NEW YORK (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America's wars. - Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the U.S. Treasury and ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study released on Wednesday. The final bill will run at least $3.7 trillion and could reach as high as $4.4 trillion, according to the research project "Costs of War" by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. (http://www.costsofwar.org) In the 10 years since U.S. troops went into Afghanistan to root out the al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11, 2001, attacks, spending on the conflicts totaled $2.3 trillion to $2.7 trillion.

Stephen Lendman: The Business of America is War

A NATO airstrike killed eight civilians and injured some others Tuesday at a market in the town of Tawragha, 300 km east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, said Libya's official news agency. - While confirming the eight victims were all civilians, the Libyan Jana news agency quoted a military source as saying that some of the injured are in critical condition. Also on Tuesday, a Xinhua reporter saw NATO fighter jets were hovering over Tajura, a town 20 km east of Tripoli, and heard six huge explosions. The Tajura town has been attacked for the third consecutive day. According to a military source, these attacks caused huge damage to local infrastructure, yet it gave no details of the destruction.

PressTV: NATO airstrike kills 8 Libyan civilians

More than 250,000 people have been displaced in the last two years of fighting in Afghanistan, and "local police" programmes sponsored by NATO have exacerbated the problem by arming militias, according to a new report from Refugees International. - Most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) fled "international and Afghan military forces' operations against the Taliban," the report found. It also concluded that many IDPs are not receiving adequate assistance from the Afghan government or the United Nations. Displacement is nothing new in Afghanistan, where millions have fled their homes during decades of war and conflict. But the Refugees International report argues that the pattern of displacement has changed. "Now, people are increasingly unwilling to return home because they fear their villages are no longer safe," the report states.

Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed a first draft of a law that will require that Palestinians whose homes are destroyed by Israeli forces pay the Israeli government for the demolition costs." - The law will now be passed to the full Knesset for a final reading, where it is expected to pass due to the current makeup of the Knesset. Since 1967, Israeli forces have demolished 24,813 Palestinian homes. 90% of these homes were destroyed for 'administrative' reasons – because they either lacked a permit or were in an area designated for expansion by the Israeli military. No permits have been issued by Israeli authorities for Palestinian construction in the Occupied Territories since 1967. The remaining 10% of the demolitions have been 'punitive' demolitions of the homes of Palestinians accused of attacking Israel, or of their families' homes. In the first five months of 2011, Israeli forces demolished more Palestinian homes than in the entire year of 2010, rendering homeless 706 Palestinians, including 341 minors. This is according to the most recent numbers released by the Israeli Civil Administration.

Even Robert Kiyosaki is warning that an economic collapse is coming. In fact, Kiyosaki and his team of financial experts are encouraging Americans to stock up on food, guns and precious metals. This is yet another sign of just how close we are to the total collapse of the U.S. Economy. Kiyosaki, who once co-authored a book with Donald Trump entitled "Why We Want You To Be Rich" is now a full-fledged prepper. As even more prominent Americans start warning that an "economic collapse" is coming do you think that the American people will finally wake up and start paying attention? The statements that Robert Kiyosaki makes in the video posted above are absolutely jaw-dropping.

The Economy Collapse: Economic Recovery?
The Economy Collapse: The State Of The Economy

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution Tuesday authorizing U.S. involvement in the NATO-led mission in Libya, a small step forward for those in Congress seeking a path out of a stubborn legal stalemate with the White House. - The resolution would give approval to U.S. engagement in the mission for up to one year, but puts new restrictions on expanding the U.S. role. Four Republicans joined the Democratic majority to pass the measure on a 14-5 vote. It’s a resolution that President Obama has declared he would “welcome" but which he also insists he does not need under law — a point on which many in Congress, including Democrats, disagree.

A Senate Armed Services Committee centering on Pakistan was held today, leading a number of top Senators, including committee chair Carl Levin (D – MI) to rail against the Pakistani government, and accuse them of harboring terrorists. - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – SC) questioned Vice Admiral William McRaven, who headed the raid against the Pakistani city of Abbotabad, about the presence of Mullah Omar in the country, leading McRaven to say that not only did the military believe Omar is in Pakistan, but that he believes that the Pakistani government “know” he is. This led to further speculation about Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency knowingly keeping the locations of US-sought militants a secret. This led to more calls from the Senators to withdraw aid from the Zardari government, following up demands from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for “changes” if the government wanted to continue receiving US aid.

[RT] The Greek government is prepared to vote on austerity measures on Wednesday, June 29. The vote will take place in the midst of a general strike launched by the unions to oppose cuts that would most impact minimum wage earners and Greeks who are struggling the most in the current economic conditions.

Talk has been circulating on whether a military coup might happen if austerity measures pass. In a message from an “Independent Movement of Military People” to the Minister of Defence Panagiotis Beglitis, the army chided him for making false promise and creating a wealthy network of strong patronage ties. A number of US State Embassy cables have been released by WikiLeaks in recent months. The Greek newspaper Ta Nea has been covering revelations in the cables. One cable from June 2008 addresses the military-to-military relationship between Greece and the US by looking at “the Good, the Bad and the Necessary.” A section shows how the Greek military has depended on the patronage of the US:

The Greeks are disappointed that U.S. International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds for Greece have been drastically reduced from USD 540,000 in 2008 to USD 100,000 in 2009. U.S. military training is a highly valued commodity with Hellenic armed forces personnel and is probably the most effective of our defense cooperation activities. We expect Greece to send more military personnel to other countries for training, with a probable concomitant increase in those nations' influence with the Greek armed forces.

BBC: Greece Passes Austerity Measures - Video
Stefan Steinberg: Greek parliament adopts new austerity in face of mass opposition
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The Torat Hamelech, published November of 2009, is a 230-page commentary written by Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur, who live an illegal West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. The commentary states the commandment of “Thou shall not kill” only applies to a Jew killing another Jew. Its preface states that it is forbidden to kill a non-Jew but later outlines the context in which it is permissible to kill a non-Jew, according to Haaretz Daily Newspaper. Any non-Jew considered an enemy of the state of Israel is justified under Jewish law to be killed according to the Torat Hamelech. It justifies the killing of babies that represent one of Israel’s enemies since “it is clear that they will grow to harm us,” a quotation from the Torat Hamelech.

Fearful of provoking further public resistance to naked airport body scanners, the TSA has been caught covering up a surge in cases of TSA workers developing cancer as a result of their close proximity to radiation-firing devices, perhaps the most shocking revelation to emerge from the latest FOIA documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. After Union representatives in Boston discovered a “cancer cluster” amongst TSA workers linked with radiation from the body scanners, the TSA sought to downplay the matter and refused to issue employees with dosimeters to measure levels of exposure.