Peter B. Collins Presents Peter van Buren
Peter Van Buren was drummed out of the State Department after publication of his book about the millions of dollars squandered on rebuilding Iraq. He comments on similar efforts underway in Afghanistan, and that only one member of Congress met with him about his Iraq reports: retired Rep. Ron Paul. He expresses strong support for Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, and challenges Peter B.’s assumption that the NSA should, by now, know what information Snowden collected–suggesting that Snowden skillfully covered his tracks. Mr. Van Buren wrote a sharply critical of John Kerry’s first year as Secretary of State, comparing him to a salesman who hasn’t booked any deals and focusing on Kerry’s blunders in the threats to attack Syria in August and September.
Peter Van Buren, a 24-year veteran of the State Department, spent a year in Iraq. Following his book, We Meant well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, the Department of State began proceedings against him. Through the efforts of the Government Accountability Project and the ACLU, Van Buren retired in 2011. His next book Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the 99% will be published in early 2014. You can visit his blog here
Listen to the Preview Clip Here
Listen to the full episode here (BFP Subscribers Only):
SUBSCRIBE
This site depends exclusively on readers’ support. Please help us continue by SUBSCRIBING, and by ordering our EXCLUSIVE BFP DVDs.