The Kids who Ran Iraq

The BBC takes a look at the young recruits enlisted to administer the rebuilding of Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

The BBC's Pascale Harter talks to some of the 1300 or more young American recuits who were signed up by the US State Department to help administer the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

Many were in their twenties or early thirties and most, the critics, say were political appointees and ill-qualified for the task. The verdict of Iraqis towards the CPA's one-year tenure was generally negative, with most describing a significant decline of basic services like water, electricity and sewerage, up to the handover to an Iraqi Interim government in June 2004.

But today, five years after the invasion, many of the so-called "Brat Pack" of American administrators are proud of their achievements and say they would do it all again.

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