"We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People"

[Kluge]

During a long car trip, NPR had a fantastic interview with "We Meant Well" author Peter Van Buren. Peter worked in Iraq for the State Department to help "reconstruct" Iraq. I can't find the particular interview I listened to with many examples, yet, but I'll look again later. He pretty authoritatively damns the State Department's mindset and short-sighted, wasteful activities.

Some examples I recall...

Having American classics translated from English to Arabic to give to schools. Since there are few operating schools since Hussein, this ended up a bust except one principal who was "encouraged" ("because I don't want to use the word 'bribe'") to take them. Apparently, the principal tried and failed to sell the books on the black market after making the State Department workers load the books in his truck. The books ended up being dumped behind the school.

Handing tree seedlings out to Iraqis, responded to with "You killed my son, and give me a tree?"

"Sheep for Widows" program. The State Dep't decided to give out sheeps to widows because their mission statement includes the goals of helping women, widows, and improving agriculture. We're not talking about farmers -- just widows, indiscriminately given sheep.

A program involving teaching Iraqi women to bake pastries. The State Dep't paid ~$10k to a French pastry chef who "volunteered his time." Given there is little to no electricity, clean water, and the streets they were supposed to be vendors on were extremely dangerous and bombed-out, the women baked at home, if at all.

The State Dep't paid $22.5k to the Iraqi Artists Syndicate to produce a play about a legal dispute involving the value of the shade a donkey casts.

Over $18k was spent on producing childrens' calendars, to help inspire Iraqi children, of course. It was not actually produced until June.

~$25k was spent on bicycles. How to ride a bike on bombed-out streets filled with trash?

LOLOLOLOL -- Okay -- this one I hadn't heard in the interview... I'm reading excerpts online, now. Okay -- get this -- the USG spent $200,000 on a manufacturing plant intended to produce medical gases. The project utterly failed because the Army wouldn't allow the owner past checkpoints because the gas cylinders he bought were the same kind of cylinders the Army alleges terrorists use.


The State Dep't spent $25k to get a couple lawyers to write articles in a regional newspaper to promote freedom of the press. They were not to reveal they were being paid by the USG.

Book available on Amazon here. (Author's ref link)




-- and if you read this far down, here's a particularly special one... The USG spent over $2.5m to build a chicken processing plant in Iraq. When USG employees went to see how their investment went, there were no chickens being killed. The plant's guide told the US diplomats that the plant purchased 25 chickens that morning to kill so they'd have something to show on video. Eventually, an old man comes out, grabs a chicken, has it look toward Mecca, then cuts off its head -- does this 25 times. The blood pools on the floor, where the chicken heads float. When the butcher's done, he simply walks out of the room which had the chickens. The chickens continue through the hellish process of... processing, and their day's done.

Now, chicken in Iraq is usually frozen, processed, and shipped from Brazil. At market, 2lbs. costs around $1.75. Iraqis do not have the ability to grow chicken feed. It must be imported. Because of that, live chickens sold for around $2.50 per 2lbs. Now, the processed chicken at the new plant needs to pay for feed, the chickens, electricity for the automated machines (even though the alleged goal was to employ Iraqis, and they likely make low-enough a salary to be superior labor), and the workers to cut chicken heads and run the machines. Total cost comes to ~$3.25 for 2 lbs. Unsurprisingly, there was no market in the area for $1.625/lb chickens in war-torn, hyper-impoverished Iraq. I'm not sure there'd even be a market for something like that around here. Organic, boned, skinned, chicken breast costs less than $1.50/lb at our local farmers' market. Anyway, the plant continues to produce nothing.

The woman behind that project ended up leaving the Army..... and being hired by the US Dep't of Agriculture in Baghdad.

[Kluge]

bump

[noneedtoaggress]

sounds about right.

[Kluge]

They also had a lot of paid contractors, one of whom was hired for his agricultural expertise (paid over $250k/year)...he was a pig farmer.

*ahem* No, strange person using my account - that's not the right interview.

[lester1/2jr]

I heard him on NPR. Hillary is after him for this.

[Lavitz]

Sounds like a great book. Adding to my reading list.

[moderate libertarian]

While we meant well :

http://www.tagbanger.com/wp-content/.../$#@!-iraq.jpg


Not too surprised at the clownish and gross waste by state department when this scumbag was in charge of state.

[Danke]

Sounds like we need more funding to make this program work properly.

[vita3]

Bomb 'em & rebuild 'em in our image.

Sick Sh$t we got goin on-

[123tim]

Wow Kluge. You have an excellent memory.

Here's the interview:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/01/140974...o-rebuild-iraq


Thanks for the post. I'd miss out on a lot if others didn't post information such as this.

Edit:
After listening, this interview seemed very short with none of the examples that you listed. Must not be the right one (or possibly edited?)

[oyarde]

Thanks Kludge , I was not sure if I could bring myself to read it or not , only one cup of coffee so far today , I did read it , very bad , but I expected worse.

[fisharmor]

"Sheep for Widows" program. The State Dep't decided to give out sheeps to widows because their mission statement includes the goals of helping women, widows, and improving agriculture. We're not talking about farmers -- just widows, indiscriminately given sheep.

This is my favorite.
"We killed your husband. Here's a sheep."

How anyone couldn't immediately see that as anything other than calling them sheep $#@!ers is quite beyond me.