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


Monday, October 18, 2010

War News for Monday, October 18, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 16th.

NATO is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 16th.


Swedish soldier killed in Afghanistan

Saadi killed after uncovering corruption cases - Baghdad Council Member

Pentagon braces for release of 400,000 Iraq files on Wikileaks


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying a member of Baghdad's local government, killing him and wounding eight people on Monday, a spokesman for Baghdad's Provincial Council said. The Council's spokesman, Mohammed Hashim, said the politician, Jassim al-Saiedi, was heading to work Monday morning when a bomb detonated in central Baghdad at 8:15 a.m. local time. Hashim said three of al-Saiedi's guards and five bystanders were wounded in the attack which occurred in Baghdad's al-Nahda area.

#2: A mortar struck near the "14th of July" suspension bridge in Baghdad's center Monday morning wounding two more (people), the interior ministry said. The bridge connects eastern Baghdad with the Green Zone and spans the Tigris River.

#3: An Iraqi civilian has been killed and another injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in northern Baghdad’s Kafa’at District on Monday, a security source said. “An IED, stuck to a civilian car, blew up in northern Baghdad’s Kafaat District early on Monday, killing a civilian and wounding another,” he added, without giving further details.

#4: Gunmen trying to rob several jewellery stores in Baghdad exchanged fire with security forces in a firefight that killed three shop owners, an Interior Ministry source said. Two attackers and two policemen were also killed, the source added.


Muthanna Prv:
#1: The Commander of the U.S. troops in Imam Ali air base in southern Iraq’s Muthanna Province has announced on Monday that a mechanical fault had set fire to a U.S. Humvee Army vehicle on the main highway connecting Samawa with Nassiriya cities. “A mechanical fault has caused the burning of the vehiclce that was among a U.S. Army patrol east of Samawa,” he said, denying that any assault had taken place against the patrol. He added that no human casualties occured due to the incident. Eyewitnesses had said on Sunday that a U.S. vehicle had become target for an unknown reason on the main highway between Samawa and Nassiriya, causing it to set on fire, adding that U.S. troops were seen closing the highway after the incident.


Mosul:
#1: A group of unknown armed men opened fire on an old man in his home in northern Iraq’s Mosul city, killing him on the spot, a Ninewa police source said on Monday. “An old civilian man was killed when a group of armed men broke into his house in western Mosul’s Nablus district and opened fire on him using pistols,” the police source said.

#2: A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol and wounded four policemen in southern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Gunmen killed nine Afghan workers who were guarding a NATO supply convoy in the south of the country, police said Monday. The attack in Gereshk district happened on Sunday night, said the deputy police chief for Helmand province, Kamaluddin Khan.

#2-3: Separately, airstrikes by international coalition forces killed up to 14 suspected insurgents. An airstrike in northern Baghlan province reportedly killed around 10 people Sunday, a NATO statement said. It had targeted a leader accused of planting bombs and supplying cash and weapons to Taliban leadership in the area. However, NATO was not able to confirm the number of casualties because neither international or Afghan soldiers could get to the area.

#3: Another airstrike in southern Nimroz province killed four fighters who were planting a bomb, said provincial police chief Abdul Jabar Pardeli. A Taliban commander was among those killed by Sunday night's strike, he said.

#4: Unknown assailants torched three tanker carrying fuel for Nato forces in Afghanistan on Monday in district Kalat and Quetta of Balochistan. According to police, unknown assailants fired at a NATO tanker at Western Bypass in Akhterabad, gutting the vehicle in an inferno. However the driver and cleaner survived miraculously. According to witnesses, the assailants were on motorbikes and fled the scene after the attack.

#5: In another incident unknown assailants first disembarked the driver and cleaner and than torched two NATO oil tankers and fled in district Kalat. No loss of life was reported in the two incidents.

#6: Three civilians were killed and five wounded in a bomb blast in western Afghanistan on Monday, local officials told media. A spokesman for the provincial police chief of Herat, the capital of Herat province, said the explosion occurred even as police were trying to defuse the bomb planted underneath a bridge there. An Interior Ministry statement said explosives experts had been called in after the police discovered the bomb early on Monday. It said the bomb had been planted by "enemies of the Afghan government," an euphemism used to refer to Taliban militants. A policeman also sustained injuries in the powerful explosion.

#7: Tribesmen clashed with Taliban militants in northwestern Kurram on the Afghan border. Two militants died and their hideouts set ablaze, a government official in the region said. There was no independent confirmation of the event.

#8: A suicide car bomber attacked a checkpost in the northwestern Lakki Marwat after security forces opened fire on him, wounding three passers-by, police said.

#9: A detainee being held by troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was found dead in his holding cell in southern Afghanistan, ISAF said in a statement. The man was captured during a military operation on Saturday and was found dead the following day in his cell in Kandahar province, it said. It did not give any further details and said an investigation was under way.


DoD: Lance Cpl. James D. Boelk

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