Executive Outcomes: Against All Odds Paperback – January 1, 2007

Like most people I'd heard of executive outcomes but didn't know much about it.This is written by the founder eeben Barlow.There is some autobiographical stuff and he talks about EO missions in various places.What I mainly took from it though was amazement at how the SA media functioned as a mouthpiece for the SA intelligence services in trashing the firms reputation- because it was stepping on the toes of important people and messing with their income.Of course you can see the exact same thing play out today in the US media, where news outlets all say the same thing and print the same headlines, and they make no secret of the revolving door between networks like NBC and the FBI and CIA.Interesting to see the exact same dynamic playing out in SA 30 years ago.It could do with some editing but it's clearly written from the heart by a real leader rather than the sort of ghostwritten nonsense churned out under the name of western politicians.Highly recommended.

History of one of the first private military companies, and their struggles to to help some African governments regain control of their countries. Executive Outcomes proved with the right people, the right planning and execution, a small force of dedicated personnel could do what the UN with all its resources could never do, actually help people. It amazes me that black lives don't seem to matter when it comes to Africa.

"Executive Outcomes: Against All Odds" is primarily an account of the iconic South African private military company (PMC) Executive Outcomes that operated in Africa in the 1990s by its founder Eeben Barlow, a veteran of South African Defense Force's (SADF) 32 Battalion Reconnaissance Wing, South Africa's Military Intelligence, and the controversial and secretive Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB). Barlow begins with his SADF career, which began in 1974, before moving on to his career in intelligence, then the creation, evolution, and the major contracts of Executive Outcomes. I read the 2008 edition of this book, which is the second edition. It included some corrections to the 2007 edition. A forth revised and updated edition will be published later this year (2017), so interested readers may want to wait for that instead of trying to find a rare copy of an earlier edition.Eeben Barlow left SADF after 16 years of service with little money and the company Executive Outcomes (EO) to his name, which he had ironically created to fund his CCB operation in Europe. EO developed training programs for South African Special Services. Eager to turn the company into an income generator, Barlow took EO in the direction of security and related equipment. It was only a strange set of circumstances that turned EO from a private security company into a private military company. Barlow was approached by former British SAS Tony Buckingham for help in retrieving oil-drilling equipment belonging to Buckingham's company from the docks in Soyo, Angola, which was under the control of the opposition group UNITA, formerly an ally of South Africa in its Border War. EO was to send a team to provide security for the Angolan Army's recovery operation. South African intelligence services had ties to UNITA and objected to the operation so warned UNITA, necessitating a military offensive instead of what would have been a security job. EO was born as a PMC.Barlow had a low tolerance for office politics and interagency rivalries when he worked in intelligence, so you can imagine how much he appreciated the South African government's relentless media campaign against his company and its jeopardizing the lives of his men. Memoirs give authors the opportunity to grind their axes and skewer their enemies, and Barlow takes every chance he gets to accuse South Africa's military intelligence (MI) and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) of duplicity, treachery, sanctions-busting, and attacking EO with an over-the-top disinformation campaign. If half the stuff he accuses MI of is true, it boggles the mind, but I learned long ago not to believe what's written in the papers, especially where war is concerned. Barlow's accounts of EO are alternated with his growing anger at the treatment the company receives from MI and the press in South Africa, which may be been motivated by the financial interests of small number of individuals.Barlow includes descriptions of EO's major military operations, on the ground and in the air: Angola 1993-1996 (pages 94-314), under the command of Nic van den Bergh, Sierra Leone 1995-1997 (pages 315-388) under the command of Bert Sachse, and a hostage crisis in Indonesia (pages 411-421). Barlow was not present during these operations, so I assume he got the blow-by-blow details from those who were. There is limited information about EO's security contracts. Barlow does discuss the subcontract that EO had for Sandline International to train Special Forces in Papua New Guinea that blew up in both companies' faces. And he offers his view of the aftermath in Angola and Sierra Leone, both of which EO was forced to leave prematurely for political reasons. Eeben Barlow resigned from Executive Outcomes in 1997. EO closed its doors on 31 December 1998.I found this book very readable. I enjoyed it. It contains more detail than necessary in some places and feels repetitive when it catalogs every volley fired at EO in the press. But I excused those flaws, as this is Barlow's opportunity to document what happened, and sometimes the documentation takes precedence over the reader's attention span. After the United States invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, the use of PMCs proliferated, and virulent condemnation of them in the press went out of fashion, at least in the US and UK, who employ a lot of PMCs. Executive Outcomes was unfortunate to make a big splash in Africa when PMCs were anathema to the UN and to most journalists and to do it on the side of the Angolan civil war that was not supported by South Africa, the United States, or any Western government. So the condemnation came. Barlow is self-aggrandizing at times and much aggrieved at the treatment he received, but it's his book, so the tone is not unexpected.

This book is an incredible account of the role Executive Outcomes played in Africa in the late 80's. After reading the account from a soldier on the ground ( Four Ball, One Tracer: Commanding Executive Outcomes in Angola and Sierra Leone ), seeing these events from the perspective of the CEO added quite a bit of depth to the entirety of what was going on. After reading many accounts making accusations against EO and their involvement in these countries, seeing Eeben detail his sources and the events around them definitely lends one to believe that much of that was propaganda against EO. If you read much or watch reports about the events during this time period you will see many of the names appear that Eeben talks about in his book (especially many of the so called "experts" on Africa). I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the role of PMC's and the conflicts in Africa.

This is a well-written account by Col. Barlow of EO's trials and tribulations with the powers that be in Africa. As a former diplomat in the Middle East I recognize his problems. The truth is very often the victim of greed and politics. I share his view of the total uselessness of the UN. Incompetent is a mild description. It is jobs for the boys on a colossal scale.

its hard to improve on what the reviewers have said above. Barlow changed the way 'mercenary' outfits run. I do not like that word for an organization such as his and believe his causes were just and legal. There are always bad apples in a group that size who went on to do some shady things but EO saved lives and gave a new model for military operations that more African Govts should take advantage of. I especially enjoyed Barlow's personal history in 32 Battalion. He has a great blog on the internet as well and has a forthcoming book. Prices here are high but if you can find it, get it.D.R. TharpAuthor of Task Force Intrepid: The Gold of Katanga

This is a really well put together and insightful text which covers the authors experiences in the bush war in Angola and through that to the formation of EO. The book is detailed, infinitely readable & credible. If you are looking to get a better understanding of the late 80s and 90s in Southern Africa and beyond & to see how EO came to being then this is it.

Ich kann mich meinem Vorredner nur anschließen. Wer sich ernsthaft mit den Entwicklungen von internationalen Sicherheitsdienstleistern ("PMC" wenn man es so nennen mag) der letzten Jahre beschäftigen will, kommt an diesem Buch nicht vorbei. Hier wird ein ganz anderes Bild erzeugt als das das wir aus unseren Medien kennen.