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


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

War News for Wednesday, November 21, 2007


Photo: The RAF has 33 Pumas, which fly at up to 147 knots and can transport 16 fully-equipped troops.
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MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Tuesday, November 20th. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed and three other soldier were wounded in the attack.

The British Ministry of Defense is announcing the deaths of two military personal in a helicopter crash near Baghdad on Tuesday, November 20th. Two other personnel were seriously injured . MNF-Iraq states that the helicopter crashed southwest of Salman Pak The Telegraph reports that two other British military personnel and ten others were seriously injured when the RAF Puma came down southeast of the Iraqi capital.
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Security incidents:
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Baghdad:
#1: Three policemen were injured in a roadside bomb attack in western the capital on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source said. "A roadside bomb struck in the afternoon a passing police patrol in the 14th Ramadhan Street of the al-Mansour district, wounding three policemen," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: The Iraqi army found six decomposed bodies buried in the gardens of two abandoned houses in the Saidiya district of southern Baghdad, the Iraqi army said.

#3: An explosively-formed penetrator detonated near a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad, killing one Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier and wounding three others Nov. 20. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed.

#4: U.S. forces killed six suspected insurgents and detained 10 others during operations targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday, the U.S. military said.


Diyala Prv:
Muqdadiyah:
#1: gunmen attacked a police patrol in downtown Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Joint Iraqi-U.S. forces killed four al-Qaeda gunmen during a military operation waged inside al-Muqdadiya marketplace, northeast of Baaquba," General Abdul Karim al-Rubaei told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Kut:
#1: A police officer was also killed in a drive-by shooting in central Kut, 100 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital, police said.


Salman Pak:
#1: It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the deaths of two military personnel near Baghdad, Iraq last night, Tuesday 20 November 2007. The two personnel were killed when the RAF Puma helicopter they were travelling in crashed. Their next of kin have been informed. Two other personnel were seriously injured, but are now recovering in hospital. It is too early to speculate on the cause of the crash; an RAF Board of Inquiry has already been convened and is en route to Iraq to conduct its investigations.


Mosul:
#1: A policeman was injured when an explosive charge went off on Wednesday morning targeting a police vehicle patrol in northern Mosul

#2: the same source said that police patrols found two unidentified corpses in al-Senaa al-Qadeema region in western Mosul.


Tayna:
#1: The head of the political prisoners in Kurdistan region was injured in his legs when two IEDs exploded under beneath his car in Saray neighborhood in Ranya city (150 Kms northeast Sulaimaniyah today morning.


Al Anbar Prv:
Ramadi:
#1: At least five people were killed and six others wounded Wednesday in a suicide attack in central Ramadi city, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said, in an account which gave a vastly lower casualty figure from earlier media reports. A suicide bomber had set off an explosives laden vehicle in a parking garage near the city court building, killing himself and four other persons, the ministry said.
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Casualty Reports:
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An Army soldier from Fairfield told his parents Tuesday via the Internet that he will be "good to go" soon after being wounded in a mortar attack Sunday in Baghdad. Spc. Brock Denis, 23, a 2003 graduate of Lawrence High School, suffered shrapnel wounds to his leg, ankle, chest and head during an attack on his mess hall in the heart of the Iraqi city, his father, Paul Denis, said. "He's got some of the shrapnel still in him in his chest, his head -- his left forehead, two inches from his eye," Paul Denis said Tuesday by telephone from the family's home in Fairfield Center. "He was in the mess hall and three mortars came in; the third one came through the wall and he was standing there.
"He was standing in line waiting for some eggs."

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