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

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

by Peter Van Buren (Goodreads Author)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 219 ratings · 63 reviews

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction of 2011 title

From a State Department insider, the first account of our blundering efforts to rebuild Iraq—a shocking and rollicking true-life tale of Americans abroad

Charged with rebuilding Iraq, would you spend taxpayer money on a sports mural in Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhood to promote reconciliation through art? How about an isol...more

ebook, 288 pages

Published September 27th 2011 by Metropolitan Books (first published 2011)

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Mar 19, 2013 Emily Short rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Possibly this is just an issue of expectations mismatched with what I actually got, but I was expecting something that would be more heavily based in evidence and less memoir/anecdata.

The anecdata -- tales of pointless milk distribution centers, chickenless chicken plucking plants, sewage treatment plants without electricity, schools with new laptops they didn't have the energy to run, but no windows -- is certainly very striking and some of the memoir writing is extremely evocative. But the lo...more

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May 15, 2012 Windy2go rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I debated between a three-star rating and a four-star rating because of bad language and some gratuitous topics. I can also add that this is not an "upper," but my experience would suggest that while Peter Van Buren is a mix of sarcastic, bitter, and cynical, I don't think he was exaggerating the things he witnessed. I do think there are usually more ways than one to see or explain a given event, but I don't think he's generally wrong in his cynical, sarcastic outlook at how badly the United Sta...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

I've read a lot of sad books lately: on hunger, on cancer, on the casual brutality of high school. Van Buren, however, skewers the absurdities and self-contradictions of the situations he finds himself in, and this leavens the sadness of the wasted opportunity to actually rebuild Iraq. Without his black sense of humour, this would be a grim polemic or autobiographical diatribe. Instead, it's a light read but one that will have you groaning and appalled.

Van Buren can see everyone's motivations. T...more I've read a lot of sad books lately: on hunger, on cancer, on the casual brutality of high school. Van Buren, however, skewers the absurdities and self-contradictions of the situations he finds himself in, and this leavens the sadness of the wasted opportunity to actually rebuild Iraq. Without his black sense of humour, this would be a grim polemic or autobiographical diatribe. Instead, it's a light read but one that will have you groaning and appalled.

Van Buren can see everyone's motivations. The politicians in the US push priorities to the army and to the State Department, who reward their people in the field for their ability to deliver projects with those priorities. To get rewarded, you have to deliver before you're sent back home at the end of your one year tour, so everyone's incentivized to do short-term "quick wins". Nobody ever wants to look at whether the projects *achieved* anything, merely to be able to have a photo op and to accumulate these paper successes. The volumes of money wasted in this way will blow your mind.

The $2M+ chicken factory was classic. Because there's no good transportation or chilled storage, because the roads are crap and the power's on for only 2 hours each day, everyone keeps live chickens and kills them to eat. Any market for frozen chickens was taken by imported food. Scale for chicken raising and slaughter had to be huge to be economical. This new chicken processing plant couldn't run cheap enough and, indeed, was never run but for photo ops. And this was all predicted in an earlier US AID report on the viability of chicken processing plants (they weren't viable) and ignored by folks who needed a project they could champion and point to the building and say "success!" on.

I'm tempted to draw conclusions about government's ability to run anything. The short-term political push and pull can't be allowed to interfere with the long-term success of any government program, whether it's managing the nation's energy supply or rebuilding a nation we destroyed in the name of democracy. I'm now keen to read up on how (whether?) it's possible to so insulate good works that they can't be ruined, only improved, by the state that runs them.

I don't imagine that book will be quite so painfully funny, however.(less)

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Feb 28, 2012 Clif rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not at all sure we meant well. This is a tale of folks cleaning up financially, while not cleaning up the mess their country made, and a testament to the fact that America not only had no business in Iraq, but was hopelessly clueless about the place.

Hilarious, pathetic, embarrassing, infuriating, depressing, WMW (We Meant Well) shows how the United States goes at any problem by throwing money at it. In international affairs in particular, the solution is always to pay a proxy to do dirty dee...more I'm not at all sure we meant well. This is a tale of folks cleaning up financially, while not cleaning up the mess their country made, and a testament to the fact that America not only had no business in Iraq, but was hopelessly clueless about the place.

Hilarious, pathetic, embarrassing, infuriating, depressing, WMW (We Meant Well) shows how the United States goes at any problem by throwing money at it. In international affairs in particular, the solution is always to pay a proxy to do dirty deeds, to threaten a country that receives aid with a cutoff of that aid, to bribe poor countries with promises of aid. When money doesn't achieve the goal we have in mind, we just throw more of it around.

Standing tall amid many other examples of hubris is the gargantuan U.S. embassy in Baghdad, in which we wander about with the author, complete with totally silent air conditioning, a huge swimming pool, a million dollar lawn (that dies anyway) and a cafe called Baghdaddys. The author is incensed at the conditions of luxury enjoyed by Americans who never put their noses outside the building while the locals live is squalor. Pictures and accounts of the lavish place have been in the papers and the U.S. has now cut staff there in half because the Iraqis, understandably, are not accommodating the U.S. State Department in its attempt to keep tabs on the country.

Van Buren gives the reader a complete tour. Being in the position of proposing and attempting to implement projects for the good of the Iraqis, he soon becomes cynical as he sees the pointlessness of what was being attempted and the eagerness of his superiors to make a good impression on the people back in the States rather than to improve the lives of the Iraqis. Van Buren concludes that the imperative was to be busy, since success was beyond reach. His sense of humor leavens the despair.

In a monetary feeding frenzy, all manner of Americans, few of which are qualified for their job, go through the motions to pick the pockets of the American people and get back to the U.S. in a year or two. We meet horny soldiers and swaggering private security personnel, and third world folks who do all the menial jobs Americans won't do, smiling constantly for fear of losing their hard-won work if they don't. We go out in the 120 degree desert in harm's way, experience a mortar attack and ride in an MRAP (armored personnel carrier) listening to the argot of the troops...troops who are as uncomprehending of the place as they would be of Mars.

Money flows like water - in fact better than water - because the attempts to get water to the people all fail. Stupidity combines with ignorance and the inability to speak Arabic to produce waste on a monumental scale. There seemed to be no limit to what could be spent, in fact Van Buren was ordered to spend freely. The motto might have been "if you can't accomplish anything, at least act like you are" The Iraqis, knowing the American plans are absurd, nevertheless play along, smartly saying what they know Americans want to hear just to get at least something out of occupation before the inevitable pullout.

The "war of choice" in Iraq will stand as one of the greatest mistakes made in the history of the United States, entered into by men and women (that's you, Condi) at the top who thought of grand geopolitical moves without the smallest understanding of the people who would suffer for the simplistic project of one of our most ignorant presidents, George W. Bush. He and his vice-president and secretary of defense and state are now comfortably retired and writing books from beautiful homes, as the Iraqi people who have suffered so much from the war to get one man continue to struggle to get drinkable water or have power stay on for more than a day or two.

WMW is a quick read but comprehensive. I can't think of a better way to get a handle on the mess. It was a magic trick - we made $1 trillion disappear without a trace, no small accomplishment for an administration that claimed to abhor government waste. (less)

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Feb 04, 2012 Zakariah Johnson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: war-and-politics

Van Buren's account of the blundering giant in Iraq should be read by anyone who's upset the US has finally left that place--he makes a good case that America was NEVER going to get its act together there and cutting its losses was the only intelligent option. His real contribution is showing that it wasn't just bad planning and infighting at the top levels that turned Iraq into a quagmire of soggy hundred dollar bills, it was also the pervasive attitude of "CYA" and go-along-to-get-along that t...more Van Buren's account of the blundering giant in Iraq should be read by anyone who's upset the US has finally left that place--he makes a good case that America was NEVER going to get its act together there and cutting its losses was the only intelligent option. His real contribution is showing that it wasn't just bad planning and infighting at the top levels that turned Iraq into a quagmire of soggy hundred dollar bills, it was also the pervasive attitude of "CYA" and go-along-to-get-along that typifies (from his perspective) the State Department's collusion with the fraud and waste that dripped so much money and blood onto the thirsty desert sand. Van Buren describes at the micro level of someone in the field the same failings that other books and memoirs have portrayed at the macro level, and for that reason it's worth reading.

Most of his chapters are anecdotes that are very effective in making his point. The one that struck me as the saddest was the soldier who's name was called out during the role call following his own memorial (he had committed suicide) because the sergeant attending the event hadn't known the name of the lonely young man being eulogized. If there's a better example of the alienating power of a large bureaucracy, I haven't come across it.

Though he might not realize it, Van Buren's condemnation of how the State Department is organized and how it operates as an institution not just in Iraq but as a whole, is evident on every page. Unfortunately, Van Buren's book doesn't have an ending or a thesis, even an opinion, as to why everything in Iraq went to the dogs. Surely he must have opinions informed by his insider's perspective? No one should expect him to have the answer to everything, but by not offering any recommendations for improving the State Department's operations, his book ultimately seems unfinished. Perhaps he could add a chapter to the next edition: "My Year in Hell Amongst the Brown-Nosing Sycophantic Career-conscious Generalists to whom We Entrusted the War and How to Stop Them Next Time Around." Now THAT's a chapter I'd go back for.(less)

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Dec 02, 2011 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Van Buren describes his year in Iraq (from 2009-10) with a State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team. The story would be almost funny, if it wasn't sickening: incredible sums of money absolutely wasted, trying to build up the structure of a stable state while absolutely basic necessities -- clean water, power, a reasonable assurance of simple safety -- were unavailable. Most of the projects were pointless, and everyone directly involved knew it, but the people in charge of decisions (and m...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Converse rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, warfare, politics, history

Peter Van Buren is a State Department employee who spent a year in Iraq as the head of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. His motives were to earn extra money for a daughter's college tuition and to make himself eligible for promotion. At the time (during the second term of George W. Bush), in order to encourage a somewhat reluctant Foreign Service to staff a "civilian surge" in Iraq, only those who had served in Iraq or some similar hardship post (like Afghanistan) were eligible for promotion. H...more Peter Van Buren is a State Department employee who spent a year in Iraq as the head of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. His motives were to earn extra money for a daughter's college tuition and to make himself eligible for promotion. At the time (during the second term of George W. Bush), in order to encourage a somewhat reluctant Foreign Service to staff a "civilian surge" in Iraq, only those who had served in Iraq or some similar hardship post (like Afghanistan) were eligible for promotion. His previous work at the State Department had involved helping American citizens who got into various difficulties abroad, such as being a crime victim, being jailed, or needing to leave quickly due to a natural disaster.

Unfortunately for Mr. Van Buren, his posts (he had two during his year) were not in the comfortable Green Zone, but in army Forward Operating Bases where one resided with a roomie in an air-conditioned metal box and made use of portable toliets, all surrounded by large concrete walls (which unfortunately did not prevented frequent mortar shells from dropping from the sky). His job was to distribute money, from both army and State Department funds (but not the U.S. Agency for International Development or the other federal departments with programs in Iraq) for reconstruction.

Unfortunately for the broader goals (such as creating a healthier, more prosperous, more women-friendly, and above all more politically stable society) for which the substantial (roughly $60 billion) funds had been allocated, no one knew how to do this. The intermediate goals (clean water, making widows self-supporting, etc) changed constantly. Furthermore, the emphasis, he says, was all about the effort (# of projects and amount of $ handed out) and not about the results, which were not tracked. I gained the impression that much of the money simply went to those Iraq citizens who could figure out how to ask for it the right way, with no meaningful accountability, and that much ended up with tribal leaders, who seemed to operate as gang leaders who prey upon their tribal members almost as much as they struggle with other tribes.

Even if the intermediate goals had been consistent, a number of problems would have made it difficult to do effective development work. One obvious problem is that neither Mr. Van Buren, nor most of the members of his team (who seemed to have mostly been contractors) had any relevant experience in business or agriculture, two main focuseses of many projects. Contractors seemed have been hired based on their willingness to live in Iraq for a year, not on the basis of any relevant experience. Perhaps 5% of provincial reconstruction team members thoughout Iraq spoke Arabic. The translators hired, mostly Iraqi-Americans, often did not have the skills to translate well (in particular their English was often not good). Projects were not coordinated with the Iraqi government, or in accordance with its policies or procedures, which often meant that the Iraqi government was unwilling to accept completed infrastructure projects because the government lacked the money for maintenance and operating expenses. Finally, the need of the Americans to live behind blast-proof walls in order not to die meant that contacts with Iraqis were cursory.

Although the dubious nature of the projects is the main theme, Van Buren also gives the reader some idea of what it was like to live on an army base in a series of loosely connected chapters.

Understandly, one might question if Van Buren is exaggerating or highlighting failures due to some sort of grudge. He does provide references indicating a general state of poor performance with the reconstruction work, although he has changed the names of the individuals in his narrative. I fear that he is only too right. The general atmosphere (don't make waves, follow the guidance even if the goal makes no sense, don't question things) is something I see in my own employment, though luckily mine appears to be corruption free. (less)

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Jan 02, 2012 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I went into this book kind of hoping for something extraordinary and came out of it with a shrug and a, "yea, I kind of knew all this."

The book is a look back at Peter Van Buren's tour as a State Department ePRT in Iraq, during 2009-2010. The team's job was to find good projects to prop up the local economy and get the Iraqi's on their feet, great idea. What it turned out to be was lot of wasted money tossed around on projects that really weren't thought all the way through.

Factories, conference...more I went into this book kind of hoping for something extraordinary and came out of it with a shrug and a, "yea, I kind of knew all this."

The book is a look back at Peter Van Buren's tour as a State Department ePRT in Iraq, during 2009-2010. The team's job was to find good projects to prop up the local economy and get the Iraqi's on their feet, great idea. What it turned out to be was lot of wasted money tossed around on projects that really weren't thought all the way through.

Factories, conferences, classes, all turned into photo-ops and then we moved on to the next shiny object while what ever we did before crumbled and was left undone. The locals learned how to manipulate our system for free money, because "why do the work to maintain society, if we can just wait for you to pay us to do it anyways?" And instead of actually building up power and water and other basic needs, we went for the quick easy projects to get headlines.

This is not to say everything we did was terrible and a lot of it was paved with good intentions, but the majority of what we did just fell into corruption and people just going through the motions, until their time was up.

That sums up about 50% of the book. The other 50% is about life on the FOB in Iraq. The different type of KBR employees, Army soldiers, Uganda guards, and others. The title hajji shops were you can get any movie or TV show for super cheap, because piracy is everywhere. The haircut guys that know like three phrases. Dealing with family back home. This section of the book is actually somewhat worth while to someone who never spent time deployed in Iraq. It gives you a sense of what it is kind of like. I know I caught myself recalling bits and pieces of my life during then. And around page 190 when it talks about Powerpoint, dead on in how ridiculous it all is.

Should you read it? Probably not.

It sheds light on nothing really new. We went into Iraq to conquer and had no real idea how to nation build or teach people how to rely on themselves. Heck we have terrible corruption with handouts here in America, what did we expect? One can only hope that some of the lessons learned (tossing money at the problem, doesn't fix it) will be applied in Afghanistan, but we know they won't.(less)

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Dec 22, 2011 Susie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I was sixteen, my father agreed to watch the antiwar documentary, Hearts and Minds, which was about how we failed to win the appreciation of the Vietnamese as LBJ had hoped for with his famous "Hearts and Minds..." speech. After the movie, my father said to me, "Susie, that documentary was so one-sided that it inky reinforced the beliefs that people who are already against the war have and does nothing to enlighten or persuade those who are neutral or pro-war.". I have always been unhappy w...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apparently the author is still a foreign service officer with the Department of State - how that is possible after he publishes something like this is hard to imagine. Still, his book's web site includes a disclaimer that the information there is not meant to represent U.S. policy or the Dept of State's views.

The book describes the author's year at two different Provincial Reconstruction Team sites in Iraq, talking about what it was like living and working closely with the Army, contractors, an...more

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Oct 10, 2011 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, nonfiction

A tell-all expose of American mismanagement of the reconstruction of Iraq. The author is a career foreign service officer who spent a year in Iraq leading a State Department reconstruction field team, working with local Iraqis to help build a post-war economy: supervising projects meant to spark business ventures, infrastructure building, and individual entrepreneurship. Every well-meaning project, save for the founding of a 4H club for children, immediately goes down the tubes due to pervasive...more A tell-all expose of American mismanagement of the reconstruction of Iraq. The author is a career foreign service officer who spent a year in Iraq leading a State Department reconstruction field team, working with local Iraqis to help build a post-war economy: supervising projects meant to spark business ventures, infrastructure building, and individual entrepreneurship. Every well-meaning project, save for the founding of a 4H club for children, immediately goes down the tubes due to pervasive Iraqi corruption: money disappears into crooked hands, equipment is stolen, newly-constructed buildings are either abandoned or repurposed by local strongmen. But even if there were no Iraqi corruption, the projects are doomed to failure anyway. During the 2003 invasion we destroyed Iraq's civil infrastructure ... roads, utilities, waste disposal ... and after some initial efforts we apparently gave up on rebuilding it; Iraqis are notably worse off today then they were before 2003, and our reconstruction projects cannot succeed without water, sewers, electricity, police protection, educated workers, or people with the money to buy products.

Van Buren exposes the Catch-22-ish nature of the American occupation at all levels, from the protected diplomatic and military fat cats of the Green Zone to the grunts at the FOBs, from the contractors to the spooks of the CIA. Meaningless goals are promulgated inside the Green Zone; field agents struggle to dream up projects to support those goals; money is thrown at the projects; no one follows through. Billions of unaccountable dollars have been turned over to sheiks, strongmen, and thugs. Every in-country American with any power or supervisory role is jockeying for promotion; no one stays in country long enough to see any project through to fruition; there is no accountability; and now that the national attention has shifted to Afghanistan, no one gives a shit what happens in Iraq.

It would be funny if it were fiction; instead it's depressing ... because it's all true. I mentioned at the beginning of the review that the author is a career FSO. I suspect he was close to retirement when he wrote this book, because he surely has no career now.(less)

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Oct 12, 2011 Dorrit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir, kindle, non-fiction, politics, social-justice

The writing in We Meant Well is mostly mediocre, but the story it tells of the vast ineptitude the US has displayed in its efforts to "rebuild" Iraq (and by inference Afghanistan) is certainly worth bringing to light. Peter Van Buren uses anecdotes of one absurd, excruciatingly expensive project after another to illustrate the dismal failure to bring stability to post-war Iraq. Despite the somewhat stilted writing and the shocking waste exhibited by our government, the stories are often extremel...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Allen Garvin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, read-in-2013

Really more of a 3 1/2 star book: a somewhat disconnected look at the State Department's role in "rebuilding" Iraq in 2007-2010, when our government poured billions and billions into ill-thought out programs and mostly put utter incompetents in charge of carrying them out. Many parts are laugh-out-loud funny (or, maybe not, depending on how you feel about your tax dollars utterly wasted). There's no real overarching theme or analysis except complete incompetence at the hands of our government. I...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Ari Katz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great account of our "rebuilding" efforts in Iraq. For those of us in the aid field, we witnessed how 50 years of development theory and practice was thrown out the window in Iraq. All the accountability that we spend so much of our time establishing, the ways we try to get the most out of every dollar and extract results from underfunded initiatives - all just ditched in Iraq. This book shows what that looked like on the ground. What a waste. Reminded me very much of Imperial Life in the Emeral...more

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Mar 24, 2012 Doug Mcnair rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: iraq-war

A very depressing memoir of what, if the author is to be believed, was the biggest clusterf*ck in the history of U.S. foreign policy. If body count was the measure of success in Vietnam, projects approved and American money spent was the measure of success in the reconstruction of Iraq. And everyone tasked with that reconstruction had an incentive to look the other way and just keep shelling out cash even though all the money spent failed to achieve any of the desired results. Ironically, the mo...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Susan Jordan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history-biography, non-fiction, politics

If you want to know why the government shouldn't run ANYTHING, this is the book to read.

It is sad and funny at the same time. But most of all, it shows why our government is too big to be able to know what is going on at the bottom.

The book is written by a State Department Foreign Service Officer who spent a year in Iraq on the "reconstruction". First he explains the structure of the reconstruction effort and how the State Department and military interacted with each other. Then he explains in d...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: brain-fuckery, interesting-educational, deep-insightful, sentimental-value

I met the author when he gave a talk at a convention I was at about a year ago. I heard him tell some of the stories in the book, and many that weren't. He's an incredible person with a deep sense of irony, humor, goodness, love, and remarkable intelligence. I read the book after the convention, and honestly can't tell how much of all of that comes through in his writing and how much I read into it. But I loved it in that peculiar way you love something that is very good but has very terrible su...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Tom Webb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This mordant, ironic and tragic look at the occupation world of Iraq demonstrates the thoughtlessness and indifference to the real needs of the Iraqi people going into the war in the first place. Promoting the conservative agenda and definition of independence: small business ownership it's quite clear the real problems of Iraqi people like access to clean water, food, healthcare, electricity took a second stage to photo ops, feel good pictures, etc. to buoy spirits of the "folks back home" who...more

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May 06, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: iraq

This short, page turning book, tells the story of Peter Van Buren's 2008/9 tour of Iraq with the Department of State. By the time of his arrival, the major damage had been done. The Bush administration not only failed to find WMDs, it failed to deliver water, electricity, or even trash pick-up. Iraq has a Mad Max feel and is too dangerous for the energetic young people with campaign contributing parents described in Green Zone (Imperial Life/Emerald City Movie Tie-In Edition) (Vintage). Iraq is...more This short, page turning book, tells the story of Peter Van Buren's 2008/9 tour of Iraq with the Department of State. By the time of his arrival, the major damage had been done. The Bush administration not only failed to find WMDs, it failed to deliver water, electricity, or even trash pick-up. Iraq has a Mad Max feel and is too dangerous for the energetic young people with campaign contributing parents described in Green Zone (Imperial Life/Emerald City Movie Tie-In Edition) (Vintage). Iraq is now for those pressured into service by "State" or "rotated" into it by the military.

One of the themes is that with enthusiasm for nation building gone, Americans in Iraq are marking time. Those in policy positions are building resumes and keeping their heads down. Living on heavily armed and fenced FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) they design programs that have have little relationship to the needs of the Iraqi people. They seek approval for these projects from bosses who are even more removed from Iraqis than than they are. The projects have their own logic, and fiscal accountability is not part of the equation. Long term projects will not build careers, but those yielding good PR and photos ups will. This careerism is fully exemplified on p. 197 by an unnamed neocon supporter of the war who does not talk about reconstruction, Iraq or democracy but of book deals and literary agents.

The results are exemplified by a $2+ million milk collection facility where if enough milk were ever to be produced, and if there were a market for that milk, and if there was transportation/refrigeration and reliable electricity and water, perhaps someone would use this station. Similarly there is a chicken processing plant such that if there were chickens there would somehow have to be a reliable supply of water or electricity. Both facilities grace resumes and are supported by news stories and photos, but neither functions. Laura Bush opened a hospital that is yet to receive a patient. Similarly many entrepreneurial and educational initiatives were undermined by corruption, violence. No one involved in this shuffle is noticing that even if 12 widows are trained to sew, and if they can market that skill, it is a mere band aid on a terribly broken society.

The book is more than a litany of the failed projects; it describes life on one of these FOBs. It describes the soldiers, the contractors, the food, the day beer was served, how to get a hair cut, how to get laundry done, toilet facilities, the heat, calls home and how deaths are mourned and absorbed.

It will outrage you all over again, what $1 billion a week bought the US while at home it cut schools, parks and police. Many families paid for this with a life.

For a good description of the occupation's effect on the people of Iraq, I highly recommend: Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq. The author, an Arabic speaking reporter went beyond the Green Zone and the FOBs to actually engage the Iraqi people.(less)

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Jan 10, 2012 Roger N. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

We Meant Well is a memoir written by a Foreign Service Officer in the State Department who went to Iraq as part of the reconstruction. I had heard the author on NPR, talking about the book and telling some stories from it, so I was curious. While not masterfully written, it reaches for lyricality at times — and succeeds once or twice — and is quick-moving and never dull. It’s not really the kind of political book that can change anyone’s mind, but is more to nod along with in agreement.

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Jul 02, 2012 Judi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My God. This would be hysterically funny if it weren't so damn sad. We know war is hell; Van Buren shows us that reconstruction is, too. And that it isn't only the military that wastes huge amounts of money. And that no one has a clue about the people whose land we occupy.

I don't know if Van Buren still has his job with State, but they could learn from him and this scathing assessment of State's role in Iraq. You just can't make this stuff up.

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Apr 17, 2012 Billy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this book quite provocative and informative. I was surprised while reading it that a State Department employee could be saying the kinds of things that he was saying so openly. Now, it appears State is trying to say he can't, which makes for an even better story being enacted right before us in Van Buren's blog: www.wemeantwell.com

Pick it up, read it, enjoy it, the humor makes the bitter pill of our government's lack of wisdom able to be swallowed.

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Nov 09, 2011 Valerie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-12-washington, middle-east, american-histories

Van Buren is really angry. Also bitter. Cynical. Possibly depressed. But he's also quite funny (multiple laugh-out-loud moments) and a keen observer. Except that Iraq is much, much wealthier than Afghanistan, much of this book could have been set there, for its critique of top-down strategies, Congressionally-mandated nonsense projects, self-absorbed bureaucrats, and the complete odd-couple mismatch of civ-mil partnerships. Made me nostalgic.

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Nov 09, 2011 Harley Gee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

This book reminded me of Catch-22. The absurdities. The hopelessness. The dark humor. But this is non-fiction. If you need further convincing that US efforts are doomed, Van Buren provides lots of reasons to be pessimistic and one reason for optimism (4H clubs, really). Written from a first line Foreign Service officer, the author does a good job of describing life in Iraq on a FOB (forward operating base). Well written and a quick read.

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Jan 05, 2012 Ann Evans rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was written, without authorization, by a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. The futility of our mission there soon becomes apparent. Although a non-fiction book, there were times when I felt that I was reading the Iraq war equivalent of "Catch-22." Only read this book if you can stand reading of the millions and millions and millions of dollars wasted in the name of ... hmmm, what.

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Apr 08, 2011 Lisa Ehrle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had the honor of reading this book in preview. It had a great story tone, but told a very real tale of mismanagement and its effects on a country and people. The stories were engaging and almost light at times, yet the message remained heavy. A great read to see the real story of what our country has done in Iraq. It's not a blame book, but a book without rose-colored glasses.

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Nov 28, 2011 Susie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-biography, non-fiction

Peter Van Buren's story sheds light on so many things: what it's like to be stationed in Iraq for a year, life on a base, the effect of the the invasion of 2003 on the people of Iraq, the bureaucratic ineptitude involved in "capturing the hearts and minds" of the Iraqis and why we are in so much financial trouble. It's a quick read but insightful about a war we barely pay attention to anymore.

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May 01, 2012 Steve Ring rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A very straightforward account of daily life and activities in Iraq. He was in the State Dept. and has lots to say about the projects and project management mess in Iraq. He often writes with ironic humor and the book is very readable. It is my understanding that he has been pushed out the State Dept. because of the book.

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Jun 16, 2012 Carrie F. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The title says it all. All those billions we kind of new were wasted. Well, they were. Fraud. And stupidity--teaching pastry chefs who had no home or kitchen. American classic novels translated to Arabic to make the Iraquis want to change to American culture, why wouldn't they want to read Huck Finn?

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Jul 08, 2012 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mr. Van Buren porvides a human perspective of the United States reconstruction efforts in Iraq. He highlights the waste and inconsistencies of the governments effort's there. It would be an extremely depressing book if not for Van Buren's humorous presentation of different situations and his mockery of official policies. From this humor, it is easy to see just how jaded the author is about the whole experience. This might have been the weakest aspect of the book. Van Buren's extreme cynicism mak...more

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About Peter Van Buren

Peter Van Buren has served with the Foreign Service for over 23 years. He received a Meritorious Honor Award for assistance to Americans following the Hanshin earthquake in Kobe, a Superior Honor Award for helping an American rape victim in Japan, and another award for work in the tsunami relief efforts in Thailand.

Previous assignments include Taiwan, Japan, Korea, the UK and Hong Kong. He volunt...more

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title link	preview: We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11863072-we-meant-well?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317790751l/11863072.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11863072-we-meant-well?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren[/url]

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

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