By John Vandiver

The empty health clinic in a remote part of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania is a legacy of what sometimes goes wrong when the military takes the lead on civil affairs projects, despite good intentions. During a "hearts and minds" mission in the city of Nema a couple of years ago, U.S. special forces built the clinic in coordination with the local ministry of defense, but that’s where the consultations ended. With no local U.S. Agency for International Development officials on the ground to provide the regional political and social context, the clinic was built on military land restricted from public use. Now, the facilities remain vacant and unused.

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