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, July 12, 2011

War News for Tuesday, July 12, 2011

MNF - Iraq (OND) is reporting the death of a U.S. soldier from an indirect fire attack in Amarra, Iraq on Sunday, July 10th.

The Italian MoD is reporting the death of an Italian ISAF soldier from an IED attack near FOB Lavaredo in the Bakwa district, Farah Province, Afghanistan on Monday, July 12th. Here's the isaf release.


Afghanistan : décès accidentel d’un militaire français


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: The son of the Legislature of Iraq’s National Coalition, Kamila al-Moussawi and a number of her guards have been injured in the rocket attack on west Baghdad’s Green Zone on Monday, her office said. “One of Al-Fadhila (Vertue) Party’s Legislatures, Kamila al-Moussawi’s sons was injured and a number of her guards, when they tried to save her and her family members, when their flat was target for a 3 Katusha rocket attack, targeted against the Green Zone early on Monday,” the office statement reported.

#2: Two elements of the pro-government al-Sahwa (Awakening) forces have been killed and four others were injured in a booby-trapped car explosion in west Baghdad Abu-Ghuraib district on Monday, according to a Baghdad security source. “A booby-trapped car, driven by a suicide bomber, blew up against a checkpoint of al-Sahwa (Awakening) forces northeast of Abu-Ghuraib, 20 km to the west of Baghdad, killing 2 of its elements and wounding 4 others,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Tuesday.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to the car of a member of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia exploded, seriously wounding him, in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said


Kut:
#1: A U.S. Army patrol had been attacked by an explosive charge in the city of Kut, the center of southern Iraq’s Wassit Province on Monday night, but losses were not known, an Iraqi police source reported. “An explosive charge blew off close to the U.S.
Delta Military base, 7 km to the west of Kut, against an American military patrol on Monday night, but losses were not known,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tikrit:
#1: An Iraqi police officer, with a colonel rank in Salahal-Din’s Police Command, has been killed, a captain and a policeman, injured in a sticking bomb that blew up under their car north of Tikrit on Monday, a Salahal-Din security source reported. “An explosive charge, stuck under a police car in Beiji township, 40 km north of Tikrit, blew up on Monday morning, killing Police Colonel, Salam Juma’a, wounding a captain and a policeman, along with causing severe damage to the car,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: At least 11 persons have been wounded in a booby-trapped car explosion, targeted against an Iraqi police patrol in Tuz-Khurmato township, south of Kirkuk on Monday, a security source reported. “A booby-trapped car has blown up against an Iraqi police patrol in Tuz-Khurmato township, 80 km to the south of Kirkuk, wounding 11 persons, including 4 policemen,” the security source said, adding that the car was detonated via a remote-control device.


Mosul:
#1: A security source said today that two Iraqi soldiers were killed in an attack against a checkpoint east of Mosul. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the two soldiers were killed following an attack on their post.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A police force was able to dismantle a car bomb in the center of Falluja without casualties, Anbar police sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the car was parked in a garage, in the center of Falluja, 60 km to the west of Ramadi.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan President Hamid Karzai's half-brother, a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Afghan government, has been assassinated at his home in southern Afghanistan, an official said. The death of Ahmed Wali Karzai was confirmed by Zalmai Ayubi, the spokesman for Kandahar province, and Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was head of the Kandahar provincial council, had become a political liability for the Karzai government. A member of Ahmed Wali Karzai's private security team killed him with an AK-47, according to a person who witnessed the killing.

#2: At least 45 suspected militants were killed by missiles launched by U.S. drone aircraft in Pakistan's northwest in less than 24 hours, local intelligence officials said on Tuesday. The attacks started on Monday night, when remotely piloted drones fired nine missiles into a militant compound and at a vehicle in North Waziristan, killing 25 suspected insurgents, local intelligence officials said. Another strike hours later in South Waziristan killed five suspected militants. Then on Tuesday morning, a drone fired two missiles at another compound in North Waziristan. "The missiles were fired as militants sitting in a vehicle were entering into a house used by them as a hideout," an intelligence official said, adding that 15 militants were killed in the strike. "The house is on fire."


DoD: Sgt. Steven L. Talamantez

DoD: Sgt. Christopher P. Soderlund

DoD: Spc. Rafael A. Nieves Jr

DoD: Lance Cpl. Norberto Mendez Hernandez

It/MoD: Corporal Roberto Marchini

1 comments:

Dancewater said...

weren't the so-called NON-combat troops in Iraq supposed to stay on their bases and OUT of Iraqi cities?

seems they have forgotten....