Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq

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Overview

Traveling with a group of American security contractors---mercenaries, or "mercs"---Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Steve Fainaru reveals in gritty detail the men who live by Big Boy Rules.

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Overview

Traveling with a group of American security contractors---mercenaries, or "mercs"---Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Steve Fainaru reveals in gritty detail the men who live by Big Boy Rules.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

For this mordant dispatch from one of the Iraq War's seamiest sides, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post correspondent Fainaru embedded with some of the thousands of "private security contractors" who chauffeur officials, escort convoys and add their own touch of mayhem to the conflict. Exempt from Iraqi law and oversight by the U.S. government, which doesn't even record their casualties, the mercenaries, Fainaru writes, play by "Big Boy Rules"-which often means no rules at all as they barrel down highways in the wrong direction, firing on any vehicle in their path. (His report on the Blackwater company, infamous for killing Iraqi civilians and getting away with it, is meticulous and chilling.) Fainaru's depiction of the mercenaries' crassness and callousness is unsparing, but he sympathizes with these often inexperienced, badly equipped hired guns struggling to cope with a dirty war. Nor is he immune to the romance of the soldier of fortune, especially in his somewhat bathetic portrait of Jon Coté, Iraq War veteran and lost soul who joined the fly-by-night Crescent Security Group and was kidnapped by insurgents. Fainaru's vivid reportage makes the mercenary's dubious motives and chaotic methods a microcosm of a misbegotten war. (Nov. 17)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From The Critics

In the past three years, a sudden literature encompassing over a dozen books of journalism, scholarship, and memoir has documented the rise of private security firms in Iraq and as part of other recent conflicts. Fainaru (coauthor, with Ray Sanchez, The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream) won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in international reporting for his Washington Post series on the companies that grew in Iraq "like mushrooms after a rainstorm, some with boards of directors and glass offices, others that are scarcely more than armed gangs." He shows that these firms operated all but outside the law and beyond oversight, "the largest use of private forces in the history of American warfare," whether it was the notorious Blackwater, a large State Department contractor, or Crescent Security, a small profiteer whose reckless activity is the primary subject of Fainaru's reporting. Five Crescent employees whom Fainaru came to know were ambushed, kidnapped, and murdered, and his skillful injection of a personal element into the larger story makes this a highly engaging book, among the best written so far on this subject. Recommended for all libraries.
—Bob Nardini

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780306817434
  • Publisher: Da Capo Press
  • Publication date: 11/10/2008
  • Pages: 288
  • Product dimensions: 6.30 (w) x 9.80 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Steve Fainaru is a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post, where he covered the war in Iraq from 2004 to 2007. In addition to the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, he received the Overseas Press Club’s Hal Boyle Award for best newspaper or wire-service reporting from abroad for his stories on private security contractors. He was a Pulitzer finalist in 2006 for his coverage of U.S. troops as the insurgency in Iraq intensified.

Fainaru is also the coauthor of The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream. He lives in El Cerrito, California.
 

Customer Reviews
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  • Posted November 5, 2008

    Public Must Know Private Contracting Engagement Rules

    This story must be told! The public may never be aware of the '...mayhem of Iraq...'. My son Jonathon is the main character in this book. Jon was a US Army veteran, 82nd Airborne Unit, who did tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq. His story is parallel to many other Americans who are attracted to the contracting life in Iraq whether it be for the money, the excitement or the fact that they don¿t feel they fit in anymore after having served in the war. The United States is putting hired help behind the front lines to ease the burden of its understaffed and overworked armed forces. That¿s the price we pay for having an all volunteer military. By paying civilians to handle tasks previously handled by the military, the administration is freeing up U.S. troops to do the actual fighting. But the use of contractors also hides the true costs of war. Their dead aren't added to official body counts. Their duties and profits are hidden by closed mouthed executives who won't give details to Congress as their coffers and roles swell. It is estimated that there is one contractor for every 10 foreign soldiers in Iraq; 10 times the private involvement in the first Gulf War in which I served. The bigger the contractor, the more the influence they have to establish the rules of engagement there. Who could have conceived the results factually detailed in this book. You will enjoy it! Jon's story is at www.FreeCote.com...

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 3, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    Not to biased, but a little off topic. Does good at summarizing the topic of PMCs.

    I purchased this book to guide me in writing a paper on Private Military Companies. The author does a good job at presenting and documenting solid information and detailing events. However, he drifts off into litereally his own story and starts getting into stuff you wouldn't expect him to talk about. These were things that were barely connected to the title.

    In conclusion, the book seems slightly biased against military companies, but it still contains solid information and I think that readers with the opposite opinion will be satsified. It gave me an interesting story and within the novel, it refferred to other novels that offer more in depth information. I enjoyed this novel and managed to read it in two days.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 14, 2008

    In response to Gabe

    Let me continue with other things you have NO IDEA about. Yes there are laws that govern the security companies in Iraq. Man power and equipment are NOT what cost those guys their lives. They chose to leave 3/4 of their security team behind. They had appropriate vehicles, PPE and weapons systems. They chose to not follow policy, they chose to surrender their weapons. Their choices/complacency that day cost them their lives. The author edited and left out quite a bit of info on the stories. This book at best is semi-fiction. The book and stories are only based on actual situations, but the stories have been changed by the author.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 21, 2008

    Interesting Read

    This book is an interesting look into the business of private security. I had no idea there were so many companies and how most have very limited resources. Kind of like American police agencies, trying to do more with less and taking extreme risks because of lack of funding from guys who sit comfortablly behind a desk instead of pounding pavement. Man power and equipment is what cost those men there lives. Plus the fact that there are no laws regulating how these companies enforce and act is troubling. It's obvious that there needs to be some sort of standards or regulations that need to be met.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 6, 2011

    Great Read!!!

    This is a great book about private security contractors in Iraq. I know its a cliche but I really couldn't put it down. Steve Fainaru spent time doing "missions" with these heroic guys on the dangerous highways of the Iraqi "Kill Zone". Fainaru then chronicles their survival...and some of their tragedies. He really brings the danger and reality of the war in Iraq home to the reader. The nature of Warfare has changed dramatically. Fainaru tells us how its changing, who's paying for it and who the major players are. Highly recommend...You wont be disappointed.

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  • Posted April 24, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    good book

    good book

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  • Posted April 20, 2009

    Chilling

    This book is nothing short of chilling. And amazing. Just when I thought I couldn't think any worse of the Iraq war and the incompetence of the Bush administration, this book shows me that the mainstream media hasn't scratched the surface on the truth. If anything, they've sugarcoated it. Fainaru's writing is incrediblly poignant and touching, particularly considering the personal tragedies he was enduring at the time. This book should be required reading for any flag-waving teabagger who has even the remotest fond memory of the pathetic Bush administration. This shows us another dark side to a poorly-planned war and painfully exposes so many U.S. shortcomings. I learned a lot. And God bless you, Steve Fainaru. May you recover from your emotional wounds and rediscover personal happiness.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 23, 2009

    Exciting Read that absorbs you into the story and facts of the private side of the war in Iraq

    The book gave a very good perspective of both the industrial & political issues relating to private army's in Iraq but also had a personal view and topic from the author's perspective. If you are interested in learning about the different issues relating to the events unfolding in Iraq relating to Private Security I highly recommend this book.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 17, 2009

    Eye Opening !

    I was in Iraq during the timeframe of this book and it amazes me that as a member of the military I heard nothing of the kidnapping of these men. It is also amazing to me on how much money is spent by the government on contracts for such purposes. We have all heard of KBR and Black Water, but realizing the size of the "non military" support provided by companies such as Crescent is mind boggling....Very thought provoking for future military encounters.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 9, 2009

    Interesting book but bit one sided

    Although the interviews with members of the PMC in the book were interesting, I couldn't get over the fact that it seemed the writer is extremely biased against them. The bottom line is that in the business of Blackwater, Triple Canopy, etc, they are paid to keep their clients alive, the property safe and go home at the end of the day. I do believe that some of the team members were abusive in their interactions with Iraqi's but overall I feel they were doing the job they were hired for.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 25, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

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    Posted May 2, 2009

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 15, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

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