MIDDLE EAST: Iran Wins In Israeli Simulated War Games
TimesOnline – Iran has emerged as the victor in secret war games that simulated an Israeli attack on one of its nuclear facilities.
According to the scenario, the Obama Administration decided to pursue a diplomatic approach to Tehran, leaving America’s closest military ally in the region in the lurch.
MIDDLE EAST: Iran Dismisses US Nuclear Deadline
Iran’s president has dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept a UN-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.
The US warned Iran to take the deadline seriously.
ANALYSIS: This is no smoking gun, nor Iranian bomb
Guardian UK – Nothing in the published ‘intelligence documents’ shows Iran is close to having nuclear weapons
Seven years ago Condoleezza Rice said “there will always be some uncertainty” in determining how close Iraq may be to obtaining a nuclear weapon, but “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud”. Now the focus is on Iran, not Iraq.
MIDDLE EAST: Bin Laden’s Missing Relatives Found In Iran
Telegraph UK – Some of Osama bin Laden’s closest relatives, who have been missing for eight years, are living in a secret compound in Iran, according to other members of the family.
The group includes a wife and children who disappeared from bin Laden’s Afghan camp at the time of the 9/11 attacks.
PALESTINE: Israelis Are Cutting off Bethlehem
Telegraph UK – Israel has been accused of deliberately impoverishing Bethlehem by ensuring tourists part with as little of their money as possible.
West Bank Palestinian officials say they have been blocked from benefiting from a record 1.4 million foreign visitors to the occupied West Bank’s most important tourist attraction.
AMERICA: Stunning Statistics About the War
A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Contract Oversightsubcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up the Bush-era war privatization baton and sprinted with it. Overall, contractors now comprise a whopping 69% of the Department of Defense’s total workforce, “the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in US history.” That’s not in one war zone—that’s the Pentagon in its entirety.
AMERICA: VA Reports 73 Thousand U.S. Gulf War Deaths
OpEdNews – More Gulf War Veterans have died than Vietnam Veterans:
The Department of Veterans Affairs, May 2007, Gulf War Veterans Information System reports the following:
Total U.S. Military Gulf War Deaths: 73,846
– Deaths amongst Deployed: 17,847
– Deaths amongst Non-Deployed: 55,999
Total “Undiagnosed Illness” (UDX) claims: 14,874
Total number of disability claims filed: 1,620,906
- Disability Claims amongst Deployed: 407,911
- Disability Claims amongst Non-Deployed: 1,212,995
Percentage of combat troops that filed Disability Claims 36%
