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


Saturday, January 5, 2008

War News for Saturday, January 05, 2008

Baghdad:
#1: Four Iraqi civilians were hurt by a roadside bomb that exploded near an Iraqi police patrol in Adhamiya, a Sunni area in northern Baghdad, Saturday morning, according to an Interior Ministry official.

#2: Members of a local Awakening Council found the bodies of five people who were shot to death in southern Baghdad's Dora district Saturday morning, the official said. Their identities were not immediately known, he said

#3: Four mortar bombs wounded three rubbish collectors and a girl in Adhamiya district in northern Baghdad, a hospital source said.

#4: The power line linking Baiji, Salah al-Din province, to areas west of Baghdad was subject to vandalism that caused a power tower to fall down on Saturday, an official spokesman for the electricity ministry said."An act of sabotage caused the tower carrying electricity between Baiji and west of Baghdad areas. Power was completely cut off in this area," Aziz al-Shimari told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI)."The tower was bombed by an improvised explosive device," he added, not naming the area where the explosion took place.

#5: 7 civilians were wounded in an IED explosion inside a mini bus on al Salam bridge that links between Doura and New Baghdad neighborhoods around 3,00 pm.


Diyala Prv:
#1: At least five Iraqi soldiers were killed and two wounded when an explosives-rigged house blew up during a clearing operation in a village in Diyala province in north Iraq, the US military said Saturday.Joint US and Iraqi forces raided Thursday the village of Abu Tamur, 65 km northeast of Baghdad, believed to be a safe haven for Al Qaeda insurgents.

Baquba:
#1: One civilian died and three were wounded by a roadside bombing in the Othmaniya neighborhood in southwestern Baquba Saturday, police said.

#2: A second bomb exploded nearby just minutes later, wounding two members of Baquba's Awakening Council who arrived to help the first bombing victims, police said.

Saadiya:
#1: The deadliest attack happened about 50 miles northeast of Baquba in the town of Saadiya when a roadside bomb destroyed a minibus loaded with men, women and children, according to Baquba police. Six people on the bus died and three were hurt, police said.


Samarra:
#1: The joint forces killed a gunman and captured nine others in clashes with members of al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq. One U.S. soldier was wounded and rushed to Balad hospital, near the clashes scene in the village of Abu Tamr in Samarra, Salah al-Din province," according to a U.S. army statement received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Unidentified gunmen assassinated a member of an Iraqi tribal council in the area of Zawbaa, southern Falluja, the spokesman for the Falluja tribal chiefs council said on Saturday. "Unidentified gunmen in a civilian vehicle opened fire on Sheikh Muhammad Abdul-Hadi Yousuf al-Irsan al-Zawbaie near his home in Zawbaa, southern Falluja, killing him instantly," Sheikh Saleh al-Bijari told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq



Afghanistan:
#1: Taliban forces have shot down a US military helicopter in Afghanistan's Laghman province, a Taliban spokesman was reported as saying Friday. Zabihollah Mojahed did not elaborate on whether the US had suffered any casualties in the incident. The US military based in Afghanistan had no immediate comment on the reported downing of the chopper.


Casualty Reports:

Marine Lance Corporal Jose Ivan Perez, 21, got shot by two snipers, the 2nd sniper got me from the back. The bullet hit me in the back, came out the front. It was a hollow tip round and exploded inside my body." "I gotta wait 3 years to see if I get any feeling back in my leg. If I don't, I have to decide whether I will cut my leg off or leave it on."

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