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, September 12, 2008

War News for Friday, September 12, 2008

CJTF - 101 is reporting the death of a U.S.-led coalition soldier while conducting combat operations in an eastern province of Afghanistan on Thursday, September 11th. No other details were released.


Sept. 10 airpower summary:

NATO ready to train Iraqi forces:

NOAM CHOMSKY: Towards a Second Cold War?

Floods kill at least three, cause major damage in northern Iraq:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Iraqi and U.S. forces killed two people northeast of Baghdad they said were al Qaeda militants, and detained two men they suspect of plotting bomb attacks in the Tigris river valley in operations on Thursday and Friday, the U.S. military said.

#2: Thursday One civilian was killed and three other wounded in a car bombing explosion in southern Baghdad suburb, a police source said."A car bomb blew up on the road between al-Doura district and al-Rasheed grocery market, south Baghdad," a police source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#3: Thursday Police found one dead body in Al Talbiyah neighborhood in Baghdad.

#4: Five civilians were injured by an adhesive bomb that was stuck to a civilian car. The bomb exploded when the car reached a checkpoint of the Iraqi army in Mansour neighborhood in west Baghdad around 2:00 p.m.

#5: "Unidentified gunmen hurled a hand-grenade at a house in al-Jihad neighborhood during the iftar (fast-breaking meal in Ramadan) time, leaving 13 residents wounded and causing severe damage to the building," a police source, who preferred not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#6: In another incident, the same source said, an IED went off near a house in al-Benouk neighborhood, northeastern Baghdad. The explosion left no casualties but severely damaged three civilian vehicles parked in front of the house, he added.

#7: Around 5:00 an adhesive bomb that was stuck to a car exploded in Bonouk neighborhood in east Baghdad. Two cars were destroyed in the explosion.

#8: Police found one un identified body in Ur neighborhood.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: Four decomposed bodies were found in area southwest of Baquba, about 65 km (42 miles) northeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday, the U.S. military said in a statement. The bodies were of two girls and two Iraqi soldiers.


Haswa:
#1: A body of a woman was found with stab wounds on Thursday inside her house in Haswa, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Mussayab:
#1: Gunmen wounded a boy in a drive-by shooting on Thursday in Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Dujail:
#1: A car bomb ripped through a crowded commercial district in a mainly Shiite town north of Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 32 people and wounding 43, Iraqi officials said. The explosion in Dujail was apparently targeting a police station but instead it badly damaged a nearby medical clinic, according to police. Concrete barriers largely protected the police station, the officials said.


Mosul:
#1: Extremists in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed three members of the same family, the US military reported on Friday. According to the report, a mother, father and son were shot dead on Thursday in their home.

#2: A booby-trapped car exploded near a police patrol at the cultural group area north of Mosul, killing two.

#3: An Iraqi soldier was injured on Friday in a roadside bomb blast in northern Mosul, an Iraqi army source said. “An improvised explosive device went off targeting an Iraqi army patrol in al-Rashiediya neighborhood in northern Mosul, injuring a solider,” the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#4: At least three civilians were killed and 15 others were wounded in a suicide bombing attack in west of Mosul, a police source said. “A suicide bomber blew an explosive belt strapped to his body among a gathering of prayers near a Shiite mosque in Sinjar district, west of Mosul, killing three civilians and injuring 15,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq on condition of anonymity.



Afghanistan:
#1: Fourteen people were killed in the northwestern Pakistani region of North Waziristan on Friday in a missile attack by a pilotless U.S. aircraft on suspected militants near the Afghan border, security officials said. The strike, near the town of Miranshah, was the first since a recent surge in tension between Pakistan and the United States over how to tackle the Taliban and al Qaeda on the Pakistani side of the border.

#2: Hours after Friday's missile strike, a roadside bomb hit a security convoy in a nearby village, seriously wounding two soldiers. Soldiers in the convoy opened fire after the blast, wounding four civilians, residents said.

#3: U.S.-led coalition troops killed more than 10 militants and detained two others during two separate raids in Afghanistan, the coalition said Friday. The militants were killed in Tagab district of northern Kapisa province during a Thursday raid on an insurgent commander involved in roadside bomb attacks, the coalition said in a statetement. "Coalition forces were engaged with small-arms fire from multiple groups of armed militants as they entered a compound. The force returned fire, killing the militants," the statement said.

#4: Taliban insurgents ambushed a U.S. security firm convoy in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday, killing four guards and four civilians, a provincial official said, the second attack on the firm in as many days. The convoy was passing through Bakwa district in Farah province when militants opened fire with heavy machine guns, setting alight four vehicles, the official said.

#5: Another convoy of the security firm was attacked on Thursday in Kandahar and two people were killed


Casualty Reports:

B.J. Jackson lost the bottom half of both legs and was badly burned after his vehicle ran over a landmine, triggering a firefight with insurgents in 2003. Jackson’s injuries left him barely able to talk. He spent months in San Antonio’s Brooke Army Medical Center.

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