Two experts on government fraud offer a look at how private contractors have imperiled the lives of American soldiers on the battlefield while damaging strategic interests, national security, and the American image abroad with shameless profiteering.

Cast of characters --Foreword / Jonathan Alter -- Introduction -- pt. 1. Blitzkrieg -- ch. 1. The private side of war -- ch. 2. Smelling smoke -- ch. 3. Where are my missiles? -- ch. 4. Breaking down -- ch. 5. Rumsfeld's Army -- pt. 2. Mission accomplished -- ch. 6. Dust and desperation -- ch. 7. Afflict the comfortable -- ch. 8. For the money -- ch. 9. A different kind of suburb -- ch. 10. The green zone -- pt. 3. Digging in -- ch. 11. Feeding frenzy -- ch. 12. Stepping into the breach -- ch. 13. The Berlin Wall -- ch. 14. Corporate cowboys in a war zone -- ch. 15. The hired guns -- pt. 4. The slog -- ch. 16. The other side of the force -- ch. 17. A different kind of black water -- ch. 18. The replacements -- pt. 5. Exposure -- ch. 19. The hand that feeds you -- ch. 20. Don Quixote vs. the Chairman -- ch. 21. Legal prayer -- ch. 22. Slumlord of Iraq -- ch. 23. The empire strikes back -- ch. 24. You go to war with the secretary of defense you have -- ch. 25. The war service industry -- Afterword -- Appendix -- Endnotes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index.