Licensed to Kill Licensed to Kill

Licensed to Kill

Privatizing the War on Terror

    • 3.9 • 14 Ratings
    • $14.99
    • $14.99

Publisher Description

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.

GENRE
Politics & Current Events
RELEASED
2006
August 29
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
368
Pages
PUBLISHER
Crown
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
4.1
MB

Customer Reviews

Some guy 000 ,

Endless, fragmented ramblings

An interesting topic if it were told by someone else. I'm not sure if this book was rushed to completion to satisfy the interest in the topic (at the time) OR if the author simply has no understanding of what is interesting vs mundane.
Either way, he cuts short the more interesting parts, while others drag on endlessly making the book an unsatisfying chore to finish. Equally annoying was the author's repeating himself on multiple occasions.

I've read several books on modern warfare, and this is the single worst book I've read on the (sub)topic and probably the worst book I've read in the past decade for me.

What a shame as I had high hopes!

Great recent reads: Lone Survivor; House to House; The Mission, The Men, and Me; Outlaw Platoon; Unbroken

Montezumaa ,

This book is broken.

I have enjoyed this book, thus far(at around page 128, in landscape mode), but pages are missing and many of the pictures are half missing, or completely broken. This is not the first book that I noticed this problem with(the free Winnie the Pooh has this problem, too), but this is the first book that I have paid for i notice with the same problem.

If this issue could be resolved, and quickly, I would rate this book with five stars. Until then, it gets one star.

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