Jeremy Scahill - Blackwater

I AMgrateful to my parents, Michael and Lisa Scahill. They provided me with an education no university could ever rival. Their quiet humility, their dedication to justice, and their love for others amazes me. I have never met more decent people. They are my heroes and my friends. Thanks to my brother Tim and sister Stephanie for their lifetime love, companionship, and support, as well as my sister-in-law Jenny and my niece Maya. Ksenija, you are my heart and my world. Barb and Harry Hoferle, thank you for always believing and always being there. Also I wish to remember my late grandparents, two of whom were Irish immigrants who lived through the terror of the Black and Tans paramilitaries. Gratitude also to my aunts, uncles, and cousins for their love through the years.

This book is very much the product of the hard work and influence of scores of people who gave their time, commitment, friendship, love, and solidarity to this project and to me and my family. I would like to thank my editor Betsy Reed, who spent countless hours editing and revising this manuscript and who has supported my reporting through thick and thin. It has been a great gift to work with her over the past few years. Without her this project would never have happened. Thanks again to Garrett Ordower for everything. Gratitude to my friend and agent Anthony Arnove, who has believed in my work since we met. Naomi Klein for her undying friendship, solidarity, and support. Thank you to Daniela Crespo for her support. My compañeros Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Carmen Trotta, and Dave Mickenberg for being. Carl Bromley and Ruth Baldwin at Nation Books for their support, enthusiasm, and dedication from the jump—you guys were the glue. I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to the amazing team from Perseus: David Steinberger, John Sherer, Michele Jacob, Nicole Caputo, and Elena Guzman. At Avalon, Michele Martin for her faith, tenacity, and encouragement. The Avalon production team for pulling it all together: Peter Jacoby, Linda Kosarin, Jonathan Sainsbury, and Mike Walters. Also thanks to Anne Sullivan and Karen Auerbach. Mark Sorkin did an amazing job meticulously copyediting this book. Many thanks to the talented Joe Duax, who spent months combing through every sentence and footnote diligently fact-checking the manuscript.

I would like to extend un abrazo fuerte to Liliana Segura for her tireless work. She labored extensively on the original manuscript and has been central to completing the new edition. She has been a dedicated collaborator, ally, and strategist. Her love, companionship, and friendship en la lucha leave me in awe always. Mercedes Camps González from Real World Radio and Russell Cobb ably translated many articles. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Hamilton Fish, Taya Kitman, and The Nation Institute for their crucial support and encouragement. Deep gratitude to Perry Rosenstein and the Puffin Foundation for backing this project and my work. Special thanks to Katrina vanden Heuvel, Victor Navasky, and The Nation magazine for supporting and publishing my reporting. I also wish to acknowledge Alan Kaufman, Sophie Ragsdale, Kim Nauer, Mike Webb, Roane Carey, Ben Wyskida, Suzanne Ceresko, and Andres Conteris for their assistance. Thanks to Jared Rodriguez for the pic and also to journalist Tim Shorrock for the tape. I would also like to thank all of the journalists whose work is cited in this book as well as those people who gave generously of their time in interviews and research, especially Katy Helvenston-Wettengel and Danica Zovko.

A special thanks to my friend, colleague, and mentor, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! She took me under her wing and taught me to fly, and I will forever be in her debt. She is this country’s finest journalist. Also to one of my media heroes and friends, Juan Gonzalez, for the example he has set and the battles he has waged. I also wish to acknowledge my rebel media comrades from my Democracy Now! family: Dan Coughlin, Maria Carrion, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Mike Burke, Elizabeth Press, Nell Geiser, Yoruba Richen, John Hamilton, Mike DiFilippo, and Aaron Mate. Also special thanks to: Rep. Jan Schakowsky and her staff, Dave Rapallo from Rep. Henry Waxman’s office, Brenda Coughlin, Michael Moore, Elisabeth Benjamin, Kwame Dixon, Dave Isay, Verna Avery Brown, Dave Riker, Diana Cohn, Denis Moynihan, Mattie Harper, Isis Philips, Chuck Scurich, Karen Pomer, Vince Vitrano, Kareem Kouddous, the Antic family, Ian van Hulle, Laura Flanders, the Crespo family, Art Heitzer, William Worthy, the late Dave Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Errol Maitland, Dred Scott Keyes, Elombe Brath, Sharan Harper, Bernard White, Mario Murrillo, Deepa Fernandes, Karen Ranucci, Michael Ratner, Coach Goran Raspudic, St. Rose of Lima and Neighborhood House. For their support and encouragement: Carmen Trotta, Tom Cornell, Frank Donovan, Matt Daloisio, Bill and Sue Frankel-Streit, and the whole CW family. My deep gratitude to Philip, Daniel, and Frida Berrigan and Liz McAlister for their example, their community, and their love.

So much of what can truly be called independent journalism is produced by people and communities in struggle, and the labor is donated because of lack of financial resources and out of a deep commitment to a free media and a just world. I would like to thank the independent media outlets that have supported and published my work over the years: Pacifica Radio, its journalists and workers, and its five stations (WBAI, KPFA, KPFK, KPFT, and WPFW); Democracy Now! ; Pacifica affiliates and community radio stations across the U.S. and the globe; Free Speech Radio News ; Dennis Bernstein and Flashpoints ; Norm Stockwell and WORT; Commondreams.org and Craig Brown; Antiwar.com; Alternet.org; Z Magazine and Michael Albert; Guerrilla News Network and Anthony Lappé; Jeffrey St. Clair and Alex Cockburn at Counterpunch.org; CorpWatch.org; the Indypendent newspaper and Independent Media Centers worldwide; Sam Husseini and the Institute for Public Accuracy; Brian Drolet and Free Speech TV; Dee Dee Halleck, the godmother of community TV; Danny Schechter and MediaChannel.org; John Alpert and DCTV; The Progressive magazine; Dollars & Sense magazine; the Grassroots Radio Conference; Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry at ElectronicIraq.net; and HuffingtonPost.com and Arianna Huffington. Thank you also to independent journalists Dahr Jamail, Arun Gupta, Christian Parenti, Laila al-Arian, Alan Maass, Rosa Clemente, Norman Solomon, Josh Breitbart, Robert Greenwald, Pratap Chatterjee, John Tarleton, Andrew Stern, Kat Aaron, and Rahul Mahajan. To my friends and colleagues whom I worked with and struggled alongside in a place once called Yugoslavia: Ivana Antic’, Ljiljana Smajlovic’, Terry Sheridan, Katya Subasic’, Nenad Stefanovic’, Thorne Anderson, Kael Alford, Alex Todorovic’, Josh Kucera, Vesna Peric Zimonjic’, Ana Nikitovic’, Ivan Benussi, Novak Gaijic’, and Dusan Cavic’. Thanks also to Oronto Douglas and Sowore Omoyele of Nigeria for taking big risks for justice.

I would like to express gratitude and admiration to my dear friend Kathy Kelly, who introduced me to the beautiful people of Iraq in 1998 and traveled that country with me many times thereafter. She is indeed a voice in the wilderness. Also, thanks to Cathy Breen and Abdul Sattar Jihad Jabbar for their friendship in times of struggle in Iraq over many years. Special thanks to Jacquie Soohen, Rick Rowley (and Big Noise Films), and Norm Stockwell for making the impossible happen and breaking down that technological and political firewall. Thanks also to Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday, whose courage in simply saying no has been a profound inspiration. Deep gratitude also to those Iraqis whom I cannot name for their own safety who have helped me on occasions too numerous to recount here. Finally, I wish to remember those journalists killed while serving as the eyes and ears of the world. May we have the courage to pick up their cameras, notebooks, and microphones and carry on the struggle and the work.