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


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

War News for Tuesday, September 09, 2008

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of three U.S.-led coalition forces soldiers in an eastern province of Afghanistan on Tuesday, September 9th. An Afghani contractor was also killed in the blast. We assume these to be American soldiers.


Stuffed ballots, biased campaign tainted Georgia vote: OSCE (So much for joining NATO...)

Ballot-box stuffing, beatings of opposition activists, biased news coverage and government officials campaigning for President Mikheil Saakashvili's party tainted Georgia's parliamentary elections this year, Europe's main election watchdog said on Tuesday.

Sept. 7 airpower summary:

U.S. Rules Out Unilateral Steps Against Russia:

Military: Sri Lankan jets shoot down rebel plane:

Tamil Tiger rebels attack army base in north:

A Turkish soldier killed in PKK clash in eastern Turkey:

When success is failure in Iraq: (Aisa Times)


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Al-Arabiya television said its bureau chief in the Iraqi capital, Jawad Hattab, escaped a car-bomb attack on Tuesday after his vehicle was booby-trapped. "An explosive device was placed in the car of Al-Arabiya's bureau chief Jawad Hattab near his home in the Al-Salihyah district of central Baghdad," the Dubai-based satellite channel said. The driver found the device but it exploded before police arrived at the scene. Jawad and his driver were unharmed.

#2: Another bomb exploded Tuesday near the home of an Iraqi major general in west Baghdad, injuring him and two civilians, police said.

A military official in the Iraqi cabinet and two of his bodyguards were wounded on Tuesday when a sticky improvised explosive device on his car went off, an Iraqi police source said. "A sticky IED emplaced by unidentified people on the vehicle of Maj. General Hussein Mu'een, who works in the Iraqi cabinet, went off while driving by on al-Kindi street, al-Harithiya area, western Baghdad," the source, who preferred not to have his name published, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted a restaurant in Wahran intersection, Baladiyat, eastern Baghdad, killing one civilian, injuring six people including three policemen.

#4: Two roadside bombs were discovered and detonated under control, without casualties in Zayuna.

#5: A roadside bomb exploded under a coach in Mansour, central Baghdad at 7 p.m. injuring three civilians.

#6: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near Wathiq Square, Karrada at 9 p.m. injuring seven people including five policemen.

#7: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Beirut Square, eastern Baghdad at 9.30 p.m. injuring two civilians.

#8: Two unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad byIraqi police today; one in Shoala and the other in Zafaraniyah.


Mussayab:
#1: Gunmen killed one person and wounded another in a drive-by shooting near Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Suwayra:
#1: Gunmen killed a man in a drive-by shooting near Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.


Kut:
#1: Gunmen killed a man in a drive-by shooting in western Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said


Thi Qar:
#1: An improvised explosive device went off near a U.S. army patrol in central Thi-Qar on Tuesday but left no casualties, the media spokesman for the Thi-Qar police department said."The IED targeted the U.S. patrol near the Engineering College, Thi-Qar University, on the road linking the al-Shyoukk souk (market) and downtown the city, (35 km) south of al-Nassiriya, but left no casualties or loesses," Maj. Hafidh Hassan Marri told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Tarmiyah:
#1: a bomb concealed in a push cart exploded Tuesday at a checkpoint near Tarmiyah north of Baghdad, killing a policeman and two members of a Sunni security group that has turned against al-Qaida.


Daquq:
#1: A roadside bomb killed a man and wounded two others when it exploded near their car in the town of Daquq, 200 km (125 miles) north of Baghdad, on Monday, police said.


Salah a din Prv:
#1: A policeman was shot dead and three more were wounded Tuesday when a roadside bomb exploded in the northern Iraqi province of Salahaddin, US forces said.

"The IED attack in al-Isahaqi, (110 km) north of Baghdad, left one Iraqi policeman killed and three others injured," according to an MNF press release received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed an official from a local aid agency in his office in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Militants shot dead an off-duty policeman outside his house in eastern Mosul, police said.

#3: Police found the body of a man with gunshot wounds in western Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: NATO aircraft targeted a group of Taliban militants who were surrounded by Afghan police forces in southern Afghanistan, killing 15 militants, a provincial police chief said Tuesday. The aerial bombing took place Monday night after local police forces, acting on intelligence information, surrounded a garden in Sozak village outside Tarin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan province, Juma Gul Hemat said. 'Fifteen bodies of the militants, who along with their weapons had been badly torn to pieces, were recovered by the police,' the police chief said.

#2: A NATO bomb missed its target by more than 1 1/2 miles and hit a house Tuesday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding 10 at a time of rising tension between the Afghan government and international troops over the use of airstrikes. NATO said its weapon malfunctioned Tuesday in the eastern Khost province. The bomb's target was a spot used by insurgents to fire rockets.


Casualty Reports:

Army Pfc. Mike DeBolt, 28, was critically injured while serving in Afghanistan last week. Mike received second- and third-degree burns to his face, chest, arms and back after the Humvee he was driving ran over a land mind. He said he wasn't sure if the attack occurred Sept. 3 or 4, but the family was contacted Sept. 4.

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