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, September 8, 2008

War News for Monday, September 08, 2008

The Canadian DND is reporting the death of a Canadian ISAF soldier during an IED attack in the Panjwayii District, Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Sunday, September 7th. Seven additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.

The Netherlands Defensia is reporting the death of a Dutch ISAF soldier in an IED attack three kilometres north of the patrol base Qudus about 19 kilometers north of Tarin Kowt, southern Afghanistan on Sunday, September 7th. Five additional soldiers were wounded in this attack.

Cholera kills 8 in Iraq's Babil province:

Three Indonesian Migrant Workers Tortured in Iraq:

Three Turkish soldiers, three village guards killed in clash with PKK:

Human rights group condemns U.S., NATO air strikes in Afghanistan:

Pakistan threatens to retaliate against US:

Iran slams US for Iraq claims:

Russia says to send battleship to Caribbean Sea:

Russia will send a nuclear-powered battleship to the Caribbean for a joint naval exercise with Venezuela, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

13 people killed in fresh southern Philippines fighting:

Giant sleeping Buddha unearthed in Afghanistan:

Harrowing video film backs Afghan villagers' claims of carnage caused by US troops: (you can see the video here)


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded two others including a policeman when it targeted a police patrol in Karrada district, central Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen wounded three women and a man when they opened fire on their pick-up truck in the district of New Baghdad, in eastern Baghdad, police said.

Separately, gunmen opened fire on a truck carrying employees of the Iraqi Trade Ministry, wounding three women employees and their driver, he said.

#3: A roadside bomb wounded 11 people in Palestine street, eastern Baghdad, police said.

#4: In central Baghdad, bodyguards in convoy of Iraqi minister of Displacement and Migration, opened fire for unknown reason on civilian cars in a crowded street in the Alawi area, killing a woman and wounding six people, the source told Xinhua on condition anonymity. The source could not tell whether the minister Abdul Samad Rahman was in the convoy, as the convoy did not stop and left the scene. The ministry has no immediate comment on the incident.

#5: Two policemen were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near their patrol in eastern Baghdad on Monday morning, a security source said. "An IED planted by unidentified gunmen on the main road near the Qanat al-Jaysh project in the eastern Baghdad intersection of al-Rasafa when an Iraqi police patrol was passing by, leaving two patrol men injured," the source, who preferred not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#6: Sunday: Police found three dead bodies in Baghdad today : two in east Baghdad( Risafa bank); one on Palestine street, one in the Tigris river at Sinak Bridge in central Baghdad and one in Amil neighborhood in west Baghdad in Karkh bank.

#7: The Iraqi army killed one gunman and arrested 32 others in the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

#8: Two civilians were injured by an adhesive bomb that was attached to a vehicle of the emergency battalion in Palestine Street around 2:00 p.m.

#9: Gunmen threw a grenade towards a sedan car in Qahtan intersection in west Baghdad injuring two civilians who were in the car.

#10: Police found one unidentified body in Sadr city.


Diyala Prv:
Muqdadiya:
#1: Militants kidnapped the leader of a neighbourhood patrol unit near the town of Muqdadiya in an early morning raid on his house, the army said. An army source said three Iraqi soldiers were then wounded by a roadside bomb as they drove in pursuit of the kidnappers.

Baquba:
#1: A roadside bomb killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded four others when it struck their patrol just south of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A physician was accidentally killed by U.S. forces in central Baaquba district on Monday, a police source in Diala said."The U.S. forces accidentally killed Dr. Abdul-Salam al-Shimari, the chief internist in the Baaquba Public Hospital, in the central part of the city," the source, who declined to have his name published, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. "Shimari was driving his vehicle when U.S. forces opened fire at him while he was heading towards the hospital, killing him instantly," the source added.


Qaiyara:
#1: An explosives-laden pick-up truck wounded an Iraqi army officer and three civilians, including a child, when it blew up on Sunday in Qaiyara, 290 km (180 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement.


Tikrit:
#1: A roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded another when it struck their patrol in central Tikrit on Sunday, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Baiji:
#1: Two people were killed and four others were injured when a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint in Biji city north of Tikrit city around 4:30 p.m.


Kirkuk:
#1: A civil servant who works for the Iraqi North Oil Company (NOC) was kidnapped by an armed group, southwestern Kirkuk, manager of the province's suburbs and districts police said on Monday."An unknown armed group today kidnapped an employee, who works for the NOC, from in front of his house in al-Wassiti neighborhood, southwestern Kirkuk city," Brigadier Sarhad Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. "The victim is Mohammed Kamal Ahmed, son of Colonel Kamal Ahmed, who works at the administrative affairs department in Kirkuk traffic directorate," he said.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi policeman was killed and four civilians were injured Monday in a car bomb explosion in the city of Mosul, the capital of Ninevh province, a provincial police source said. "A booby-trapped car parked near a police checkpoint and a popular market in the Bab Sinjar neighborhood in western Mosul, detonated shortly before midday, killing a policeman and wounding four civilians," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: A parked car bomb wounded two policemen in northern Mosul, police said.

#3: Police recovered bodies of two children and one woman from the debris of an explosion on Sunday, after militants accidentally set off a bomb while trying to plant it in a car in southeastern Mosul, police said.

#4: Gunmen killed an Iraqi army officer in a drive-by shooting just outside a mosque in northern Mosul, police said.

#5: A body of a policeman was found shot dead in central Mosul, police said.

#6: Gunmen opened fire upon the house of the deputy of Mosul governor Khisro Koran (Kurdish politician from the PDK Party) in al Faisaliyah neighborhood in east Mosul city. No casualties were reported.

#7: A member of Rabi’a Sahwa council in of west of Mosul was injured by an adhesive bomb that was attached to his car on Sunday evening.

#8: Policemen opened fire upon a suicide car bomber who tried to attack a police check point in Um al Rabiain area west of Mosul city around 1:00 p.m.

#9: On Sunday evening; a parked car bomb exploded in Qaiyara area south of Mosul targeting the commander of Hammam al Aleel training camp Colonel Yaseen Majeed. Majeed was injured with another two companions.

#10: Two policemen were injured by an IED in Dorat al Yarmouk neighborhood in Mosul city on Sunday evening.


Al Anbar Prv:
Karmah:
#1: Gunmen riding in a Kia sedan car kidnapped four Sahwa members at a check point in Karma, east Falluja on Saturday night. Three were found dead; one is still missing.



Afghanistan:
#1: A roadside blast in southern Afghanistan killed six civilians Monday, and a Canadian soldier died in another explosion in the same region, officials said. The six civilians, including a woman and a child, died when their private vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Naw Bahar district of Zabul province, said district chief Zarif Khan. Two other civilians were wounded in the explosion.

#2: Missiles fired by U.S. drones killed 13 people, including 7 foreign militants, on Monday in a Pakistani village where a religious school founded by an old friend of Osama bin Laden is located, intelligence officials and witnesses said. "There were two drones and they fired three missiles," said a resident of Dandi Darpakheil, a village in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border. A military official said a house and madrasa founded by Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani were the targets. Haqqani is a veteran commander of the U.S.-backed Afghan war against Soviet invasion in the 1970s and 1980s, and his links with bin Laden go back to the late 80s. An intelligence official said six civilians and seven foreign militants had been killed in the attack but the nationality of the foreigners could not immediately be established.

A relative of Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani was among three people killed in a suspected U.S. drone attack in a Pakistani border village on Monday, but Haqqani and his militant son, Sirajuddin, were not present, a younger son said. "Haqqani and Sirajuddin were in Afghanistan at the time of the attack. They are alive," Badruddin, the third son of Haqqani, told Reuters by telephone. Badruddin said one of his aunts was killed in the attack, and women and children were among the wounded.

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