Scott talks with Peter Van Buren about the situation in Afghanistan.  Van Buren explains that many of the people tasked with working on the Afghanistan War were, in fact, working to cover up their own role in the war. And that these individual failures played off each other to create one massive failure. On top of that, Van Buren argues that policymakers were entirely removed from the costs of the war. And because of that, Van Buren predicts we will soon find ourselves in a similar conflict.

Discussed on the show:

• We Meant Well by Peter Van Buren
• The Ghost of Tom Joad by Peter Van Buren
• Hooper’s War by Peter Van Buren
• Van Buren’s blog 
• “Nation-Building, the Washington Generals of Warfare Strangely Preferred by Washington Generals” (American Spectator)
• NPR interview Van Buren about his book We Meant Well
• Terry Gross’ interview with CNN’s Clarissa Ward
• The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam
• Obama’s Wars by Bob Woodward

Peter Van Buren worked for 24 years at the Department of State including a year in Iraq. He is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People and the novel Hooper’s War. He is now a contributing editor at The American Conservative magazine.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State and Why The Vietnam War?, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; EasyShip; Thc Hemp Spot; Green Mill Supercritical; Bug-A-Salt; Lorenzotti Coffee and Listen and Think Audio.

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