We Were Blackwater
Life, death and madness in the killing fields of Iraq - an SAS veteran's explosive true story
The aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion is a story that has yet to be told by those who fought their own war against a brutal insurgency: the private security operators. Risking life and limb, often side by side with the US military but far more exposed, they were never to receive a hero’s homecoming. Remaining in the shadows, often with good cause, that would change for ever on 31 March 2004, when a security convoy was ambushed in Fallujah and the charred bodies of four American operators were strung from a road bridge. Those events would ensure notoriety for the company involved: Blackwater.
This is the untold story of those events; of the security industry and their private war; and of Blackwater’s war in Iraq — recounted by the man who was there to witness it all, SAS veteran Barrie Rice. His visceral, no-holds-barred account is brought to life in vivid, often shocking, scenes and laced with the dark humour of the moment. This gripping account delivers a compelling slice of reality — the inside story of the private contractor’s war.
We Were Blackwater provides a unique, revelatory insight into this high-octane, life-and-death world, where adventurers and wannabes can thrive or die, living out their dreams and their fantasies with fearsome firepower and few, if any, rules.
'A riveting tale of a brotherhood of warriors and their descent into hell. Visceral, brutal, raw and very real, We Were Blackwater is a rollercoaster ride of combat on the frontline of death and bloodshed. Unputdownable. Unforgettable. The untold true story.' — Damien Lewis, author of SAS Ghost Patrol and Churchill’s Secret Warriors
'A raw, riveting look into the hidden frontlines of the Iraq War and an indispensable first-person account of the secret lives of the mercenaries and contractors who fought and died overseas… Rice does something few have attempted, taking us on an emotional journey that is at once unsettling and revelatory. Excellent.' — Mark Boal, Oscar-winning screenwriter and producer of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty
Barrie ‘Baz’ Rice served in the New Zealand Special Air Service (1NZSAS) or ‘the Unit’. During that time he was an amphibious and counter-terrorist group commander, demolitions, hand to hand (CBC) and tracking instructor. He left the SAS in 1995 and has since worked as a private security contractor, sole operator bodyguard, close protection instructor and team leader (C1) for international security companies such as Blackwater USA or with military units and law enforcement agencies. Baz has worked all over the world, including in Hong Kong, Brunei, Europe, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Colombia, Africa and Latin America. As well as his security services and training, Baz has provided military consultancy and weapons training for Oscar-winning movies such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Coriolanus and White House Down and for a host of TV shows.
