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


Wednesday, March 3, 2010

War News for Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Iraq: US logistics unit to train and assist Kurdish Peshmerga militias:

Critics hit Afghan ban on live attack reports: U.S. media groups, government call measure censorship

US to deliver laser-guided bomb kits to Pakistan:

36,000 Taliban fighters operational in Afghanistan: General Barrons:

Pakistan secures last Taliban redoubt in Bajaur region:

Taliban, not drugs, focus of US-Afghan offensive:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One soldier was killed and four others were wounded in an improvised explosive device blast in northern Baghdad, a police source said on Wednesday. “The bomb went off targeting an army vehicle patrol in Sabaa al-Bour region in al-Taji district, northern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The explosion killed a soldier and injured four, including a civilian, and damaged one of the patrol’s vehicles,” he added, without giving further details.

#2: Two civilians were wounded on Wednesday by a roadside bomb explosion in western Baghdad, a police source said.“An explosive charge was detonated on Wednesday in al-Muwasalat neighborhood in western Baghdad, injuring two civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: An improvised explosive device went off near a U.S. convoy in southern Baghdad, damaging a Hummer, a police source said on Wednesday. “An improvised explosive device went off near a U.S. convoy in al-Mekanik street in al-Doura neighborhood, southern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The explosion caused material damage to a Hummer,” he explained. No comment was immediately available from the U.S. army.

#4: Two people were wounded by a roadside bomb in the southern Ilaam district of Baghdad, police said


Diyala Prv:
#1-3: A string of three deadly suicide bombings killed 30 people in the former insurgent stronghold of Baqouba on Wednesday, including a blast from a suicide bomber who rode in an ambulance with the wounded before blowing himself up at a hospital, police said. A police spokesman in the volatile Diyala province, Capt. Ghalib al-Karkhi, said the blasts struck in quick succession in Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, and also wounded 48 people.

#1: First, a suicide car bomb targeted a local government housing office next to an Iraqi Army facility.

#2: Within minutes, another suicide bomber blew up a vehicle about 200 yards (meters) down the street from the first blast at an intersection near the provincial government headquarters where many police and army personnel were located, al-Karkhi said.

#3: A third suicide bomber, wearing an explosives vest, rode in an ambulance with the wounded to the city's emergency hospital and blew himself up as rescuers and victims from the first two blasts were being rushed in for treatment, he added.


Basra:
#1: Eight students were wounded in a hand grenade explosion in central Basra, a security source said on Tuesday. “Unknown gunmen threw a hand grenade on a cafĂ© in Um Broum region in central Basra late Monday (March 1), injuring eight students lightly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near the convoy of a police lieutenant-colonel, wounding two of his guards in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: One gunman was killed on Tuesday while making an explosive charge in west of Kirkuk, according to the Kirkuk Districts’ Police Department (KDPD) chief. “The gunman was seriously injured when the bomb he was trying to make exploded inside his house in a village in al-Zab district, west of Kirkuk,” Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “He died before the arrival of the police,” he added, noting that the police found a number of bombs inside his house.

#2: A man and his wife were stabbed to death by unknown gunmen in southwest of Kirkuk, a police source said on Wednesday. “They were killed by unidentified armed men inside their house in central al-Debs district in southwest of Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: One woman and her son were wounded on Tuesday in a hand grenade explosion in western Mosul, according to a police source. “The hand grenade, targeting a U.S. vehicle patrol in al-Shefaa neighborhood, western Mosul, went off, injuring the woman and her son,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: One policeman was killed by a sticky bomb explosion in eastern Mosul, a police source said on Wednesday. “A bomb, stuck to a policeman’s vehicle, went off in al-Hamadaniya district in eastern Mosul, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The military said Wednesday that a supplier of suicide jackets and explosives who operated a key inter-city network had been killed during a gun battle with soldiers. “Two important terrorist commanders named Mohammad Tufail alias Abdullah and Mohammad Iqbal were killed by security forces in an exchange of fire,” the military announced overnight in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The gun battle happened late Monday on the outskirts of Peshawar, a military spokesman told AFP.

#2: A Pakistani soldier was killed and one wounded when Taliban militants opened fire at a security checkpost in the Laddah area of the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Wednesday, intelligence officials said.

#3: Two students were killed and about a dozen wounded when a bomb exploded at a musical show on a university campus in Khuzdar city, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, late on Tuesday, police said


MoD: Rifleman Carlo Apolis

DoD: Spc. Ian T.D. Gelig

DoD: Spc. Josiah D. Crumpler

DoD: Spc. Matthew D. Huston

DoD: Lance Cpl. Carlos A. Aragon

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