Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror

by Robert Young Pelton

 
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Robert Young Pelton first became aware of the phenomenon of hired guns in the War on Terror when he met a covert team of contractors on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border in the fall of 2003. Pelton soon embarked on a globe-spanning odyssey to penetrate and understand this shadowy world, ultimately delivering stunning insights into the way private soldiers are used.

Enter a blood-soaked world of South African mercenaries and tribal fighters backed by ruthless financiers. Drop into Baghdad’s Green Zone, strap on body armor, and take a daily high-speed ride with a doomed crew of security contractors who dodge car bombs and snipers just to get their charges to the airport. Share a drink in a chic hotel bar with wealthy owners of private armies who debate the best way to stay alive in war zones.

Licensed to Kill spans four continents and three years, taking us inside the CIA’s dirty wars; the brutal contractor murders in Fallujah and the Alamo-like sieges in Najaf and Al Kut; the Deep South contractor training camps where ex–Special Operations soldiers and even small town cops learn the ropes; the contractor conventions where macho attendees swap bullet-punctuated tales and discuss upcoming gigs; and the grim Central African prison where contractors turned failed mercenaries pay a steep price.

The United States has encouraged the use of the private sector in all facets of the War on Terror, placing contractors outside the bounds of functional legal constraints. With the shocking clarity that can come only from firsthand observation, Licensed to Kill painstakingly deconstructs the most controversial events and introduces the pivotal players. Most disturbingly, it shows that there are indeed thousands of contractors—with hundreds more being produced every month—who’ve been given a license to kill, their services available to the highest bidder.

Among the inside stories covered in License to Kill:

• The dark origins of private and proxy warfare, the history of contractors and private companies in the dirty wars, how 9/11 led to the rebirth of this once dark and reviled way of doing business.

• What sparked the massive explosion in the private security sector.  Its birth, what fuels it, why it’s destined for further exponential growth and profits.

• The tribalism and lingo of contracting.  The pay, the danger, the attacks, the untold stories and dirty secrets.

• New, intriguing details concerning the colorful mover and shaker Billionaire Erik Prince and his thousand-man army (exclusive access).

• How the media toured Shkin, Aghanistan never realizing it was a CIA base and the birth of Blackwater USA.

• A Harmid Karzai assassination attempt that was thwarted by ex Navy Seal contractors, but left two innocents dead.

• The birth and evolution of the science of keeping VIP’s alive, straight from Delta force legend “Mad Max’ Craig Maxim

• The hidden death toll of contractors in Iraq, as well as who they are and the impact on their families.

• The huge number of violent incidents involving private security contractors in Iraq, and the shocking non-interference policy adopted by Iraqi police.

• How the U.S. government spends millions training elite troops only to have them leave the military, hire on with contractor firms, and be sold back to the government at premium rates.

• How the government uses contractors to outsource blame and political responsibility.

• The truth behind charges leveled at certain contracting firms that they inadequately orient their personnel to combat zones, and show callousness when their employees are injured.

• How, in the worst firefights, it is often contractors, the “coalition of the billing,” who battle furiously while the “coalition of the willing” stand around and watch.

• The consequences of being the hired gun who gets left behind: an exclusive prison interview with Nick du Toit, who while leading a coup in Equatorial Guinea partly financed by affluent Brits and South Africans, was captured and given a life sentence in a E.G. prison.

• The danger that a private military firm might act out the orders of American leaders or the CIA without Congressional oversight.

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Crown (August 29, 2006)
ISBN: 1400097819

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