Biteback acquires Rice's We Were Blackwater

Biteback has acquired We Were Blackwater: Life, death and madness in the killing fields of Iraq, an SAS veteran’s true story that will be published in July 2023.

James Stephens, publisher, bought UK and Commonwealth rights excluding Canada to the book by Barrie Rice from Piers Blofeld at Sheil Land Associates.

Rice served in the New Zealand Special Air Service and left the SAS in 1995. He has since worked as a private security contractor, sole operator bodyguard, close protection instructor and team leader for international security companies. 

He said: "We Were Blackwater is a deeply personal story of my time with Blackwater, a private military company (PMC), through the most turbulent years in the Iraq War. I am grateful to have my story published by Biteback and to finally honour those from every PMC who did and did not come home."

Stephens added: "We Were Blackwater is one of the most arresting books I’ve read in years. It tells the story of the unheralded protagonists of the war in Iraq – the private security contractors – who served without the safety net of state military backing but often paid just as high a price. Barrie’s is the voice of the outsider, observing exactly where and why the US-led occupation begins to unravel. It’s a privilege to be publishing him."