The present-day U.S. military qualifies by any measure as highly professional, much more so than its Cold War predecessor. Yet the purpose of today’s professionals is not to preserve peace but to fight unending wars in distant places. Intoxicated by a post-Cold War belief in its own omnipotence, the United States allowed itself to be drawn into a long series of armed conflicts, almost all of them yielding unintended consequences and imposing greater than anticipated costs. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. forces have destroyed many targets and killed many people. Only rarely, however, have they succeeded in accomplishing their assigned political purposes. . . . [F]rom our present vantage point, it becomes apparent that the “Revolution of ‘89” did not initiate a new era of history. At most, the events of that year fostered various unhelpful illusions that impeded our capacity to recognize and respond to the forces of change that actually matter.

Andrew Bacevich


Friday, May 25, 2007


Security Incidents for Friday, May 25, 2007

An Iraqi boy throws a stone at a burning sports utility vehicle after a roadside bomb exploded in central Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad,on Friday, May 25, 2007. The roadside bomb

(1) On Wednesday, MNF-Iraq issued a press release stating that two Task Force Lightning soldiers died and three were injured in "an explosion" in Baghdad Province on Tuesday, May 22nd. Now today, they have issued another stating that apparently there was another separate "explosion" that day in Baghdad Province in which one Task Force Lightning soldier died and two were injured.

(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a 13th Sustainment Command soldier in an IED attack in Salah ad Din Province on Thursday, May 24th. In addition, one soldier was wounded in the blast.

(3) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier when his patrol was attacked with small arms fire in a western section of Baghdad on Thursday, May 24th.

(4) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier from a small arms fire attack in Diyala Province on Thursday, May 24th.

(5) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier from "an explosion" in Ninawa Province on Thursday, May 24th ... an explosion that also wounded two other soldiers.

(6) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers when their patrol hit a roadside bomb in a western neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, May 24th. An Iraqi interpreter also died in the attack ... and one other American soldier was wounded.


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Baghdad:
#1: A Task Force Lightning Soldier was killed in Baghdad Province, May 22 when an explosion occurred near his vehicle. Two other Soldiers were also wounded in the incident and were taken to a Coalition Forces medical treatment facility.

#2: Two MND-B Soldiers were killed when their patrol was struck by an improvised explosive device in a western section of the Iraqi capital May 24. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed in the attack. One other MND-B Soldier was wounded in the attack.

#3: An MND-B Soldier was killed when a patrol was attacked with small arms fire in a western section of the Iraqi capital May 24

#4: Insurgents bombed a major bridge in Baghdad on Friday, partially destroying the span which links two city districts, police said. The bridge links Khadra and al-Jamiaa in western Baghdad. The bridge over a major road was still standing but had been badly damaged. There was no immediate information about any casualties, police said.

A bridge linking the Adl and Khadra districts in western Baghdad was destroyed by explosives Thursday night, Iraq News Agency (INA) reported Friday, citing Iraqi officials. Ten metres of the bridge collapsed as a result of the blast, the report said. Further details were not immediately

#5: One civilian was killed and three wounded in a mortar attack on a residential area of Abu Dshir in southern Baghdad, police said.

#6: A civilian was killed in an IED explosion in Doura neighborhood south Baghdad around 1:10 pm.

#7: Gunmen in a speeding car shot and killed a police officer as he was leaving his house in the Shiite-dominated al-Wihda district, 20 miles south of Baghdad on Friday morning, police said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A Task Force Lightning Soldier was killed by wounds sustained from small arms fire in Diyala Province, Thursday.

#2: Colonel Hussein Abbas Kadhim, the commander of Jdaidat Al Shat town 30Kms north west of Baqouba said that gunmen of what is called Islamic State of Iraq broke into one of the orchards of Um Al Romman village near Mohammed Al Sakran cemetery and executed three farmers, with BKC machineguns

Muqdadiya:
#1: Twelve people, including four policemen, were wounded when a car rigged with explosives ripped through central al-Muqdadiya town, Diala province, on Friday, the Iraqi police said. The car bomb "exploded on Friday morning near an Iraqi police patrol in central Muqdadiya, wounding four policemen and eight civilian passers-by," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Latifiya:
#1: Police found the bodies of two men handcuffed and shot in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Basra:
#1: Insurgents detonated a roadside bomb beneath a vehicle belonging to a British-based security company in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Friday, British military officials said. "There seems to have been a roadside bomb. We have no more details, but we believe it was a private security vehicle," said British military spokesman Major David Gell, adding that he had received no word on casualties. Another British military official later said that the vehicle belonged to the London-based Aegis Specialist Risk Management, a private security company, which said it had no knowledge of the incident.

#2: The leader of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was killed by British forces on Friday, Iraqi police said. The British military said in a statement that "a militia leader" was killed by Iraqi forces in what they called a "precision strike" on his car in central Basra


al-Wijaihiya:
#1: In al-Wijaihiya, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, a gunbattle between residents of a Sunni village and their rivals in a neighboring Shiite village, killing two people and injuring five others, police said. Seven hours of fighting ended only when the Iraqi army intervened. The residents of al-Aswad, the Shiite village, accused the Sunnis from al-Khurair of harboring Sunni extremists who want to expel the Shiites. The Sunnis said the Shiites attacked them with mortar rounds.


Salah Ad Din Prv:
#1: One 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Soldier was killed and one was wounded in an improvised explosive device attack against their tactical vehicle near Salah Ad Din at approximately 3 a.m., May 24.


Nineveh Prv:
#1: A Task Force Lightning Soldier was killed in Nineveh Province, Thursday when an explosion occurred near his vehicle. Two other Soldiers were also wounded in the incident and were taken to a Coalition Forces medical treatment facility for further treatment.


Kirkuk:
#1: One civilian was wounded when an explosive device went off near his vehicle on the Kirkuk-Baghdad highway, south of Kirkuk, on Friday, an official police source said. "The police patrols of Taza station rushed to the scene of the blast. The wounded civilian was the driver of the car, which was severely damaged," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Gunmen killed a sheikh from the Abu Alwan tribe in his car in eastern Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.


Afghanistan:
#1: A Canadian soldier was killed today when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan’s volatile Zhari district. One other soldier has suffered non-life-threatening injuries and an Aghan interpreter has also been wounded.

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