17 Quotes by James Risen

Coughlin came to believe that the Department of Veterans Affairs had an inherent conflict of interest that hobbled its ability to conduct honest research. The VA was charged not only with conducting research on medical conditions afflicting veterans but also with paying the benefits to veterans who suffered from those conditions. Whenever VA researchers discovered a new health problem, the VA had to pay out more money. The VA thus had an incentive not to discover new illnesses among veterans.

Bremer issued orders that effectively purged the Iraqi government of Baath Party members and then disbanded the Iraqi Army, virtually guaranteeing an anti-American insurgency.

The drone is the ultimate imperial weapon, allowing a superpower almost unlimited reach while keeping its own soldiers far from battle.

Pentagon auditors told Smith that as of the end of 2003, about $1 billion in KBR’s supposed costs in Iraq were not credible and should be thrown out.

Today, the CIA relies so heavily on outside contractors that many case officers have learned that the way to get ahead is to quit – and then come back the following week to the same job as a contractor making twice as much money.

Today, at least $11.7 billion of the approximately $20 billion the CPA ordered sent to Iraq from New York is either unaccounted for or has simply disappeared.

Why is torture the worst interrogation method? Produces unreliable information Negative world opinion Subject to war crimes trials Used as a tool for compliance.

I wrote Pay Any Price as my answer to the government’s campaign against me.