10/04/11 – Peter Van Buren – The Scott Horton Show

Peter Van Buren, former State Department Foreign Service Officer in Iraq, discusses the minimal effect 63 billion dollars had on rebuilding Iraq since the 2003 invasion; his experience leading a Provincial Reconstruction Team with lots of cash but very little know-how; putting together laughably unhelpful conferences for hot-button issues like women’s rights; giving large cash handouts to Iraqis while public services in the US went unfunded; the Iraqi government’s minimal control outside major...

06/08/11 – Peter Van Buren – The Scott Horton Show

Peter Van Buren, former State Department Foreign Service Officer in Iraq, discusses his tomdispatch article “How Not to Withdraw from Iraq;” failing to win hearts and minds in Iraq, despite good intentions; how goodwill infrastructure projects like building schools and drinking water facilities were squandered in a money pit of graft and fraud; Hillary Clinton’s chance to play commander in chief of her own State Department mercenary army; and the two very different tiers of mercenaries...