Licensed to Kill

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.

From the Hardcover edition.

Share your thoughts on the Licensed to Kill ebook with other internet viewers!

Title of ebook: Licensed to Kill
ISBN: 9780307345455
parent-ISBN: 9780307345455
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Pages: 288
Published: 08-2006
Released online for download: 08-29-2006
Author of eBook: Pelton, Robert Young

Format

Encrypted

Sku

ISBN

File size

Security

Printing

Copying

Read aloud

Devices

Digital Editions

Yes

0307345459

9780307345455

3369 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Mobipocket

Yes

9780307345455

1627 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirements

Download reader

Microsoft

Yes

5551555224

9780307345455

1792 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

eReader

Yes

5551555216

9780307345455

1721 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Licensed to Kill

Chapter One

Kill Them All

"I am here for the money." —Afghan Gen. Zia Lodin to the CIA

"The solution is to let them kill each other," the small, energetic senior citizen in the Windbreaker tells me over a fiesta omelet with extra jalapenos at a Florida Waffle House. He points upward. "Send up a satellite and take pictures. Keep the Special Operations teams in the hills, fifty miles out of the towns. Then go in at night and do your work. Kill them. Kill like we did in Germany. Flatten the place. You have to not mind killing innocents. Even the women and children."

These are the words of seventy-five-year-old Billy Waugh, Special Forces legend, seasoned CIA paramilitary, renowned assassin, covert operator, and the world's longest operating "Green Badger"-or CIA contractor. Over breakfast we discuss my most recent trip to Iraq with contractors and the deadly and confused situation there. Billy is giving me his frank opinions on what needs to be done in Iraq to stop the ever-mounting toll of dead Americans. His reference to tactics in Germany and other wars is not based on a book but on ev ... read full excerpt from: Licensed to Kill ebook

Other Robert Young Pelton ebooks:

receive alert on new Robert Young Pelton ebooks

Adventurist

Tales of derring-do from adventurer extraordinaire Robert Pelton Young. Weaving together dispatches of mayhem in such exotic locales as Africa, the Philippines, and Borneo, ...more

Best price: $17.95

Top eBooks in "Public Policy - General"

Antifederalist Papers

by Various

During the period from the drafting and proposal of the federal Constitution in September, 1787, to its ratification in 1789 there was an intense debate on ratification. The ...more

Best price: $2.98

America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation

by Dershowitz, Alan M.

America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation...more

Best price: $8.76

Crusader, The

by Kengor, Paul

Based on extraordinary research: a major reassessment of Ronald Reagan's lifelong crusade to dismantle the Soviet empire–including shocking revelations about the ...more

Best price: $13.99

Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to

by Lappe, Frances Moore

Three out of five Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, feel our country is headed in the wrong direction. America is at the edge, a critical place at which we can either...more

Best price: $22.04

Courage in a Dangerous World: The Political Writings of Eleanor Roosevel

by Roosevelt, Eleanor

Dozens of books have been written about eleanor Roosevelt, but her own writings are largely confined to the Roosevelt archives in Hyde Park. "Courage In A Dangerous World" ...more

Best price: $27.99

Debating War and Peace: Media Coverage of U.S. Intervention in the Post-

by Mermin, Jonathan

Debating War and Peace: Media Coverage of U.S. Intervention in the Post-Vietnam era...more

Best price: $9.95

America's Secret War

by FRIEDMAN, GEORGE

THe STARTLING TRUTH BeHIND AMeRICA'S FOReIGN POLICY AND WAR eFFORT IN AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, AND BeYOND—FROM THe FOUNDeR OF THe COMPANY DUBBeD BY BARRON'S AS &...more

Best price: $14.04

BROKEN HEARTH

by Bennett, William J.

Today the American family is under siege as never before. From the dramatic rise in illegitimacy, divorce, cohabitation, and single parenthood to the call for ...more

Best price: $12.24

American Rhapsody

by Eszterhas, Joe

Political satirist Mark Russell pictures President Clinton being sculpted onto Mount Rushmore--"from the waist down." eszterhas, the author of such fine screen plays as F.I.S....more

Best price: $14.17

Other Political Science eBooks Categories

Political Science General (1203)

Government (68)

Economic Conditions (61)

Essays (36)

Globalization (46)

Comparative (40)

Political (68)

Theory (274)

International Relations (387)

Labor & Industrial Relations (59)