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, January 29, 2010

War News for Friday, January 29, 2010

The Tuscaloosa News is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division-South soldier in a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location in Iraq on Thursday, January 28th.

NATO is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, January 28th.


2 Indian army soldiers killed in rebel attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir:

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair faces grilling on support for Iraq invasion:

Taliban's leadership council organises and runs Afghan war from Pakistan:

Taliban say no decision yet on Karzai offer of talks:

War Plan for Karzai: Reach Out to Taliban:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Unknown gunmen shot and killed a mosque’s Imam on Thursday in western Baghdad, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on Sheikh Ahmad Saadon, Imam of al-Adl neighborhood’s mosque in western Baghdad, on Thursday afternoon (Jan. 28), killing him on the spot,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: One policeman was wounded on Thursday in an armed attack in southeastern Baghdad, according to a security source. “Unknown gunman opened fire on a police vehicle patrol in al-Wehda neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, injuring a policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Four Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Friday in an improvised explosive device explosion in northern Baghdad, according to a police source. “An explosive device went off on Friday afternoon (Jan. 29) on the public road in al-Suliekh neighborhood in northern Baghdad, targeting an army vehicle patrol, injuring four servicemen and damaging one of the patrol’s vehicles,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Two civilians were lightly injured when a roadside bomb went off near a house in a village in Diyala province, the source said.

#2: In a third attack, also in Diyala, a woman and a man were wounded after being shot by gunmen.


Mosul:
#1: Two Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Friday by gunmen in western Mosul, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on an army’s checkpoint in 17 Tamouz neighborhood in western Mosul on Friday morning (Jan. 29), injuring two soldiers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb in northwest Pakistan destroyed a truck carrying oil to NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan on Friday. No one was wounded in the attack on the supply truck in the fabled Khyber Pass, government official Javed Khan said. Friday's attack on the Shiite Muslim Pakistanis in Baluchistan province appeared to be sectarian-driven.

#2: gunmen elsewhere in the country killed three Shiite Muslims on their way to visit holy sites in Iraq. Local police official Mohammad Ayaz said the group of travelers had come to Quetta city from the southern city of Karachi, and had hoped to travel across Iran to Iraq. The group was waiting in a bus Friday afternoon when the gunmen appeared on motorbikes and opened fire.
Two men and one woman were killed, while three other people were wounded, Ayaz said.

#3: Afghan troops backed by NATO attack helicopters battled Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests who launched an assault Friday in the heart of a major city in southern Afghanistan, witnesses and officials said. The gunbattle in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, occurred nearly two weeks after a similar assault in the Afghan capital of Kabul. Provincial officials said two attackers blew themselves up and one Afghan soldier was wounded in the fighting, which began about 10 a.m. when the insurgents opened fire from a building under construction near an army barracks.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, saying the Taliban had dispatched a team of seven men armed with suicide vests and machine guns to attack the local branch of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan and a guesthouse used by government officials in the city. Ahmadi said 20 foreigners had been killed and wounded, but NATO said the Afghan troops backed by attack helicopters had contained the gunmen in a vacant, four-story building and no casualties were reported on the pro-government side. Sporadic fighting continued as Afghan troops searched for the other militants. Police officials said they believed five or six militants were holed up inside the building but at least two had blown themselves up. Deputy provincial police chief Kamal Uddin said no civilian casualties had been reported and residents in the area were safe.

#4: Pakistani Taliban shot dead a tribesman they accused of spying for the United States, in North Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border and a militant hotbed, security officials said.

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