Blackwater and Bureaucratic Betrayal With Nick Slatten
Tue Aug 19 2025
The early days of the Global War on Terror, the U.S. Government was heavily dependent on Private Military companies. The Defense Department leaned on them for support, the State Department relied on them for protection, and the Justice Department attacked them for easy virtue signaling. Today we talk to Nick Slatten, a member of the Blackwater Tactical Support Team Raven 23. He moved from the 82nd Airborne unit to contracting work just in time for the 2007 troop surge, and just in time to become the central scapegoat of political prosecution designed to appease international journalists.
It took three trials before the Obama administration finally convicted him, and he spent six years in prison before Trump finally pardoned him, but he is telling his story now in hopes of raising awareness about others who have been prosecuted and punished for political expediency.
https://www.amazon.com/Raven-23-Department-Betrayed-American/dp/0063370603
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The early days of the Global War on Terror, the U.S. Government was heavily dependent on Private Military companies. The Defense Department leaned on them for support, the State Department relied on them for protection, and the Justice Department attacked them for easy virtue signaling. Today we talk to Nick Slatten, a member of the Blackwater Tactical Support Team Raven 23. He moved from the 82nd Airborne unit to contracting work just in time for the 2007 troop surge, and just in time to become the central scapegoat of political prosecution designed to appease international journalists. It took three trials before the Obama administration finally convicted him, and he spent six years in prison before Trump finally pardoned him, but he is telling his story now in hopes of raising awareness about others who have been prosecuted and punished for political expediency. https://www.amazon.com/Raven-23-Department-Betrayed-American/dp/0063370603