Private Warriors
Published on 17. July 2000
Book
Hardback
286 pages
978-1-85984-756-5 (ISBN)
Description
In offering explanations for the US's enormous post-Cold War military budget-nearly $280 billion for the year 2000-most defense critics point to the influence of weapon makers pork-barrel politics. Those are certainly factors.
But in this eye-opening book, Ken Silverstein looks at another, all but unexamined force: private warriors, the generals, gunrunners and national security staffers who were cast adrift by the end of the Cold War and are now continuing business in the private sector. Private Warriors moves from an arms dealer's estate in Vienna to a weapons show in Rio de Janeiro to a Soldier of Fortune convention in Las Vegas. It introduces little known figures such as Ernst Werner Glatt, a right-wing German who for many years was the Pentagon's preferred gunrunner, and Andrew Marshall, an aging but still sprightly Cold Warrior who ardently promotes the development of needless new weapons systems.
Other encounters are with more recognizable names such as General Alexander Haig, the former Secretary of State who now lobbies for China and sells weapons to Turkey, and Frank Gaffney, an ex-Pentagon official who has grown rich by promoting the biggest boondoggle of them all, Star Wars. Today's private warriors have one thing in common: a financial interest in war, and the connections to push for a continuation of Cold War military policy.
But in this eye-opening book, Ken Silverstein looks at another, all but unexamined force: private warriors, the generals, gunrunners and national security staffers who were cast adrift by the end of the Cold War and are now continuing business in the private sector. Private Warriors moves from an arms dealer's estate in Vienna to a weapons show in Rio de Janeiro to a Soldier of Fortune convention in Las Vegas. It introduces little known figures such as Ernst Werner Glatt, a right-wing German who for many years was the Pentagon's preferred gunrunner, and Andrew Marshall, an aging but still sprightly Cold Warrior who ardently promotes the development of needless new weapons systems.
Other encounters are with more recognizable names such as General Alexander Haig, the former Secretary of State who now lobbies for China and sells weapons to Turkey, and Frank Gaffney, an ex-Pentagon official who has grown rich by promoting the biggest boondoggle of them all, Star Wars. Today's private warriors have one thing in common: a financial interest in war, and the connections to push for a continuation of Cold War military policy.
Reviews / Votes
Private Warriors is an important book that exposes the seamy underside of U.S. defense policy-and illuminates some of the reasons we are still mired in a Cold War mode. Silverstein reveals the incestuous relationship between the arms industry and the U.S. government, and how together they are selling weapons to Third World countries that don't need them and can't afford them. -- Charles Lewis, Executive Director, The Center for Public Integrity First-rate journalism by an indefatigable reporter. -- Lewis Lapham, Editor, <em>Harper's Magazine</em>More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 147 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
497 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85984-756-5 (9781859847565)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Person
Ken Silverstein is a fellow of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. He was a 2010-2012 Open Society Fellow. He served as Washington editor of Harper's magazine from 2006 to 2010. Previously on the staff of the Los Angeles Times, Silverstein has also written for Mother Jones, Wallpaper, Washington Monthly, the Nation, Slate, Salon, and many other publications. In 2005, he received the Overseas Press Club Award for a series, co-written with T. Christian Miller, titled "The Politics of Petroleum" and published in the Los Angeles Times.