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, October 26, 2007

War News for Friday, October 26, 2007


Photo: A robot controlled by Soldiers from the 789th Ordnance Company, from Fort Benning, Ga., currently attached to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, investigates an Iranian 107mm rocket at a launch site Oct. 23. Five rockets were fired at Combat Outpost Cashe from the site, but no soldiers were injured. Only one rocket managed to land inside the outpost perimeter.
Editors note: Blackanthem news "appears" to be a government controlled news distribution agency which I have refused to use for my documentation in the past. This article and caption leads viewers to believe that the rocket in question is an Iranian weapon without providing any evidence. Of course Iran is allowed to sell weapons under international rules such as America also sells weapons under the same international laws.
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Security incidents:
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Baghdad:
#1: Insurgents fired five rockets at Combat Outpost Cashe, with one detonating inside the outpost perimeter, Oct. 23. No Soldiers were injured in the attack, but one truck was damaged.

#2: A U.S. soldier was killed and four were wounded in a roadside bombing in southern Baghdad, the military reported Friday. The unit was hit Thursday with an explosively formed penetrator, known as an EFP

#3: Three bodies were found in Baghdad today in the following neighborhoods (1 body in Ur, 1 body in Bayaa and 1 body in Amil).


Diyala
prv:
Muqdadiyah:
#1: A suicide bomber blew himself up near the headquarters of a nationalistic Sunni insurgent group that has turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, killing a woman on her way to the market Friday and wounding four other people, police said. The attacker detonated his explosives belt after he was unable to get through the main gate of the headquarters of the 1920s Revolution Brigades in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Witnesses told police that the bomber was a young man who ran toward the main gate and blew himself up after he was barred from entry. A member of the Revolution Brigades also was wounded, the officer said.

Buhriz:
#1: Elsewhere in Diyala, a bomb exploded near a village south of Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, killing a farmer and wounding two others, police said.

Khalis:
#1: Four civilians were wounded after mortar shells fell on a house in al-Khalis district, 15 km north of Baaquba, on Thursday evening The mortars, fired from Qalaat al-Qassab village, one of the strongholds of al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq in Diala teeming with Islamist militants including Arabs and Afghans, have caused severe damage to the house," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Bani Saad:
#1: Meanwhile, the same source said an armed group suspected of affiliation to al-Qaeda opened fire at a police patrol in al-Aaskari neighborhood, Bani Saad district, 20 km south of Baaquba, causing medium wounds to one of the policemen.

Adhaim:
#1: Roadside bombs killed six truck drivers and wounded five others when they exploded near a convoy in Adhaim, 53 km (32 miles) north of Baquba, police said.


Nasiriyah:
#1: An Iraqi fisherman has netted a two-metre (six-and-a-half-foot) shark from the brown waters of the Euphrates river in southern Iraq, a doctor said on Friday. The 110-kilogram (more than 240 pound) white shark was caught on Thursday near the village of Al-Fidhaliyah, close to the city of Nasiriyah and more than 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Gulf waters.


Latifiya:
#1: Two handcuffed and blindfolded bodies were found with gunshot wounds in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Hilla:
#1: The US Consulate and an Iraqi police barrack in central Hillah city had been concurrently bombarded by 17 mortar shells, a senior Iraqi officer said Friday. Three Iraqi civilians were wounded in the attack Thursday while five houses nearby were damaged, colonel Ali Hassan said. Shortly afterwards, police forces conducted an inspection campaign, arresting a suspect and discovering 21 mortar launchers, Hassan added.


Diwaniya:
#1: A roadside bomb also struck a police patrol in the Daghara area, about 12 miles north of the mainly Shiite city of Diwaniyah, killing two officers and wounding three others, a police official said.


Hawija:
#1: Gunmen killed a nurse in a drive-by shooting outside the major hospital in central Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two policemen were wounded by a roadside bomb that targeted their patrol on the road between Kirkuk and Mosul, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Iraqi soldiers killed six gunmen in clashes in western Mosul on Thursday, police said.

#2: Iraqi soldiers killed two men inside a car that refused to stop at a checkpoint in Mosul on Thursday. Police said the Iraqi soldiers found weapons inside the car.

#3: Five bodies were found in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Thursday, police said.

#4: A car bomb ripped through a garage in Mosul on Friday morning but left no casualties, the Ninewa police operations room chief said. "The explosive vehicle was parked in a garage and apparently was targeting police patrols," Brig. Abdul-Kareem al-Juburi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The vehicle exploded a short while after a police patrol passed by," he said, adding no one was hurt and no damage was caused.


kurdistan:
#1: Turkish helicopters ferried more troops to the border with Iraq on Friday as diplomatic efforts got underway in Ankara to avert a major offensive against Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq. State-run Anatolian news agency said Cobra helicopters and fighter jets had also pounded PKK shelters discovered after reconnaissance missions along the border and inside Turkey, which has NATO's second biggest army. Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along the mountainous border before a possible cross-border operation to crush about 3,000 guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who launch deadly attacks into Turkey from northern Iraq.


Al Anbar Prv:
Khalidiya:
#1: Three U.S. servicemen were injured when a roadside bomb exploded targeting their vehicle patrol in northern Khalidiya city. An explosive device was detonated this afternoon near a U.S. vehicle patrol in al-Jazeera region, north of Khalidiya, injuring three U.S. soldiers and damaging their Hummer," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq



Afghanistan:
#1: Security forces backed by helicopters attacked a stronghold of a militant cleric in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, trading fire with his supporters near the scene of a suicide attack that killed 20 people, police said.
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#2: Also Friday, militants fired at a helicopter carrying a senior army officer. They missed the target and the helicopter made safe landing in the same area said another local police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
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#3: Two NATO soldiers were killed and three wounded in a clash with insurgents in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar. the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said an ambush by suspected Taliban militants set off the firefight Thursday night that proved deadly for its soldiers in Kunar, which borders Pakistan. The insurgents attacked a joint Afghan and ISAF foot patrol with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from multiple positions in the Korangal Valley, an ISAF statement said, adding that the joint force repelled the insurgent attack with return fire and air support

#4: A coalition airstrike on Friday killed at least 18 suspected Taliban in southern Zabul province, said Haji Fazil Bari, district chief of Deh Chopan, where the air raid took place. After the bombardment, Afghan police went to Dozi village and recovered bodies of 18 Taliban, including foreign fighters, Bari said. No Afghan or coalition forces were hurt in the operation, Bari said, adding, however, that a weapons cache belonging to Afghan forces was destroyed when a Taliban rocket slammed into it.

#5: In a separate incident in Arghandab, another district in Zabul province that borders Deh Chopan, six Taliban militants were killed in a fight with Afghan security forces, Bari said.
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Casualty Reports:
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The Gulfport Daily News, has published
an interview with the mother of Seaman Genesia Mattril Gresham, of Lithonia, Georgia. Gresham was murdered in Bahrain along with another servicewoman on October 22 by a fellow navy serviceman. Gresham's mother says the killer, Seaman Clarence Jackson, was under a restraing order "and had been on suicide watch, after he allegedly attacked Miss Gresham less than four months ago. She blamed officials for leaving her daughter exposed to danger from a man she said turned nasty when she tried to cool their "casual" relationship. 'They knew his state of mind and after he had a restraining order he was on suicide watch, yet was allowed out and allowed to have a gun,' said the mother."

A Newport firefighter has been shot and critically injured while serving in Iraq. Bradley Buckland's family received the news on Sunday morning. Newport Fire Chief Fred Hickey said he has been in contact with the Buckland family. Hickey said Buckland underwent surgery in Baghdad on Sunday and was in critical but stable condition. He said the plan was to fly Buckland to a military hospital in Germany once he was stable enough to travel, but Hickey hasn't heard whether or not that has happened yet.

When a roadside improvised explosive device detonated sending the HumVee PFC Daniel Davignon was driving, careening down an embankment, the Armstrong County soldier knew the first thing he must do was stay focused, and "keep his wits." He managed to control the vehicle and bring it to a stop 50 feet beyond the blast site. Thanks to his efforts, the vehicle remained upright. The blast had hit the front tires and torn a hole in the bottom of the vehicle, wounding Davignon. He ignored his own plight to exit the vehicle and assisted fellow soldiers with leaving the vehicle, including his unconscious platoon sergeant and an interpreter. When the men were safely out, he began securing the area in case of a follow-up attack. Platoon Sgt. Matthew Ryan noticed blood coming out of the back of both of Davignon's legs where he had been hit by shrapnel. A large piece of metal was sticking out the back of his right leg.
His shrapnel wound wasn't serious enough to get him much time off, though. "The medics treated my wound, and I was back to duty the next day," he said.

Sgt. Greg Edwards lost both legs and sustained permanent damage to one of his hands last year when he stepped on an improvised explosive device. He has had multiple operations at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He is now recovering from a recent surgery there, and he and his family are temporarily living in a Maryland suburb, Gill said.

Lance-Corporal Craig Lundberg, who is 22 and known as “Freddie” after the West Ham footballer, was blinded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack and so badly injured in the left arm that it was could be saved only by extensive surgery. It is fully functional, although with a steel plate embedded in it. He was hit while taking part in a rooftop operation at a house near Basra. He was struck twice by rocket-propelled grenades, and was the only one of his platoon who was wounded.

A thick scar cuts a straight line up Army Spc. Edwin Carrasco's right forearm, wrist to elbow. The injury limits his ability to move his arm. But he's lucky to have it. He's lucky to be alive. When the explosion ripped through his armored Humvee in the early hours of July 6 in Baghdad, the two soldiers in the front seat, Pfc. Le Ron Wilson of Queens, N.Y., and Sgt. Gene Lamie of Homerville, Ga., were killed. Another soldier lost his legs below the knees.
"I think about it every day," said the 23-year-old Carrasco. On July 6, Carrasco said, he had been back in Iraq a couple months, his second tour of duty. He and his fellow soldiers had been on patrol since 6 a.m. the day before, and were returning to base. Carrasco said he was sitting behind the driver, looking out the window, watching for trouble. He never saw it coming. A device, something like a coffee can filled with explosives and closed with a copper top, exploded near the vehicle, Carrasco said. The heat of the explosion melted the copper, which formed a projectile that pierced the Humvee's armor. Inside, the copper cooled, hardened and bounced around, slicing everything in its path. Two hours later, he was in surgery. A doctor told him beforehand he'd wake up without his right arm. When it was still there afterward, he thought he was dreaming. His right elbow was smashed, the bones in his forearm intact but detached. The bone in his upper left arm also was shattered, and surgeons put in a steel rod to mend it.
Carrasco's had several surgeries, but expects to fully recover. He's also had counseling to help with the nightmares that plagued him when he first returned to the States. He hopes he'll be fully healed in time to rejoin his comrades in the 3rd Squadron of the 7th U.S. Cavalry in Iraq before they return next year.

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