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


Thursday, July 14, 2011

War News for Thursday, July 14, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, July 13th.

The French MoD is reporting the deaths of five French ISAF soldiers from a suicide bombing in joybar near the Tagab valley, Kapisa, Afghanistan on Wednesday, July 13th. Four additional French soldiers with their interpreter and three afghan civilians were wounded in the blast. Here's the ISAF release.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A civilian was killed today by a sticky bomb in his car south of Baghdad, security sources said.

#2: Iraqi police said that eight people were injured by a bomb blast south of Baghdad. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the wounded were in small bus when the bomb exploded on the side of the road.

#3: The semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency reported that the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad was gravely hit with injuries to his face and body in an accident inside the Green Zone, in the center of Baghdad. The agency added that ambassador Hassan Dana'i Fer had an accident at the inspection point.

#4: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded a policeman and a civilian in the Saidiya district of southern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#5: The owner of a food material store was killed when gunmen raided his store in Al Hurriya region, northwestern Baghdad, and opened fire at him, a security source told Alsumaria.

#6: An Iraqi police chief escaped assassination due to a bombing targeting his convoy in Al Saidiya region, southern Baghdad.

#7: A retired army major was wounded due to an explosion near his house in Al Khadraa’ District.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb struck a police patrol in the town of Sadiyah, some 130 km northeast of Baghdad, damaging a police vehicle and wounding two policemen aboard and four passers-by, a source from Diyala's operations command said on condition of anonymity.

#2: In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off at the gate of an orchard in the town of al-Abbarah, near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, wounding the orchard owner and his son, the source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi civilian has been killed by unknown gunmen close to his house in southern Kirkuk on Wednesday night. “A group of armed men have killed a civilian on Wednesday night, when they opened fire on him, close to his house in southern Kirkuk’s al-Urouba district,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed one soldier in the eastern parts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A bomb killed a woman near her house in northern Mosul, police said.

#3: Iraqi security forces clashed with armed men during a raid on houses used by militants in western Mosul, and killed four gunmen and wounded two others. Police said 10 gunmen were arrested



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Five people were killed and 15 others injured on Thursday in a suicide bomb attack in Kandahar city, the capital of southern Afghan province of Kandahar. "A suicide bomber blew himself up inside Sara Mosque where people gathered to pay homage and pray for the departed soul of Ahmad Wali Karzai, younger brother of President Hamid Karzai, as a result five civilians were killed and 15 others sustained injuries, "Kandahar provincial administration said in a statement.

#2: A local government official in eastern Afghanistan says NATO troops killed seven civilians in an overnight raid. Khost provincial council member, Gul Mohammad Zazi, says international troops stormed into Matoon village on the outskirts of Khost city around midnight and fired into the windows of houses. He says the dead were not connected to the insurgency. A neighbor, Asif Khan, says six people were killed and all were civilians. A spokesman for local schools, Sayed Musa Majro, says the dead included a teacher and two students. NATO spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff said Thursday a NATO-Afghan force killed insurgents in an operation in Khost province, but he did not say how many.

#3: A blast in a house used by Afghan refugees in the southwestern town of Chaman on the Afghan border killed four people and wounded 10, police said. The blast may have been caused by the mishandling of explosives being prepared for militant activities, police chief Shahnawaz Khan said

0 comments: