We didn't do too much harm (in Iraq)‏ chicken factory, Iraq, NPR, Peter Van Buren, U.S. Foreign Service, waste

Charged with rebuilding Iraq, would you spend taxpayer money on a
sports mural in Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhood?

How about an isolated milk factory that cannot get its milk to
market?

Or a giant Tyson-style chicken factory with no means of shipping to
places with no refrigeration?

Well, according to Peter Van Buren, we paid for all those projects
and more. What a waste! Watch and listen to just how ridiculous it
gets...

'We Meant Well':
An Attempt To Rebuild Iraq

Peter Van Buren was a career U.S. Foreign Service officer for more than two decades when he left for Iraq in 2009. He discovered that the success of his mission might depend on contented cows and slaughtered chickens. Host Scott Simon speaks with Van Buren about his new book, We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People. It's a sharp, bitter and sometimes funny account of his time embedded with the U.S. Army in Iraq.

-NPR