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, November 6, 2009

War News for Friday, November 06, 2009

The British Mod is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an explosion near Sangin,Helmand province, Afghanistan on Thursday, November 5th.

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of two American ISAF service members in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, November 5th.


Reviews Raise Doubt on Training of Afghan Forces:

Taliban successfully attacking U.S. armored vehicles in Afghanistan:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted civilians in Iskan neighbourhood in central Baghdad, Thursday, injuring two.

#2: A roadside bomb went off in Khadhraa neighbourhood, western Baghdad, Thursday, injuring two policemen and one civilian.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A barber was killed in an armed attack in east of Baaquba city, a security source said on Friday. “A suspected al-Qaeda armed group killed on Thursday (Nov. 5) Ahmad Shawqi, a barber, in al-Saadiya district in Khanaqin, east of Baaquba,”


Hilla:
#1: Fourteen people were wounded in an unidentified blast in central al-Hilla city on Thursday, according to a security source. “A blast whose causes are yet to be identified occurred on al-Maktabat street, central Hilla, leaving 14 persons wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: Police forces managed on Friday to defuse a bomb in western Kut, a security source said.
“Bomb squad managed on Friday morning (Nov. 6) to defuse a bomb at the inlet of al-Ahrar neighborhood in western Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The local-made bomb was targeting Iraqi and U.S. troops on their way to the Delta base in western Kut,” he added.


Kirkuk:
#1: A security force killed the chief of a gang of kidnappers, arrested three of its members and freed two students taken hostage in a security operation north of Kirkuk city. “The operation took place at Shwan district, (30 km) north of Kirkuk,” General Jamal Tahir, the Kirkuk police director, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Thursday. He said that the gang’s head is an Iraqi army captain.

#2: One Sahwa (Awakening) fighter was killed in southwest of Kirkuk by unknown gunmen, a senior police officer said on Friday. “Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Mohammad Ibrahim Ahmad, a Sahwa element, in front of his house in al-Rashad district, southwest of Kirkuk, late Thursday (Nov. 5),”


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Policemen captured two gunmen while attempting to emplace an improvised explosive device (IED) off the house of an official in the city of al-Falluja on Thursday, a local security source said. “Intelligence personnel from the city’s police department arrested the two gunmen while planting an IED in front of the house of an official in Falluja.

#2: A civilian man was killed and two others wounded when two synchronized blasts went off near a mosque in central al-Ramadi city on Thursday, a police source said. “A sticky improvised explosive device (IED) attached to a vehicle went off on Thursday near Abul-Jalil mosque in al-Andalus neighborhood, central Ramadi, followed by another one 10 minutes later, leaving one civilian man killed and two others wounded.

A magnetic bomb stuck to the car of an officer in the investigations department of the city of Ramadi detonated in central Ramadi at 8.30 p.m. Thursday, killing the officer. People ran to the site of the explosion to give what assistance they may when another bomb exploded killing two civilians and injuring six including civilians and policemen.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The military said Friday that its forces had stormed into yet another Taliban stronghold and killed 24 militants during a major ground and air offensive about to enter its fourth week. ‘Today, security forces have entered Makin. A large part of the town has been cleared while a clearance operation is continuing in the remaining part,’ the military said in a statement. It added that 21 militants had been killed so far around Makin and three others in Sararogha, which shot to local infamy as the operational centre of Mehsud before he was killed on August 5.

#2: Gunmen on a motorbike on Friday wounded an army brigadier and soldier in Islamabad before escaping in the third such attack in two weeks, officials said. The officer and a soldier were shot while travelling in a jeep through the I-8 residential neighbourhood, police officer Mohammad Azhar told media. "Two gunmen riding on a motorbike opened fire on the jeep. Two people in the jeep were wounded.

#3: Two suspected militants were killed in a clash with policemen in Pakistan's northwest on Friday, police said. Two policemen were also injured in exchange of fire in Balakot, a town in North West Frontier Province, police office Sajjad Khan said. Khan said that the police signaled a car to stop and as the car stopped, the militants inside opened fire at the police. The police also returned fire and killed both militants, he said.

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