A couple of years ago, ABC’s Prime Time conducted a revealing experiment to see how ordinary Americans respond to expressions of hostility directed at American Muslims. Watch the video.

Several Civilians Among 20 Killed in US Drone Attack. The Obama Administration’s policy of escalating drone strikes took another hit today, after the explosion from a drone attack against the house of “suspected militants” in North Waziristan also destroyed a neighboring house full of women and children. The combined toll from the blast was 20 people killed, with at least four women and three children among the slain. At least 13 other civilians were also reported wounded, including a number of other children. Pakistani intelligence officials say most of the “suspects” killed in the attacks were Afghans, but it is unclear how much evidence they had of wrongdoing. Large numbers of Afghan civilians have been living as refugees in the tribal areas since the 2001 US invasion. The large numbers of civilians (700 in 2009 alone) killed in the US drone strikes has fueled considerable anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. When pressed during a previous visit Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shrugged off concerns about the civilians, saying only “there’s a war going on.”

[Two-year-old Akil, who is suffering from diarrhea, receives treatment at the District Headquarters Hospital as his mother and grandmother wait patiently on Aug. 23 in Muzaffargarh in Punjab, Pakistan. Officials say as many as 20 million people have been affected by Pakistan's worst flooding in 80 years as army and aid organizations strugge to cope with the scope of the disaster that has killed more than 1,600 people and displaced millions. D. Berehulak / Getty]

After a little-noticed, weeks long disruption caused by the monsoons that devastated Pakistan, the CIA in recent days has picked up the pace of its missile strikes against Islamic militants people resisting the US with back-to-back attacks against terror targets that have killed at least 11 people in the country’s northwest region.

But the air strikes have raised fresh concerns among some Pakistani officials that the agency is resuming its lethal campaign at the worst possible moment, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that has submerged one sixth of the country and left at least six million people homeless. The U.S. government was building substantial good will inside Pakistan by rushing food and helicopters and pledging $150 million — more than any other country — to assist with flood relief, one senior Pakistani official told NBC.

But “all that could go down the drain” if the agency continues with aggressive air strikes right now, said the official who asked not to be quoted criticizing the U.S. “It’s one thing if they were getting some high value targets. But there are many in Pakistan, particularly in the religious parties, who are going to look at this and say, ‘here we have the worst national calamity in the history of our country and the U.S. is responding by conducting’ ” lethal military attacks.

Stephen Lendman: Washington Orders Shahbaz Airbase Saved, Not Pakistan's Flood Victims.

Israel has ordered the destruction of two newly built Palestinian mosques in the West Bank amid plans of resuming peace talks next month. The civil administration issued the orders under the pretext of lack of construction permits, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday. One of the mosques is located near Burin village and the other one near Jalazoun village. The order comes at the time the Muslim people of the Palestinian territories are in the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

At Guantánamo during Ramadan, guards strap hunger striker detainees into force-feeding chair at night 24 Aug 2010 Here's a new twist in the U.S. military's Islamic sensitivity effort in the prison camps for suspected terrorists at the Guantánamo Bay Navy base: Military medical staff are force-feeding a secret number of prisoners on hunger strike between dusk and dawn during the Muslim fasting holiday of Ramadan. The prison camps spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Bradley Fagan, says it is U.S. Southern Command policy to no longer reveal the exact number of detainees being shackled by guards into restraint chairs for twice daily feedings.

This is big. The Norwegian government has divested its pension fund of two Leviev companies that build settlements in the occupied West Bank on the grounds that the international community regards territory east of the '67 line as occupied. (No singling out: the Norwegians also divested a third company, a Malaysian forestry company)

The two Israeli firms were excluded from the portfolios of the Norwegian governments pension fund due to their construction work on West Bank, since they contribute in “grossly unethical activity”, according to a press release from the Minister of Finances, Sigbjørn Johnsen today.

The two companies are Africa Israel investments, the Lev Leviev outfit (he of the diamond shop on Madison Avenue in NY) and its subsidiary Danya Cebus. Writes my informant:

We did it! Biggest BDS victory yet in [West Bank villages] Jayyous & Bil'in's campaign against the thief of thie lands Lev Leviev. Seven years of work. I'm so thrilled I missed my train stop.

PressTV: Norway boycotts 'unethical' Israel firms.

Thousands of fish have turned up dead at the mouth of Mississippi River, prompting authorities to check whether oil was the cause of mass death, local media reports said Monday. The fish were found Sunday floating on the surface of the water and collected in booms that had been deployed to contain oil that leaked from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Times-Picayune reported.

"By our estimates there were thousands, and I'm talking about 5,000 to 15,000 dead fish," St Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro was quoted as saying in a statement.

He said crabs, sting rays, eel, drum, speckled trout and red fish were among the species that turned up dead. Taffaro said there was some recoverable oil in the area, and officials from the state's wildlife and fisheries division were sampling the water.

A tribe in India has won a stunning victory over one of the world’s biggest mining companies.

In an extraordinary move, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blocked Vedanta Resources’ controversial plan to mine bauxite on the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe. Mr Ramesh said Vedanta has shown a ’shocking’ and ‘blatant disregard for the rights of the tribal groups’. The Minister has also questioned the legality of the massive refinery Vedanta has already built below the hills. The news is a crushing defeat for Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal , Vedanta’s majority owner and founder.

In recent years the project has come under unprecedented attack. The Norwegian and British governments, the Church of England, organizations such as Survival, and even insurance giant Aviva have all criticized the company and its ethics. Survival has been in the forefront of a global campaign against the mine for several years. Survival recruited celebrities such as Michael Palin and Joanna Lumley to champion the tribe’s cause; its supporters have written over 10,000 protest letters to the Indian government, and more than 600,000 people have watched Survival’s film ‘Mine’. The tribe’s plight even came to the attention of ‘Avatar’ director James Cameron, and the Dongria became known as the ‘real Avatar tribe’.

The struggle has pitted the 8,000-strong tribe, nearly all of them illiterate, against the might of an $8bn company and its founder, himself worth some $6bn. The Dongria Kondh have mounted numerous protests, and two of their leaders were abducted and beaten before being released, in an atmosphere of increasing violence.

In recent days an inquiry panel set up by Minister Ramesh recommended the mine be blocked, saying that Vedanta had acted illegally and with ‘total contempt for the law’. Common Dreams: Tribal Groups, Activists Claim Victory as Vedanta Mine Plan Halted by Indian Government.

Also by AWIP/Survival International:
Abducted Dongria Kondh released.
Vedanta’s India mine slammed in devastating government report.

Many journalists from the West may be "lucky" enough to be wined and dined, flown over to the Holy Land and given the 5-star treatment, including luxury accommodation, free meals and a guided tour of Israel’s flourishing nation. However, for those journalists who are after the truth and who do not want to be spoon-fed Israeli PR spin while lounging in a sunny seaside resort or in a nightclub in Tel Aviv, just to regurgitate it later; and for those who choose instead to head straight to the field to report on the heart of the conflict where the real news is taking place, they can expect to receive a very different welcome. Journalists who go to the sites where Palestinian homes are being demolished routinely or who go to witness the weekly Palestinian protests against the illegal Israeli apartheid wall in places like Bil’in, see a very different side of Israeli "hospitality".

Israel’s treatment of such journalists, be they foreign or domestic, is shameful and the tactics used to control the flow of information coming out of Israel and the OPTs are many. They include:

1. The killing and wounding of journalists by Israeli forces
2. Banning journalists from entering certain newsworthy areas
3. Expulsion of journalists unsympathetic to Israel
4. Military censorship
5. Utilising gag orders, house arrest and forcing reporters into hiding abroad
6. Attacking Palestinian media infrastructure
7. Controlling and censoring the language used
8. An Israeli culture of self-imposed censorship
9. Blocking non-media investigations
10. Preventing critics of Israel from speaking out

Download the full report

May photo release of an Iranian fast attack craft firing an
anti-ship missile

Iran kicked off mass production of two high-speed missile-launching assault boats on Monday, warning its enemies not to "play with fire" as it boosts security along its coastline. The inauguration of the production lines for the Seraj and Zolfaqar speedboats comes a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran's home-built bomber drone, which he said would deliver "death" to Iran's enemies. State news agency IRNA reported that Seraj (Lamp) and Zolfaqar (named after Shiite Imam Ali's sword) speedboats would be manufactured at the marine industries complex of the ministry of defence. Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi opened the assembly lines, saying the vessels would help strengthen Iran's defence forces, IRNA said. He issued a stern warning to Iran's foes.

"The enemy must be careful of its adventurous behaviour and not play with fire because the Islamic Republic of Iran's response would be unpredictable," IRNA quoted him as saying. "If enemies attack Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran's reaction will not be restricted to one area. The truth of our defence doctrine is that we will not attack any country and that we extend our hand to all legitimate countries."

Iran's arch-foes, the United States and Israel, have not ruled out taking military action over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme. Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, choking off some 40 percent of tanker-shipped oil worldwide, in the event of a military attack. IRNA said Zolfaqar was a new generation missile-launching vessel which can be used for patrol as well as for attack operations.

War In Context: Iran enhances its capacity to shut down the global oil supply

KABUL, Afghanistan — Officials and residents of Baghlan Province, in northern Afghanistan, accused NATO troops on Monday of killing eight civilians during an early morning raid. Mohammed Ismail, the governor of the Talah wa Barfak District, said troops entered a district house at 2 a.m. and killed 8 civilians, injured 12 and took 9 prisoners. The province’s governor, Munchi Abdul Majid, confirmed the attack, but could not provide details. Maj. Michael Johnson, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, as the NATO force is known, said NATO authorities were unaware of any such attack.

Also on Monday, five NATO soldiers were killed — two French, one Hungarian, one American, and one whose nationality had not yet been released. The deaths took place in eastern, northern and southern parts of Afghanistan. On Sunday, four NATO soldiers were killed. The killing on Monday of the two French soldiers brought the total number of French troops killed in the Afghan war to 47, The Associated Press reported. There are about 4,000 troops in the French contingent of the NATO-led international force.

[When the "Terrorists" were "Freedom Fighters"]

The Pentagon is embarking on a major base construction effort in Afghanistan even as Obama administration and military officials are making it clear that the US “surge” will last well past the July 11 deadline for beginning a drawdown of US troops. The Washington Post reported Monday that the US Congress is preparing to pass legislation providing “$1.3 billion in additional fiscal 2011 funds for multiyear construction of military facilities in Afghanistan”. These funds would cover, in part, $100 million expansions for each of three major US air bases in different parts of the country. These projects, the Post stated, are indicative of plans “to support increased US military operations well into the future.”

CLG: Reagan: Taliban 'moral equivalent of America's founding fathers'
AWIP: Afghanistan says finds 1.8 billion barrel oilfield
AWIP: US Discovers $1 Trillion of worth of gold, iron, copper and lithium in Afghanistan
AWIP: U.S. Marines protect Afghan’s poppy fields

Adolf Hitler is likely to have been descended from both Jews and Africans, according to DNA tests. Samples taken from relatives of the Nazi leader show that he is biologically linked to the 'sub-human' races he sought to exterminate. Journalist Jean-Paul Mulders and historian Marc Vermeeren used DNA to track down 39 of the Fuhrer's relatives earlier this year. They included an Austrian farmer revealed only as a cousin called Norbert H. A Belgian news magazine has reported that samples of saliva taken from these people strongly suggest Hitler had antecedents he certainly would not have cared for. A chromosome called Haplopgroup E1b1b (Y-DNA) in their samples is rare in Germany and indeed Western Europe.

'It is most commonly found in the Berbers of Morocco, in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia as well as among Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews,' Mr Vermeeren said.

Haplogroup E1b1b1, which accounts for approximately 18 to 20 per cent of Ashkenazi and 8.6 per cent to 30 per cent of Sephardic Y-chromosomes, appears to be one of the major founding lineages of the Jewish population.

How can a nation like the United States be duped into two wars and total bankruptcy? It would be one thing if the “truth” about 9/11 was internet conspiracy theory. This isn’t the case. It was all right there in everyone’s living room. They fooled us once and then fooled us again and again. Yes, America has some tail to kick but this time, maybe we should make sure our boot goes up the right rear end for a change. The real hole in the Pentagon, before construction equipment enlarged it was so small a man had to duck his head to enter. For 9 years, this photograph was captioned “Second Floor.” This photograph has a firefighter in the foreground and, unless gravity was suspended on 9/11, he is standing on the Pentagon’s lawn. Listen to CNN describe a crash site with no aircraft parts of any kind, seats, bodies, wings, engines, tail section….none of it. Can it be this simple?

First They Destroy Private Healthcare in America – Yes, the socialist Democrats won their first battle to destroy the private healthcare system in the US but the automatic IRA bill now in Congress is their next attack to also control, confiscate and destroy the private retirement system. Ultimately, nationalizing healthcare is designed to create a major new government revenue stream by replacing private health insurance with a nationalized, mandatory, government program and their goal is identical with your retirement plan. Washington will decide the annual forced healthcare premiums on all Americans with the middle and upper wage earners paying far higher premiums than the subsidized voting constituencies who will be the primary beneficiaries of the program. Their goal is to allow Washington to steal much of the annual health premiums (taxes) for current revenue needs and to bailout and subsidize with your premiums the health programs for the voting blocks of poor and underemployed, illegals, unions and the millions of city, county, state and federal government employees. Eventually there will be no private competition available except for the very wealthy and Washington will constantly increase premiums just as they raise taxes today.