In 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu claimed an intelligence coup. Mossad agents, he said had broken into a warehouse in Tehran and stolen a vast archive of Iran’s nuclear program. The purloined documents, Netanyahu said, showed that Iran lied about its intentions to obtain nuclear weapons. Israel shared the documents with U.S. officials arguing...
Tag: Paul Pillar
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Is CIA’s Gina Haspel Going Full MAGA?
[This piece first appeared in The New Republic, Feb. 12, 2020] When President Trump used his State of the Union address to call on Congress to pass legislation allowing crime victims to sue sanctuary cities for offenses committed by undocumented immigrants, CIA director Gina Haspel rose to her feet clapping. It was an unusual display...
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Endless War Recipe: Shroud the Toll of CIA Drone Strikes
Former CIA analyst Paul Pillar explains the cost of the Trump administration’s decision to discontinue reporting on civilian casualties of CIA drone strikes. The cost is not only humanitarian, Pillar writes in LobeLog. A report dedicated to civilian casualties outside war zones can help, marginally, make the public more conscious of this dimension of the...
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The Khashoggi Affair Won’t Stop Trump’s Drive for War With Iran
The disappearance and apparent assassination of Jamal Khashoggi have disrupted the Saudi government’s charm offensive in the United States. Think tanks are returning Saudi money. Defense contractors are worried about the end of lucrative arms deals. Sen. Marco Rubio says “no more business as usual.” The otherwise friendly editorial page of the Washington Post is...