of the contributions made by Blackwater personnel to the war effort. The service of these Patriots is painted as evil. I'm sure the spineless author has never contributed to the prosperity of our Republic through military or civilian service. He is simply a liberal puppet sitting on the sidelines of history, judging the work of others because he is too much of a coward to contribute anything of value to the society in which he lives. I couldn't finish the book, so strong is the stench of his propaganda and liberal rhetoric.

The biased review of American policy

long winded and anti Christian biased. I listened to this book to get another side of the Blackwater controversy. All I got was biased opinion and anti Christian rhetoric.

Complete garbage

Whoever wrote this should be ashamed of themselves… I was a contractor for 17 years and this is nothing more than a it job on black water… Unsubstantiated opinion bs. I'm going to ask for a refund I do not want to support something like this otter pile of crap that makes people like me I'll give you some sort of wow super killer just running around killing everything… We have sacrificed so much of our life to keep America free Which gives you the freedom to write this
garbage and put a black spot on all that we have sacrificed

Tried but failed

This could've been a good book but it's not. I had to force myself to completely listen to book 1. Book 2 was at least bearable. The book should be called "Why I hate Christians"

The author obviously never served his country

This guy has no clue what he's talking about. Where he gets his facts are beyond me. It's a lot of propaganda and reflects poorly what we ( speaking as a three time Iraq vet.) did over there. I had to stop listening about three hours in I just could take the BS any more.

Leftist Liberal Views Abound

If you are interested in a leftist liberal view of mercenary use in Iraq this book is for you! If you want unbiased reporting of facts you surely won't find it here. The author seems incapable of presenting even simple facts without overwhelming bias.