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, July 19, 2008

War News for Saturday, July 19, 2008

CTV is reporting the death of a Canadian ISAF soldier. Cpl. James Hayward Arnal died from an explosion during a patrol in the Panjwaii district near Kandahar city, Afghanistan on Friday, July 18th. Here's the DND release.


American Free Press --Radioactive Waste From Iraq Wars Dumped in U.S.


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Friday One unidentified body was found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police today in Amil neighbourhood.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded four civilians in central Baghdad, police said.

Around 3 pm a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in Karrada neighborhood. 4 Iraqi people were injured.

#3: Around 7 am a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol near Ghadeer bridge in Zayuna neighborhood. One Humvee was damaged with no casualties reported.


Diyala Prv:
Khalis:
#1: Meanwhile, an official source in Diala police told VOI that security forces found on Saturday three headless bodies in al-Karama neighborhood, al-Adhim district, al-Khalis, (150 km) north of Baaquba. "The three bodies were of brothers that had been kidnapped on Wednesday," the source said, not giving more details.


Nassiriya:
#1: An explosive charge on Saturday detonated near a police patrol vehicle in southern Thi-Qar province, causing no casualties or damage, a local police media and relations director said. "An improvised explosive device (IED) planted in downtown Souk al-Shoyoukh district (30 km south of Nassiriya city) blew up while a police patrol car was passing by, causing no casualties or damage," Colonel Sadiq al-Mashrafawi told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq.


Tikrit:
#1: Gunmen killed three policemen in an attack on their patrol outside Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Sulaiman Bek.
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a patrol for the south oil company guards in Sulaiman Beck in Tuz Khurmatu ( south of Kirkuk and northeast of Tikrit) Friday night. 4 guards were injured.


Sulaimaniyah:
#1: Police found two dead bodies for a woman a her daughter in Sulaimaniyah city today.


Mosul:
#1: Two Iraqi armed forces members died and eight others were wounded Saturday in a car bomb explosion in northern Iraq, military sources said. The incident happened in the mainly Kurdish city of Mosul, al-Sumaria Iraqi Satellite TV reported.

#2: A handcuffed body was found with gunshot wounds on Friday in western Mosul, police said.

#3: Gunmen killed one person on Friday just outside his house in northern Mosul, police said.

#4: A sniper shot dead a policeman at a checkpoint in central Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: Meanwhile, the chief police of Kandahar told Deutsche Presse- Agenture (dpa) Saturday that a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan killed four policemen and wounded another. Khan Mohammad - a police official in Kandahar province - said the blast struck a patrol in Maiwand district of restive Kandahar province on Saturday.

#2: In another development, two French aid workers were kidnapped at gunpoint on Friday in central Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. The two were abducted when a group of armed men entered into their organization's guesthouse in Neli, capital of Daikundi Province, late Friday, said Mohammad Nadir, the provincial police chief. "The armed men tied up the guards and dragged the aid workers into their vehicles," he said. The two French nationals were employed at the Action Contre la Faim (ACF) (Action Against Hunger) organization providing aid relief to Afghan communities at risk of acute malnutrition, the organization said in its website.

#3: A suicide bomber wounded one policeman when he detonated his explosives next to a passing police convoy in Daman district of Kandahar province on Saturday, district chief Mohammad Rasul said.

#4: Taliban militants attacked the district headquarters in Garda Serai district in the eastern province of Paktia on Saturday, wounding four policemen and capturing two more, district police chief Enayatullah said.

#5: One Afghan security guard was killed and three more were wounded on Saturday when their vehicle, which was providing security for a NATO supply convoy, struck a roadside bomb on the main highway between Khost and Paktia provinces in the east of the country, a district chief Lutfullah Baba Karkhel said.


Casualty Reports:

Army Sgt. Matthew Gobble, 24, who was injured in Afghanistan was hit by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade during an attack by Taliban insurgents against a U.S.-led outpost near Pakistan. The shrapnel sprayed across much of Gobble’s body, his father said. “It was basically his entire left side from his head all the way down to his feet,” he said. Gobble was flown to Germany, where he underwent surgery to remove the shrapnel and repair cartilage and ligaments.

U.S. Army Spc. Aaron Davis, 21, and his comrades in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. According to military officials, 200 insurgents fired on the base with machine guns, grenades and mortars. He had been hurt in the leg and head, she said. She did not have details about the injuries, but noted that her son had already been presented with the Purple Heart. He remained in a hospital Friday in Italy and at some point will be flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

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