8 Hamza Hendawi, “Marines Seek to Pacify Fallujah With Show of Force, Residents Are Skeptical,” Associated Press, March 30, 2004.
9 Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Anthony Shadid, “U.S. Targeted Fiery Cleric in Risky Move; As Support for Sadr Surged, Shiites Rallied for Fallujah,” Washington Post, April 11, 2004.
10 Ibid.
11 Christopher Torchia, “13 Killed in Iraq, Including US Marine,” Associated Press, March 26, 2004.
12 “Four Killed, Seven Wounded in Iraq Battle: Hospital,” Agence France-Presse, March 26, 2004.
13 Hamza Hendawi, “Marines Seek to Pacify Fallujah With Show of Force, Residents Are Skeptical,” Associated Press, March 30, 2004.
14 Stephen Farrell and Richard Beeston, “Out of the Desert Darkness Came Hellfire,” The Times of London, March 23, 2004.
15 Nayla Razzouk, “Iraqis Fear ‘Resistance Leader’ Yassin’s Killing May Fuel Terrorism,” Agence France-Presse, March 22, 2004.
16 Ibid.
17 Hamza Hendawi, “Marines Seek to Pacify Fallujah With Show of Force, Residents Are Skeptical,” Associated Press, March 30, 2004.
18 Dexter Filkins (Associated Press), “2 Civilians Killed in Mosul Gunbattles,” Houston Chronicle , March 27, 2004.
19 Hamza Hendawi, “Marines Seek to Pacify Fallujah With Show of Force, Residents Are Skeptical,” Associated Press, March 30, 2004.
20 Ibid.
21 Transcript, NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, PBS, March 31, 2004.
22 Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, Penguin Press, New York, 2006, p. 331.
23 Transcript, press briefing, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Baghdad, Iraq, March 30, 2004.
24 Unless otherwise noted, all biographical information on Jerry Zovko, as well as the comments of his mother, Danica Zovko, is from interviews conducted by the author, Summer 2006.
25 Joseph Neff and Jay Price, “A Private Driven man; A 1995 Tour in Bosnia Matured Jerry Zovko and Steered Him to the Contracting Business That Would Take Him to Iraq,” News and Observer, July 28, 2004.
26 Interview, Summer 2006.
27 Joseph Neff and Jay Price, “Army Molds a Future; During His 20 Years in the Service, Wesley Batalona Built Skills That Would Come Into Play Later for the Tough Former Sergeant,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 27, 2004.
28 Ibid.
29 “Slain US Security Agents Once Served With Navy Seals, Special Forces,” Agence France-Presse, April 2, 2004.
30 Ibid.
31 Jay Price, Joseph Neff, and Charles Crain, “Mutilation Seen Around the World,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 25, 2004.
32 Bill Powell, “Into the Cauldron: The Murder of Four American Civilians in Fallujah Provokes a Vow of Retaliation. But Can Anything Defuse the Rage in Iraq?” Time, April 8, 2004.
33 Ibid.
34 The description of this mission and the details of it come largely from three sources: various Blackwater contracts obtained by the author; the lawsuit filed against Blackwater by the families of the four men in January 2005; and the groundbreaking investigative reporting done by Jay Price and Joseph Neff of the News and Observer newspaper.
35 PBS Frontline Web site, “Private Warriors: Contractors: The High-Risk Contracting Business, ” www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/contractors/highrisk.html, posted June 21, 2005.
36 Jay Price and Joseph Neff, “Families Sue Over Fallujah Ambush: Relatives Contend an N.C. Company Denied Necessary Equipment to Four Men Who Were Killed in the Iraqi City,” the News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 6, 2005.
37 Jay Prince and Joseph Neff, “Security Company Broke Own Rules; Four U.S. Civilians Ambushed and Killed in Fallujah, Iraq, Lacked Some Protection Their Contract Promised,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), August 22, 2004.
38 Jay Price, Joseph Neff, and Charles Crain, “Graveyard; The Ambush Was So Sudden That the Four Private Contractors Had Little Chance to React. The Men had Driven Into Fallujah Rather Than Bypassing That Tinderbox in the Sunni Triangle. The City’s Barely Suppressed Fury Boiled to the Surface,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 31, 2004.
39 Jay Prince, Joseph Neff, and Charles Crain, “Ambush Kills 4 Workers in Iraq; Men Worked for N.C. Security Firm,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), June 7, 2004.
40 Richard P. Nordan v. Blackwater Security Consulting, LLC et. al., filed January 5, 2005.
41 Jay Prince and Joseph Neff, “Security Company Broke Own Rules; Four U.S. Civilians Ambushed and Killed in Fallujah, Iraq, Lacked Some Protection Their Contract Promised,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), August 22, 2004.
42 Author copy of contract.
43 Jay Price, Joseph Neff, and Charles Crain, “Graveyard; The Ambush Was So Sudden That the Four Private Contractors Had Little Chance to React. The Men had Driven Into Fallujah Rather Than Bypassing That Tinderbox in the Sunni Triangle. The City’s Barely Suppressed Fury Boiled to the Surface,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 31, 2004.
44 Ibid.
45 Joshua Hammer, “Cowboy Up,” The New Republic, May 24, 2004.
46 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Majority Staff Report, “Private Military Contractors in Iraq: An Examination of Blackwater’s Actions in Fallujah,” September 2007.
47 Ibid.
48 Bill Powell, “Into the Cauldron; The Murder of Four American Civilians in Fallujah Provokes a Vow of Retaliation. But Can Anything Defuse the Rage in Iraq?” Time, April 8, 2004.
49 As quoted in the documentary Shadow Company, released 2006, produced and directed by Nick Bicanic, Purpose Films.
50 Robert Young Pelton, Licensed to Kill, p. 134.
51 David Barstow, “Security Firm Says Its Workers Were Lured Into Iraqi Ambush,” New York Times, April 9, 2004.
52 Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco, p. 331.
53 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Majority Staff Report, “Private Military Contractors in Iraq: An Examination of Blackwater’s Actions in Fallujah,” September 2007.
54 Bill Powell, “Into the Cauldron; The Murder of Four American Civilians in Fallujah Provokes a Vow of Retaliation. But Can Anything Defuse the Rage in Iraq?” Time, April 8, 2004.
55 Sewell Chan, “Descent Into Carnage in a Hostile City; In Fallujah, Mob Unleashes Its Rage,” Washington Post, April 1, 2004. Note: Subsequent autopsies determined that the men died immediately, disputing these accounts, but the bodies were horribly mutilated.
56 Bill Powell, “Into the Cauldron; The Murder of Four American Civilians in Fallujah Provokes a Vow of Retaliation. But Can Anything Defuse the Rage in Iraq?” Time, April 8, 2004.
57 Ibid.
58 Sameer N. Yacoub, “Insurgents Attack U.S. Convoy in Fallujah Day After Bodies of American Civilians Dragged Through Streets,” Associated Press, April 1, 2004.
59 Sewell Chan, “Descent Into Carnage in a Hostile City; In Fallujah, Mob Unleashes Its Rage,” Washington Post, April 1, 2004.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid.