Jeremy Scahill
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Jeremy Scahill (born c. 1974) is an American investigative journalist with expertise on a number of global issues, most notably the recent rise of private military companies (PMCs).[citation needed] He is the author of the international best-seller Blackwater:The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. The book won the George Polk Book Award. He serves as a correspondent for the U.S. radio and TV program Democracy Now!. He is also a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute and a frequent contributor to The Nation.[1] Scahill and colleague Amy Goodman were co-recipients of the 1998 Polk Award for their radio documentary "Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship", which investigated the Chevron Corporation's role in the killing of two Nigerian environmental activists.[2] Scahill's work appears frequently on Alternet, Commondreams, Counterpunch, Truthout, Antiwar.com, Huffington Post and many other independent news sites.
Scahill has reported from post-invasion Iraq; the former Yugoslavia, where he covered the 1999 NATO bombing;[3] and from post-Katrina Louisiana.[4] He has been a vocal critic of private military contractors, particularly Blackwater Worldwide, the subject of his book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.[5] The book was the focus of a two-part interview and discussion with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! in March 2007.[6] The book received numerous accolades, including the Alternet Best Book of the Year Award, a spot on the Barnes & Noble and Amazon lists of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007, and another Polk Award. Scahill has appeared on ABC World News, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CNN, MSNBC, PBS’s The NewsHour, Bill Moyers Journal and is a frequent guest on other radio and TV programs nationwide. Scahill also served as an election correspondent for HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Scahill has twice testified before Congress on the U.S. government's use of mercenary forces. On 19 April 2007, Scahill was a guest on The Daily Show where Jon Stewart was critical of Scahill's book.[7] On 3 Oct 2007 Stewart then expressed some remorse for his attitude during his interview with Scahill.[8]
Up until 1998, he was a regular contributor to the Catholic Worker. He campaigned vigorously against US policy towards Cuba, arguing that the Helms-Burton Act "discards ... sovereignty ... and attempts to supersede International law with US law" and "creates a legal framework authorizing financial and military support for armed subversion of a sovereign nation".[9]
[edit] References
- Scahill, Jeremy. "US Law Further Tightens Noose on Cuban People". Catholic Worker, June - July, 1997.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Nation website
- ^ Polk Awards press release
- ^ Selves and Others
- ^ Democracy Now!
- ^ New York: Nation Books, 2007. ISBN 1560259795 (hardcover); revised and updated edition, 2008. ISBN 156858394X
- ^ part one part two
- ^ "April 19, 2007: Jeremy Scahill". Comedy Central. 19 April 2007. http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=85562&title=jeremy-scahill.
- ^ "Daily Show Host Jon Stewart Apologizes to Jeremy Scahill for Hostile Interview on Blackwater Book". Democracy Now!. 3 Oct 2007. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/10/4/daily_show_host_jon_stewart_apologizes.
- ^ Metaphoria, August 1997, Volume 4 Nr.12, Issue 48
[edit] External links
- Jeremy Scahill's blog : RebelReports
- Jeremy Scahill's reports at The Huffington Post
- Jeremy Scahill's reports at AlterNet.org
- Jeremy Scahill's reports at The Nation
- Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater site
- Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, talk at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, during the recent book tour for the newly revised second edition, June 15, 2008.
- Interview about Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, online at CBC Words at Large (audio)
- Jeremy Scahill, "Bush's Shadow Army" -- from The Nation: March 15, 2007
- Radio Interview: Journalist Scahill Charts the Rise of Blackwater USA -- from NPR.org: March 19, 2007
