Ex-CIA analyst Paul Pillar: US-Iran animosity unnecessary

Broadcast Monday, June 9th, 10-11:00 a.m. Central (1500 GMT) on NoLiesRadio.org, archived here. Note: TruthJihad.com subscribers can listen to shows on-demand before they are broadcast - and also get free downloads! If you are a subscriber, just log in to the members area of TruthJihad.com and go to the "Private Blog" to get early access to the shows.

Today's guest Dr. Paul Pillar says the US needs to re-think its real interests in the Middle East. Specifically, he says, the US and Iran have many common interests and few conflicting ones. So what are we really fighting about? And why are the neocons so troubled by the thaw between Iran and Saudi Arabia? Toward the end of the show we discuss the "war on terror" (we agree the alleged terror threat is greatly exaggerated) and 9/11 (which Dr. Pillar apparently still believes was an actual al-Qaeda attack by hijacked jetliners!)

Paul R. Pillar, in his 28 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, rose to be one of the agency’s top analysts. He is now a visiting professor at Georgetown University for security studies. At the CIA he served in a variety of analytical and managerial positions, including as chief of analytic units at the CIA covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. Professor Pillar also served in the National Intelligence Council as one of the original members of its Analytic Group. He has been Executive Assistant to CIA's Deputy Director for Intelligence and Executive Assistant to Director of Central Intelligence William Webster. He has also headed the Assessments and Information Group of the DCI Counterterrorist Center, and from 1997 to 1999 was deputy chief of the center.

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