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Archive for October 31st, 2011
A Very Short History of US, Iraq and Iran
Once upon a time, Iraq and Iran were enemies and fought a big, big war.Then the US eliminated that version of Iraq. Iran lost an enemy in 2003.
As civil society collapsed in Iraq around the US’ ankles, Iran became more and more influential in Iraqi politics and society.
Today Iraq is a friend, ally and economic partner of Iran.
The US is at war with Iran, in part inside Iraq.
Iraq is not at war with Iran. It is just providing the most recent stage.
We caused this to happen when we invaded Iraq in 2003.
Next Lesson is how the US eliminated Iran’s enemy the Taliban, and how that has worked out.
Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
On Russia Today Television
Video from my recent interview with Russia Today:
If the video is not showing above, follow this link to view it.Don’t miss the comments– one guy writes “100 dollars this guy will be dead with in 1 year.”
Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Review: We Meant Well
The good people at blog Well, That Was Different had some nice things to say about my book:
This is a great read. Van Buren is a naturally talented, engaging writer. I read the whole book in one go on a road trip, because I couldn’t put it down. If you have ever read P.J. O’Rourke’s “Holidays in Hell” you’ll like this book, though Van Buren is not quite as brilliantly snarky as O’Rourke (who is?) I suspect he has read a lot of Bill Bryson in his time, as well. Once he’s done taking State to the cleaners, if he decides to write about his adventures in other countries, I’d look forward to reading them.
Read the entire review if you like.
Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Money Down the Drain: Falluja Sewer System
In an endless search for the perfect allegory for the whole failure of reconstruction in Iraq, the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction (SIGIR) offers up the Falluja sewer system in a report issued October 30.An insurgent strong hold, the city of Falluja saw fighting more reminiscent of the house-to-house hell of Stalingrad than anything imagined for a counterinsurgency campaign. The massive sewer system the US wanted to put in place would be a symbol of change for the city. Yet continued heavy fighting, poor planning, unrealistic cost estimates and inadequate funding led to significant cost-overruns and delays in constructing the city’s new wastewater treatment system. After seven years and the expenditure of over $100 million dollars, the backbone of a waste water treatment system is now almost reluctantly in place, servicing the toilets of approximately 38,400 residents.
While some sort of forward movement, this is far short of the 100,000 residents originally intended to benefit from the system. Completion of the existing backbone facility was years late and millions of dollars over budget, leaving Falluja’s streets torn up and in disrepair for years. Many people, including State Department contract personnel, died while working on the project.
The project started with the Bush-era connections that characterized the contracting side of the Iraq war. Fluor Corp, the company that won the contract, had the cuddly links that flourish in Washington. Suzanne H. Woolsey, wife of former CIA director R. James Woolsey, joined the board of Fluor in January 2004. Just months later, Fluor was awarded $1.6 billion in Iraq reconstruction projects, including the Fallujah sewage plant.
The work on the system began in 2005, and by mid-2009 the US was declaring the system “three-fourths complete and is expected to go into operation before the end of the year.” “We’re in fact a $100 million raging success,” said Peter Collins, who was chief engineer on the project from August 2006 to May 2009.
To claim any measure of success in Falluja because the project was less than a total failure is to miss the point. While ostensibly about waste water, this project had the goals of enhancing local citizens’ faith in their government, delivery essential services, building a service capacity within the local government, winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi populace and boosting employment for young men who were otherwise recruitable by the insurgency. In short, the sewer system had as its goals the same things the reconstruction as a whole tried to do.
The full SIGIR report on the Falluja sewer system makes for sad, almost mandatory reading for those interested in why we may have meant well, we did not succeed.
Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!
Buy the Book:
- RT @reidarvisser: @kingston314 @LubnaNaji I recommend @iraqoilreport for keeping track of GKP and Iraq/Kurdistan
- American dissenters in Chicago arrested; blind Chinese dissenter welcomed. Another import.
- RT @TomDispatch: Judge rules unconstitutional a section of the #NDAA that would allow the indefinite detention of US citizens. http://t.co/SAs4j3Bz
- RT @SamwiseOccupies: I used to hate people who threw around the term #Orwellian, then I read about the #Nato3. #ochi #nonato #nato #FTP
- The hardline stand against reporter's privilege is a hallmark of Obama's unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers. http://t.co/PiSJPBtE
