By Lena Groeger

“When Clay Hunt returned home to Texas after two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the struggle didn’t end. Tormented by flashbacks and post-traumatic stress, he sought medical help from the Department of Veteran Affairs – but faced a pile of paperwork. While waiting for help, he turned his energy towards helping his fellow veterans, raising money for the wounded and appearing in public service announcements for veterans struggling, like him, with the psychological trauma of war.

Hunt took his own life on March 31, 2011. His disability checks arrived five weeks later.

Tragically, Clay’s story is not unique.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/veterans-die-red-tape/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent

Earlier this month, William Hague announced new sanctions against Iran Photo: PA

“Iran has carried out secret tests of nuclear missiles, Britain has claimed, drawing an angry denial from Tehran.

The claim comes as the Iranian regime mounts a visible show of its military technology with 10 days of missile tests. One tested this week was capable of reaching Israel or the Gulf states.

Mr Hague told the Commons that Iran “has been carrying out covert ballistic missile tests and rocket launches, including testing missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload”.

Those tests were in clear contravention of United Nations Security Council resolutions forbidding Iran from developing a military nuclear programme, he said.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8606973/Iran-carrying-out-secret-nuclear-missile-tests.html

Smoke rises from the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul as a NATO helicopter flies overhead.

KABUL—A helicopter from the coalition led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization fired on and killed three militants on the roof of Kabul’s InterContinental Hotel, ending the nearly six-hour siege by gunmen and suicide bombers that demonstrated the Taliban’s ability to stage dramatic attacks in Afghanistan’s capital.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576413991003487976.html

“It’s over 120 degrees and the everyone is exhausted. We learn during a pause in the fighting that the Afghan soldiers’ during breaks in battle love to smoke hash and fire their guns at nothing in particular. Not exactly disciplined in the traditional sense of soldier.

You can hire an Afghan to fight but you can never fully buy him.”

“A random survey of 100 representative mosques in the U.S. was conducted to measure the correlation between Sharia adherence and dogma calling for violence against non-believers … In 84.5% of the mosques, the imam recommended studying violence-positive texts.

The leadership at Sharia-adherent mosques was more likely to recommend that a worshipper study violence-positive texts than leadership at non-Sharia-adherent mosques. Fifty-eight percent of the mosques invited guest imams known to promote violent jihad.

The leadership of mosques that featured violence-positive literature was more likely to invite guest imams who were known to promote violent jihad than was the leadership of mosques that did not feature violence-positive literature on mosque premises.”

http://mappingsharia.com/

“While the presence of violent and jihad-based literature alone does not necessarily suggest the worshippers at such a mosque adopt the violent literature’s approach to the use of violence, if the imams at such mosques also promote the literature, and if those mosques are more likely to invite guest imams and speakers who are known to promote violent jihad, the presence of these factors together would be strongly suggestive of an environment prone to jihad recruitment.”