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


Monday, August 25, 2008

War News for Monday, August 25, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a small-arms fire attack in an northern neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday, August 25th.


A recovering neoconservative:

An Uncertain Death Toll In Georgia-Russia War:

Iran launches submarine production line:

Iraq power generation finally hits pre-invasion levels:

Russia denies halting NATO transit to Afghanistan-Ifax:

Iraq's PM demands changes in U.S.-Iraqi security draft deal:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Unknown gunmen killed a university professor in Iraq. Police found the body of Professor Khaldoun Sabry in in the capital's Yarmouk district. He was handcuffed and had gunshot wounds and bruises all over his body, police officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

#2: An Iraqi soldier was injured when an explosion hit an army patrol in west Baghdad's Mansour district on Monday, witnesses told dpa. Several shops were damaged in the explosion, according to the witnesses.

#3: Sunday One body was found with gunshot wounds on Sunday in Baghdad, police said.

#4: A bomb attached to a car wounded a man, his wife and his daughter in the Jamiaa distict in western Baghdad, police said.

#5: One civilian man was wounded when a bomb emplaced inside his vehicle went off in northern Baghdad on Monday, an Iraqi police source said."A locally-made bomb planted by unidentified persons went off inside a civilian man's vehicle on a street in the northern Baghdad district of al-Aadhamiya, wounding him severely," the source, who preferred not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Around 11 am a bomb left inside a mini bus detonated in Adhemiyah neighborhood(north Baghdad). Only the driver was injured in that incident.

#6: Mortars hit the International Zone(IZ) in downtown Baghdad. No casualties reported.

#7: The Iraqi army killed six suspected militants and arrested 48 others in operations in different parts of Iraq over the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said.

#8: A roadside bomb detonated in Adel neighborhood(west Baghdad). One person was injured.

#9: Mortars hit Ghazaliyah neighborhood. A petrol station got fire by one of the mortar shells.

#10: Gunmen opened fire on an army patrol. 2 soldiers were killed and another one was wounded.

#12: Police found 2 dead bodies in Baghdad. 1was in Sleikh(north Baghdad) and 1 was found in Mansour(west Baghdad)


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Meanwhile the death toll in Sunday's suicide bombing west of Baghdad had risen to 25, Arab media reports said Monday. Initial reports had put the figure at 21 dead. In addition, 30 people were wounded when the attacker detonated his explosives vest during a banquet thrown by a family celebrating a relative's release from prison, a police source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency. The attack took place in the Abu Ghraib district, 30 kilometres west of Baghdad.


Mussayab:
#1: A roadside bomb was planted near the house of Basim Mohammed, a Lieutenant-Colonel of the government facilities guard force, killing his daughter and wounding two sons on Sunday in Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Tikrit:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a convoy carrying Major-General Hamad Namis Yasin, the police chief of Salahuddin province, wounding six of his guards in central Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Shirqat:
#1: A roadside bomb killed two bystanders in the town of Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a man working as a guard for the dean of Mosul University in a drive-by shooting in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

"Unknown gunmen in a vehicle opened fire at a bodyguard of Mosul University President Abi Saeed al-Dayouji near his home in al-Muthanna intersection, eastern Mosul," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#2: Meanwhile, the same source said an armed group last night kidnapped an engineer working for the Ninewa Sewage Department near his home in the area of al-Baladiyat, northern Mosul.

#3: A police officer was killed by unidentified gunmen fire in northern Mosul on Monday, a security source in Ninewa said. "Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a police officer in the rank of captain while on duty in al-Majmoua al-Thaqafiya area, northern Mosul city, killing him instantly and escaping to an unknown place," the source, who preferred not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Tal Afar:
#1: Five civilians were injured on Monday when an explosive charge went off in western Mosul, a police source said. “An explosive charge went off automatically in Hassan Kewi region in Talafar in western Mosul, injuring five civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. He gave no more details.



Afghanistan:
#1: Six Canadian soldiers and two journalists have had a close call in Afghanistan. The group was returning to Kandahar Airfield from nearby Panjwaii District yesterday when their armoured vehicle struck an roadside bomb. Four soldiers and National Post reporter Scott Deveau were airlifted to hospital. Deveau was treated and released, while the soldiers suffered more serious but not life-threatening injuries.

#2: Karachi, Two Afghanistan-bound armoured vehicles of NATO forces were damaged here when a group of people torched a parked trailer transporting them, the Dawn newspaper Monday said. Quoting witnesses, Dawn said that 30-35 men, some of them armed, set fire to the trailer when its driver and cleaner were having dinner at a nearby restaurant. The attackers also fired in the air. However, a police officer told the newspaper that no firing took place.

Gunmen set fire to two armoured personal carriers (APCs) headed to US forces in Afghanistan from Karachi, police said on Monday. A lorry carrying the APCs was stationed at Karachi’s port since August 18 due to a truckers’ strike on fuel costs. "They were armed and about two dozen of them. They first fired and then burned the two APCs," a police official said.

#3: A U.S.-led Coalition helicopter made a precautionary landing in the Sabari district of eastern Afghanistan's Khost province Monday morning but caused no injuries to the pilot, said a Coalition statement. "The helicopter was preparing to attack an enemy mortar site near the center of Sabari district when a tail rotor blade struck the ground," the statement said. The helicopter, according to the statement, has minor damage while the pilot successfully landed the aircraft with no injuries.

#4: Militants used rockets and a bomb to attack the family home of a lawmaker in Pakistan's volatile northwest early Monday, killing eight people including the politician's brother, police said. The militants targeted the Swat Valley residence of provincial lawmaker Waqar Ahmed Khan of the ruling Awami National Party. Khan said his brother, two nephews and several guards died in the attack on the compound, which belongs to him and his extended family.


Casualty Reports:

Jonathan Ryall, 27, is now on his way back to Texas for surgery. His parents tell us he was near a bomb in Southern Afghanistan when it exploded on Friday. Ryall suffered burns and fractures on his face and a broken nose and arm. His father says he is awake. But he cannot talk because of breathing tubes.

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