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, May 17, 2011

War News for Tuesday, May 17, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of four ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, May 16th.


Iraqi Sunni officers increasingly targeted, as Shiite militias fear Baath party return

3 Alaska-based soldiers killed by bomb in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An officer in Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Body had been killed in an attack by silencer-guns west of Baghdad on Tuesday, a security source said. “A group of armed men, using silencer-guns, opened fire on the car of Lt. Brigadier, Jassim Hamid Lazim, in Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Body, in southwest Baghdad’s al-Amil District on Tuesday, killing him on the spot,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: An explosive charge blew off against a U.S. military patrol in Kut city, the center of southern Iraq’s Wassit Province on Tuesday, a Wassit police source said. “An explosive charge blew off against an American military patrol in central Kut on Tuesday, but human and material losses were not known,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the American forces opened random fire after the blast and imposed a security cordon around the venue of the explosion.


Iskandariya:
#1: Two persons were killed in bomb blast in Fadhila (Chastity) Party Headquarters north of Hilla, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that a bomb was put in air cooler exploded in the headquarter of the party in Iskandariyah area, 50 km north of Hilla, which led to the killing of two of the guards.


Hawija:
#1: The Director of Police Administrative Affairs in Hawija township of north Iraq’s Kirkuk Province has escaped an assassination attempt on Monday, a Kirkuk Police Director said. “Lt. Brigadier, Qusay Arif, the Director of Hawija township’s Police Administrative Affairs, 65 km to the southwest of Kirkuk, has escaped an assassination attempt, when an explosive charge blew off under his vehicle southwest of the township on Monday night,” the police director said.


Mosul:
#1: One soldier was killed and a child was wounded following a gunmen attack against a military check point west of Mosul, a security source said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that unknown gunmen attacked a military check point which led to the killing of a soldier and the wounding of a child who was accidentally close to the location of the attack.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A NATO helicopter attacked a Pakistani army post near the Afghan border on Tuesday, injuring two soldiers in an incident that could further increase tensions following the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, Pakistani officials said. A Western military official said the incident started before dawn, when a NATO base in Afghanistan received intermittent direct and indirect fire from the Pakistani side of the border. Two helicopters flew into the area to provide support, one of which fired across the border after twice receiving fire from the Pakistani side, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The attack took place Tuesday morning in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region, injuring two soldiers, said Pakistani intelligence officials. The area is a known sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaeda militants and has been targeted repeatedly by covert U.S. drone strikes. Pakistani troops responded to the attack with machine gun fire and deployed two helicopter gunships over the army post, but the NATO helicopter had already left, said the Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.


MoD: ArticleMarine Nigel Dean Mead

DoD: Sgt. Kevin B. Balduf

DoD: Lt. Col. Benjamin J. Palmer

FR/DM: Private 1st Class Loïc Roperh

3 comments:

sewa mobil said...

Nice article, thanks for the information.

Dancewater said...

Three killed in separate incidents north of Baghdad

May 17, 2011, 15:56 GMT

Cairo/Baghdad - A woman was killed and two children injured after a cluster bomb exploded in the suburbs of Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, security officials said Tuesday.

General Zenon al-Sabaawy told the German Press Agency dpa that the bomb was a remnant of a previous war.

In a separate incident in Mosul, a civilian was killed by gunmen who escaped.

Meanwhile, a policeman in the same city also died after four gunmen broke into his house, said al-Sabaawy.

Dancewater said...

21 bodies found in Iraq mass grave

The bodies of 21 people killed in fighting between Sunni insurgents and US forces in the town of Fallujah, west of the Iraqi capital, were discovered on Tuesday in a cemetery, officials said.

"The bodies were found in body-bags with Latin letters and numbers on them," said Fallujah police chief Brigadier General Mahmud al-Essawi. "They were blindfolded, their legs were tied and they had suffered gunshot wounds."

The discovery was made in a section of Al-Maadhidi cemetery in the centre of the town, 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of Baghdad, as a grave was being dug in preparation for a funeral, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

Essawi and town mayor Adnan Hussein both said the dead were killed in 2004 when the US army launched two major offensives on Fallujah to dislodge Sunni insurgents.

Hussein charged that the 21 were killed by US forces, who remain unpopular in Fallujah due to the assaults. "The black body-bags and the manner in which they were buried proves this," he said.

The US military declined immediate comment on the report.