Foreign service officer details $63 billion in fraud

Records of wartime contracts sealed until 2031

Washington - "We meant well" is Peter Van Buren's memoir of his time spent in Iraq spending taxpayer dollars on fraudulent "projects" designed to impress the meadia and the folks back home with extravagant spending.

In his book, Mr. Van Buren estimates as much as $63 billion changed hands during the years after America invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, most of it in wasteful spending on hospitals that don't treat patients, water treatment plants that yield no product, secret prisons, and slush funds that wound up in the pockets of the war lords and crooked U.S. contractors.

Records of a special commission convened to study the problem have been classified and sealed until the year 2031, supposedly because of the sensitive and classified nature of their contents, which could affect national security.