Charlie Rose Science Series
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06/01/2006
Robert Baer
A conversation with guest host Brian Ross and author Robert Baer
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Guest host Brian Ross talks with crime writer and former CIA insider Robert Baer about Baer's book "Blow the House Down".
DVD
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Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
Audio
Audio available through Audible.com.
Audio available through Audible.com.
Transcripts
Transcripts available through Voxant.
Transcripts available through Voxant.
One more Baer error. There is NO reason to keep Iraq together with a multinational Islamic force. Let the place revert to the three provinces it was under the Turks, before it was cobbled together by the British. That would be the best of all outcomes- Kurdish north, Shi'a south, and Sunni center. And that is what will happen once American war profiteers get thrown out of office.
Mr. Baer makes several gross historical errors in discussing Iraq. First the struggle there does not go back thousands of years. It is specific to the Sunni dominance of Iraq only since the 1920's. There is NO "risk of a regional war". Second this is not "the Shi'a century". The Shi'a were not "dispossesed in 620 AD". The Shi'a gained power in Iran in 1501 AD. It's true that the Shi'a and Sunni are struggling for the leadership of the faithful, and that the Iraq civil war is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. This has nothing to do with the US. It's absurd to assume an Iran and al Qaeda connection. al Qaeda is the Sunni proxy of Saudia Arabia. In reality it's the US-Iran connection against al Qaeda, as illustrated by Iran's complacency to US invasion of Afghanistan. Third Ahmedinejad is not a nut. He, like most leaders, is creating an artificial threat to unite his people against. The artificial threat is Israel, not the US. American leaders of course create artificial threats all the time.