wasting time and money trying to build democracy in the region that's a special interview next hit on r.t. . i. were sitting down with peter van buren a state department foreign service officer who a few years ago had it anyway raqi reconstruction team then he came back home and wrote a book titled we meant well how i helped lose the battle for the hearts and minds of the iraqi people and now he says the state department wanting fired because of the book what what's in the book that they don't like so much stuff i'm sure when you throw parties the clowns they sometimes get angry state department is a lot like the mafia you don't talk about the family outside the family and the state department was i think bothered by the fact that i told the true story of what happened in iraq which contradicts what they've been putting out through the media for almost eight years now tell me

a little bit more about the projects that you were involved in as part of this nation building a team that in the sponsored by the united states why do you think those projects failed around two thousand and seven a number of state department people were sent to iraq to spend a lot of money to rebuild the country and hopefully create a nation that was going to be our ally and friend and a happy spot in the middle east didn't work out that way. instead what happened was that we were sent over there with almost unlimited funds but no vision we had lots of time and lots of people but no one in charge we lacked many things including adult supervision so instead of the long term coordinated efforts that real development work requires we got short term efforts that were thrown together not guided by any broader philosophy and almost were required to fail the very first thing that happened to me was i was presented by my team mates with

a fraudulent receipt to sign they had over spent three thousand dollars on snacks for a conference and wanted me to sign off on a priest a receipt for printing to make it all right they then tried to talk me into spending twenty five thousand dollars to buy a few sheep to give away to a few widows and that was are going to be our contribution to democracy in the war effort the more i was a fraud it was as close to we were going to buy some sheep from a guy who was going to give them to his relatives who were going to raise them and put the rest in his pocket you could buy a toyota for what we were going to pay for sheep in iraq. the problem was that these were not isolated incidents what i thought might have been just a really bad first day at work turned out to be evocative of the entire year of our people so there was like a systematic squandering of resources there absolutely the squandering of resources occurred at very small levels of thousand dollars a couple thousand dollars here and there and zoomed all the way up into hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent on hospitals that never opened or prisons that

never took any prisoners in the united states lacked a plan were constantly being forced into short term solutions we were constantly being asked to produce publicity stills and have something ready by next thursday for the photographers to show up c.n.n. is coming over the weekend better get something ready none of these things were part of the long term the slow work of development that really is necessary if you're serious about rebuilding a country i want to read something to him really serious some use i write the government watch stocks of raised the alarm about billions of dollars of war zone waste and fraud are falling silent or are missing in action this. item is actually about the commission on wartime contracting and that charter that they were working under it has expired and has not been renewed i'm just going to tell our viewers that this commission on wartime contracting claimed waste and fraud may have

siphoned off up to sixty billion dollars from contracts in iraq and afghanistan now this watchdog could be out of business are you surprised who might be interested in it i'm actually ashamed that the commission on wartime contracting is going out of business and there's actually more to it than even the story that you just shared with your viewers first of all the state department has attempted to exempt itself from the scrutiny of the committee that you refer to the state department has claimed that it was not part of wartime contracting that it was involved in diplomacy. and therefore not controlled by that organization and they didn't want them to peek into what the state department was doing even worse the committee as it's dissolved has sealed all of its records and no one will be allowed to see any of the results of its work except what's already been published until two thousand and thirty one so the things that the committee on wartime contracting uncovered the incredible amounts of waste fraud and mismanagement that they documented in the

limited public documents that they do produce all of that is being swept away i don't know how old i'm going to be in two thousand and thirty one i'm going to be a lot older than i am now but it's shameful shameful that we will not be able to see that information why aren't they allowed to publish that before the ied official version is that there may be classified information in some of their reports that needs to remain undercover for that long i think most intelligent people realize that the reporting from the committee is so horrific it needs to be put away to avoid embarrassing the government even further the u.s. government says we brought freedom and democracy to iraq doesn't matter on what grounds will end if they're true or false they prove to be false but anyways we got rid of a terrible man in power and we are building a democratic society there that's the argument you wear out there in the field what

is the reality on the ground as you saw it first of all i don't think you can dismiss so casually because it's that sent america to war in iraq we entered the iraq war under the guise of looking for weapons of mass destruction when we didn't find any as if there ever worry we then changed it to the new medium which is all we got rid of saddam he was a terrible man and brought freedom to iraq. saddam was not a nice guy i'm not here to defend him no one could possibly defend his actions however. we killed over one hundred thousand iraqi sit. since some of them were killed or rectally by the united states some of them were killed in the sectarian violence that we set loose in the aftermath of our invasion of iraq today remains in the bottom percentages of any statistic the un cares to count access to water access to medical care access to education iraq is not a place that represents the investment of sixty three billion dollars in

reconstruction funds iraq has had a number of elections but it doesn't have a democracy press reports are constantly reporting secret prisons militias targeted killings government killing soldiers people in military uniforms committing assassinations bombs going off none of those things are indicative of democracy i think if that's what freedom represents most iraqis are not very comfortable with it and i think the united states failed in its efforts to bring freedom to iraq there's one thing that very few in washington admit and that is that is the heat. actually they're talking about whether or not it was immoral to invade iraq a but not quite about defeat and what were you writing in this book is like a raw material of failure do you really see it as such as a defeat absolutely i actually title the title of the book actually includes the the catchphrase i helped lose this war and i accept my responsibility for not doing

better than i should have just about a very most americans really don't understand why their government continue spending so much money in iraq they were told about the withdrawals by next year and now they hear that washington is maneuvering to stay there be that deadline what's your feeling why it is washington want to stay in iraq who benefits from it i myself i'm not sure why the united states has spent and continues to spend so much money in iraq i think one of the old sayings when you're in a hole the first thing need do is stop digging does apply. the united states has said but i don't want benefits from it so one does not know the iraqi people they made it clear that they don't you know they but they but do they have a say when their government gets all that money from the u.s. and essentially there's no i don't think any of the money is going to the iraqi people i think a lot of the money their government is going to government leaders i think a lot of the money just disappears no one knows where billions of dollars actually

physically actually went however it is interesting to note that iraq is planning to buy a lot of weapons from the united states iraq is hoping to buy a number of f. sixteen s they already have bought and will continue to buy and one tanks from us all of these are very expensive toys and more importantly come with very long tails each of these tanks requires maintenance requires spare parts requires extra equipment and requires trainers and mechanics it's not like buying a car where you get the state department pushes those contracts oh i know for a fact that we do it's one of the duties of the state department is to help sell american products overseas and we work very closely in a number of countries around the world with the military in order to sell american weapons that's not a secret to rock in any way whatsoever foreign military sales represent a significant duty of the military in conjunction with the state department for seat what is difficult about iraq is that this is a country that doesn't seem in

a position to afford these type of things iraq is a country where people don't have access to water don't have access to medical care don't have access to electricity and instead of spending on those things their government is buying weapons and indebting itself to the united states for years to come something seems wrong there now i understand what the state department wants you fired but thank you very much for the senate here thank you very much i. nature and discover its beauty. communicate with the wild and. test yourself and become free.

see what nature can give you on the. culture is that so much of a good news really made a lot of the plane carrying up the look of is the world over populated as the world reaches still another population benchmark the debate continues as to whether the planning. of. a very warm welcome to you this is your news today protesters on holds true today at. least in canceling the chance to say it's a good move for example the status of the human experiment is exploding with. programs in this rap music what it knows to move slowly trying to make sense of global economy and it's on changelings us financial templates each of the research

clambering to maintain our confidence in hmong kids and taking on the primitive wants to be seen trade imbalances recession look to the nations close to collapsing in some like loan foreclosed homes people. to fail so we play banks again feel level cycling as a us question seven and smash the ceiling tinkling just like all the clubs in athens greece the i.m.f. it strikes me i'm just programs increase the total economy. download the official ante up location to all the phone oh i pod touch from the i.q. jumps to. one life on the go. video on demand. old costs and feeds in the palm of your. question on the. wealthy british.

markets. opening to the global economy. more news today. if these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. today. look. top stories this historic day for palestine which has achieved its first full membership to a un agency the recognition comes at a price for nearly

a quarter of its funding which the u.s. cut in response. to syria's president claims the protests campaign against his regime is being funded from abroad and warns the west not to get involved in the head of nato has ruled out imposing a no fly zone over syria which some demonstrations in the country have been calling for. clash of the russian tycoons two of the world's wealthiest men. take their bitter dispute to a london court and spend no money on the fight. robbing him a billion dollars. back. to bring you up to date for the moment i'll be back with more news in fifteen minutes from now in the meantime dmitri is here with an update on the latest sports.

thanks for joining us first let's take a quick look at what's making headlines around the world. for the top eight teams of the russian primally have been determined what's next for those who did well during the longest of a season and those who didn't. you track same story formula one champ and. storms to victory at the inaugural indian grand prix living from start to finish in new delhi. and final countdown we catch up with russian top ten tennis star verisign i realized who shares her views for next weekend's davis cup decider with first time as the czech republic. so with only one game week to play russia's longest football season in history is now on the verge of entering its second phase a competition where the top aides will continue their pursuit of silverware while the bottom half to fight for their place is in premier league foremost.

together with the recent champions is in it and robin will be added. to compound luckily of the first eight this group will determine not only the winners of the yeah but also all the european cups participants will rush to champions league and three europe a league sports are up for grabs their teams will compete and when the way basis points obtained during the first part of the season will carry over. the same system will be applied to the relegation group competition the only difference is that the likes of. tara and other rock bottom squads will struggle for the right to stay in russia's top football division at the least then. two teams will go down automatically the two sides above them will have to fight it out with fourth place teams of division two. of the english game now we're talking and have joined chelsea castle in third place in the premier league that's after spurs took of

london rivals queens park rangers on sunday a brace from gareth bale and a precise strike from the sale they gave for took them to a poor food did reply to rangers but it was the home side who dominated at white hart lane herit right now this man now able to record the six wins from seven games the action continues late on monday with newcastle aiming to take control of that position from the net pies away to make table stoke remember newcastle and leaders manchester city by their only unbeaten side so far this season. let's move to formula one the man already crowned champion this season sebastian vettel winning the inaugural indian grand prix in new delhi prior to the race there was a minute's silence for italian moto g.p. rider marco simmons chali who died in a crash last week in malaysia to the action itself now where who started from power

gradually increased his advantage over the tracy pack and never looked back the german eventually finishing four point eight seconds ahead of mcclaren just unbutton ferrari's fernando alonso was a distant third almost twenty five seconds behind the winner but red bull. mark webber was fourth after the race the double world champion took the time to remember and dan wheldon indy car star tragically died a week before the teller. in the one hand i'm very very happy it's the first grand prix in india and i'm very proud to be the first winner and i think we can be as a team but on the other hand looking back at last weekend we lost two of our made. yeah i didn't know dan wheldon but obviously it was a big it was a big name in motor sport i got to know this year marco seaman shelly and obviously our thoughts are with them. staying in the world of engineers tony stewart has one

nascar stands fast relief five hundred race in americas virginia it didn't take long for the first yellow flag to come out a couple of car spawn after making contact on the eight and collected a slew of vehicles on the race is final restart with three laps to go past defending champion jimmie johnson on the outside to take over the leaves with the checkered flag inside johnson but the eventual winner was able to finish first this victory putting stood in second place eight points behind current leader carl edwards with three races to go in the chase for the sprint cup championship. i knew today was a fight for sure you win you want to research with the obstacles that we overcame i mean that's what makes you win races like this are special. tony snow a particular one has won the end of season double championships and a stumble following a three set fixture over victoria azarenka twenty one year old czech theater that

edging a tight open a seven five but twenty two year old girl the russian opponent stormed back in the second to take a six four and force a decider but third said there was to belong to wimbledon champion quit of wrapping up the tournament on a six preschool i picked her also to run through it and this isn't a career high number two in the world. so will now lead the czech republic team in their third cup final against the russian next week and verizon iowa finding out first hand in istanbul what fit of a can do on the court as should last to the wimbledon champion in straight sets in the group stages r.t. caught up with the russian head of moscow's massive showdown. when it comes to the final. some emotions they're special and you could never experience that when you play individual competition and definitely that that emotion will bring

a lot of determination a lot of desire hopefully we can create great competition czech republic is very strong and very consistent they have a lot of good players they are not only good but they are also good and so it's going to be yeah it's going to be a tough challenge but we're excited about it we've got a lot of great players and we can easily form two. teams and it is great because we got a lot of choices at the same time you know. because. sometimes we try to find the perfect combination between singles and doubles and trying to. you know the best team sometimes it's not easy because we have so many. people and we want everyone to play for the team but they're all for. the

level of our team is very strong going to always support each other and we always. have been able to reach a point. just. you know i think people look at my season and i think they have a. perception of it because. finals last year this year it was a very consistent here for me. that i lost in the grand slams they you know really well throughout the season i didn't really have bad matches throughout the whole season i didn't lose the first or second rounds you know i've been playing deep into the tournament so i had a very consistent year no matter what and i think pretty satisfied about it of course i wanted to beat father and of course i wanted to reach the grand slam final but it's something i'm working on my game every single day i'm trying to improve.

four minutes and fifty one seconds to time john one thomas dold spent writing up the status of the tallest hall in the city hall chiming in vietnam. sixty eight flow financial times it was that then you for the inaugural the twenty seven year old the late straightaway and showed his experience and skill as a quick wit what's caught between himself and his nearest rival and then. when it climbed thirty six seconds faster than the runner up. for one thing there's no reason really if you can read in the lobby one of if you're really in it the only. one much is because you know the word in the distance or the it's really . very disappointed that you can see from the outside. if you think there are races in the movie because maybe it's not like you're on the

time i think you both feel different if you're. there for more than a very very small. in the women's event it was violence in a battle to. top all of us she was the first to cross the line in six minutes and nineteen seconds minutes of new zealand finished fifteen seconds behind her both below to and told save the winning check of fifty hundred dollars for their victory . ok that's all for me and this thanks for watching us goodbye.

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friends as does. add up the draft resolution and the side to it.

as a member of. that historic day for palestine which is achieved its first full membership to a un agency. but when the un agency the vote comes at a price washington says they will stop funding the organization i'm going to check on i'll be back with more from washington in just a few moments. firing back syria's president claims the campaign against his regime is being funded from abroad and warns the west not to mess with his country. clash of the russian tycoons to the world's wealthiest men roman abramovich. take the billion dollar dispute to a london court and spend no money on little suit.