Foreign Service Officer rails against State Dept. for 'money, lives wasted' in Iraq

U.S. Foreign Service Officer Peter Van Buren accused the State Department of wasting millions of dollars in Iraq on projects poorly conceived and seldom finished at an Oct. 27 National Press Club Newsmaker press conference.

"I saw a lot of money and lives being wasted," said Van Buren, whose book, "We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People," has just been published. He was sent to Iraq in 2009.

The State Department has taken away his security clearance and sent him home -- keeping him on the payroll, as "it reviews my situation," he said.

While livid over some of the contents of his book, "the department had cleared it earlier," he said. "Any Foreign Service Officer who writes a book must first clear it with the department."

But as its contents became known, Van Buren said, the department tried six days before publication to get him to change parts it said were classified. The author had blogged about his time in Iraq, and part of the book was linked to Wikileaks.

Some of the State Department objections are ludicrous, Van Buren asserted.

"There are no great secrets in here," he said of his book.

Van Buren criticized what he said was misguided spending in Iraq. Among the examples he cited were a $1 billion investment in a helicopter pad and an effort to grow grass and keep it watered inside the American compound "while outside Iraqis didn't have clean water. A flock of birds ate the seed."

A 23-year Foreign Service veteran, Van Buren also criticized a $2.8 million chicken factory Iraqis didn't need that produced few chickens.

"Iraqis had had chickens for thousands of years," he said, "and didn't need help from us."

When a general's friend wanted to visit the plant, Van Buren said, "we had to go out and get (cooked) chickens to give them."

He also said U.S. funds were wasted on road and hospital projects that were never finished.

Van Buren defended his freedom to speak by pointing to the First Amendment and also the Magna Carta, "which gave everyone the freedom to question their government."

He said the State Department is denying him those freedoms but doubts that the agency will take him to court.

He also questioned the wisdom of sending to war zones Foreign Service Officers who were not prepared for such duty.

"They gave us three weeks of training before we left and took us to a secret place in West Virginia to learn how to shoot," Van Buren said. "When we got to Iraq, we were not told what to do. I asked the person who met me what we were to do and he said, 'That's what we hoped to learn from you.'".