Antiwar.com Newsletter | December 29, 2012

This week’s top news stories:

Yemen Fears Backlash as Drone Strike Victims Side With al-Qaeda: In early September, Yemeni officials sought to bury stories about a US drone strike killing 14 civilians in an attack on a highway by insisting they were actually their own warplanes that launched the attack. Eventually, the truth came out.

GAO Faults Pentagon’s $5.6 Billion Logistics Plan for Afghan Drawdown: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has announced that it has found major flaws in the Pentagon’s $5.7 billion logistical plan for the drawdown of troops and equipment from Afghanistan and is telling them to make serious changes.

Netanyahu Election Pledge: More Settlement Expansion in Next Four Years: The repeated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank have been in part aimed at spiting the Palestinians, in part spiting the international community, but mostly, it seems, about winning votes.

Senate Rejects Fourth Amendment Protection for Emails, Texts: Introduced by Sens. Rand Paul (R – KY) and Mike Lee (R – UT), the Fourth Amendment Protection Act, an attempted amendment to the 2012 FISA Reauthorization Act, has failed in dramatic fashion, with 79 votes against and only 12 in favor.

Iran Hints at IAEA Access to Military Base if US, Israel Stop Threatening War: There’s no publicly released evidence that the Parchin military base has anything to do with Iran’s civilian nuclear program but proving it isn’t would require many, many IAEA visits, something Iran has rejected. But according to Iranian Deputy FM Hassan Qashqavi, that IAEA visits would be allowed if the US and Israel weren’t constantly threatening to attack Iran.

Opinion and Analysis:

• Justin Raimondo defended Chuck Hagel and profiled Naftali Bennett.
• Kelley Vlahos asked Santa to finally give anti-interventionists something.
• Philip Giraldi explained the Flat Earthers’ view of contemporary events.
• Nebojsa Malic reviewed the gathering storm that was 2012.