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Jeremy Scahill, the author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army,” a bestselling expose on the private force working for the U.S. occupation in Iraq, came to Isla Vista on Thursday night with the message that “we need to bring an end to the war.”

Few Americans were even aware that there were highly trained and highly paid soldiers under private contract in Iraq until the fateful ambush of March 31, 2004, in the city of Fallujah, Scahill told a large audience at the Isla Vista Theater.

Thanks to more than $750 million in federal      contracts, Blackwater USA is now the most     powerful mercenary army in the world, Jeremy Scahill said. Photo by Hector Javkin / SBN

During the first Gulf War from 1990 to 1991, Scahill said, U.S. forces were made up of 60 active-duty soldiers for every soldier serving under private contract. Today in Iraq, he said, the U.S. has deployed only one active-duty soldier for every mercenary, meaning that half the occupation force is under private contract, operating largely in the shadows, unscrutinized and unconstrained.

Thanks to more than $750 million in contracts from the Bush administration, Blackwater USA is now the most powerful mercenary army in the world,  Scahill said. A Blackwater soldier may earn as much as $30,000 per month — roughly a year’s pay for enlisted soldiers.

“They’ve gone to war with the army they’ve bought,” Scahill said. “They’ve masked the total costs of the war.” As for the Democrats, Scahill said, they have done “almost nothing” to check the rampant privatization of the military.

Blackwater is on the rise at home, too, he said: On the orders of the Bush administration, the company sent security forces to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city. Ironically, they replaced the National Guard troops who had been deployed to Iraq.

The founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince, a conservative Christian millionaire, has poured money into Republican campaigns, Scahill said.

“We’re in the midst of very dark times right now,” he said.

After the four Blackwater soldiers were killed in Fallujah, Scahill said he came to know their families. They had many questions about what the soldiers were doing in Fallujah that day, he said, and why they were driving in unarmored jeeps. He said the mothers told him how Blackwater flew them to the company headquarters, barred them from comparing notes and told them they would have to file suit to obtain the official report on the attack.

The families sued, claiming that although their sons had signed contracts to do dangerous work, the company did not live up to its promise to provide sufficient safeguards.

Blackwater has contended that the company, like the U.S. military, cannot legally be sued. The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Blackwater’s appeals, and a trial is pending in state court in North Carolina.

During the question-and-answer period after his speech on Thursday, Scahill was asked whether the U.S. Department of Defense could learn anything from the tactics of the mercenary armies in the war against terrorists.

No, Scahill said, “The best way we can combat terrorism is to stop slaughtering people around the world. This is not a war we’re going to win.”

Scahill, a correspondent for the radio and television program “Democracy Now!”, will speak next in Oakland on a tour of California to promote his new book. Thursday’s event in Isla Vista was sponsored by KCSB 91.9 FM.