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, November 4, 2008

War News for Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Oct. 31 airpower summary:

Nov. 1 airpower summary:

Nov. 2 airpower summary:

Commuter rail trains running in Baghdad to relieve traffic jams:

Mideast weather roundup:

Twin bombs wound 73 in Muslim southern Thailand:

Afghan officials aided July attack on U.S. soldiers:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen killed one policeman and wounded three others when they opened fire in the Ghadir district of eastern Baghdad, police said.

#2: A policeman was wounded when a bomb, which had been planted on his car, exploded, also wounding his two children in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, police said.

“An IED attached to the vehicle of the Baghdad police chief’s secretary, Maj. Ali Jameel, went off today, wounding him, one of his escorts and a civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq, adding the explosion also caused severe damage to the vehicle. Earlier, an Iraqi police source said three civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device ripped through central Baghdad in the morning.

#3: A bomb planted on a car killed one person and wounded five others in the Karrada district of central Baghdad, police said.

#4: In the first blast, seven people were killed and 18 were wounded around noon at a car park in the al-Mashtal area of eastern Baghdad.

Police say a bomb hidden under a car has exploded at a bus station in Baghdad, killing three people and wounding six others. A security official says one woman was among those killed in the attack in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Mashtal of the Iraqi capital.

#5: Later four people were killed and eight were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in the al-Qahira district of northern Baghdad, police said.

#6: Also Tuesday, one person died when a roadside bomb targeted the convoy of a Shiite government official and former member of the Iraqi Governing Council in central Baghdad. Ahmed Shiyaa al-Barak, who currently serves as the head of a government real estate commission, escaped the attack without injury. Five of his guards and four bystanders were injured in the bombing, police said.

#7: Around 12 p.m. an adhesive bomb that was stuck to a civilian car detonated near Ibn al Haitham hospital in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad. No casualties reported. The car was damaged.

#8: Around 12:15 p.m. a civilian was killed and five others were injured in al Sinaa Street in downtown Baghdad by an adhesive bomb that was stuck to a civilian car that belonged to a policeman.

#9: One bystander was killed and three were wounded in a shootout between Iraqi soldiers and gunmen in Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood near a memorial ceremony for anniversary of the death of a Shi'ite cleric, Baghdad security spokesman Qassim Moussawi said.


Tikrit:
#1: Two Iraqi civilians were killed following a traffic accient involving the U.S. military near Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

Elsewhere, the US military said one civilian died on the scene of a road accident with coalition troops near the city of Tikrit, 130km north of the capital. A second Iraqi died after being rushed to an aid station. Iraqi police said an American Humvee ran over four Iraqis while they were trying to hang a banner in the middle of a road, killing two and wounding two others.


Kirkuk:
#1: Iraqi security forces on Tuesday defused six missile launch pads in southwestern Kirkuk, a police source said. “Police forces defuse six missile launching pads in Wahed Huzayran region in southwestern Kirkuk after receiving a tip-off on their presence in the region,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq. “The operation ended without casualties,” he added.

#2: Around 11 a.m. a roadside bomb blew up near one of the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's party in the Nasr area in downtown Kirkuk. No casualties were reported.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed one man, wounding two of his brothers, on Monday in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A patrol of the Iraqi army found two unidentified bodies in al Sehaji area in west Mosul city. The bodies were shot in the head and the chest.

#2: In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a passing police patrol, injuring four officers, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb struck an army patrol, injuring an officer,

#4: and a policeman was injured when an unknown gunman opened fire on him.

One police officer on Tuesday was wounded when he came under armed men’s gunfire, according to a source from Ninewa police. “Unknown gunmen opened fire today targeting a lieutenant of the emergency police contingent while he was on vacation,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq. “The officer was wounded in the head. The gunmen escaped to an unknown place,” he said.

#5: Gunmen shot dead a policeman in western Mosul, police said.

#6: Five civilians were wounded by a roadside bomb attack in northern Mosul, police said.

#7: Gunmen shot dead a civilian in a drive-by in eastern Mosul, police said.

#8: Gunmen killed a civilian in a drive-by shooting in northern Mosul, police said.

#9: Two bodies were found in two different parts of Mosul, police said.

#10: One civilian was killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb targeting an Iraq Army patrol in eastern Mosul, police said.

#11: Gunmen killed an off-duty police officer in a drive-by shooting in eastern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: The deputy intelligence chief in Afghanistan's Kandahar province has been shot dead, authorities said Tuesday. Azizullah, who like many Afghans went by one name, was shot at 6 p.m. (0630 GMT) Monday by gunmen on a motorbike in the city of Kandahar, capital of the province of the same name, said Abdul Qayoom Katawazi, head of intelligence in Kandahar. The province's police chief, Matiullah Qaneh, said Azizullah was killed while going home from his office.

#2: A suicide bomber killed a Pakistani soldier and wounded nine Tuesday, highlighting the growing militant threat a day after the top U.S. commander in the region held security talks with Pakistani leaders. The attack on a paramilitary post in the northwestern town of Doaba was the latest in an intensifying campaign by Islamist militants that has raised fears for Pakistan, a nuclear-armed U.S. ally also facing an economic crisis. Doaba police official Omar Faraz Khattack said initially the soldiers were wounded: "One of them died on the way to hospital and one is seriously wounded."

#3: Warplanes hit militant positions in the Bajaur region on Tuesday but there was no word on casualties, a military official said.

#4: Two rockets landed near the runway at the airport in the northwestern city of Peshawar late Monday but caused no damage.

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