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


Friday, September 23, 2011

War News for Friday, September 23, 2011

US drone kills 11 in south Somalia


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Iraqi officials say five people have been killed in a series of blasts in western Baghdad. Police officials say five bombs were planted early Friday near three houses and two parking lots in the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliyah. The pre-dawn blasts also wounded 12 people, including three children and two women.

#2: A roadside bomb blew up near an Iraqi army patrol, wounding two soldiers and one civilian, in Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In Diyala, an explosive blasted near a civilian house and wounded him. Security forces arrested a man suspected to have a role in the incident.


Mussayab:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded in a residential area, wounding two people, in central Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, local police said.


Haswa:
#1: A suicide bomber blew up a minibus in front of a restaurant used by Shi'ite pilgrims, killing four people and wounding 17, in the town of Haswa, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, the Babil province security operations centre said.


Hilla:
#1: Two persons were killed and 15 wounded in an explosion in a Shiite mosque north of Hilla city, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that a bombed car exploded this evening near a Shiite mosque, 50 km north Hilla city.


Tikrit:
#1: The bodies of two men in their 30s were found in south Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, the Salahuddin province police operations centre said. The men had been strangled with ropes and bore cuts on their heads.


Baaj:
#1: A cop was killed by gunmen inside his residence, Ninewa police sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the gunmen stormed in the house in Ba'aj area, 130 km west Mosul, and killed him with their machine guns.


Daquq:
#1: A charred car belonging to three Christian men on a hunting trip was found outside the town of Daquq, 200 km (125 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The hunters' weapons and the remains of their hunting dogs were found in the car but there was no sign of the men, police said


Kirkuk:
#1: Police found the decomposed body of a man in his 30s in northern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, the Kirkuk police operations centre said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least four suspected militants were killed and another injured on Friday when a bomb exploded in their vehicle in Pakistan's Khyber tribal region. The blast occurred in the mountainous Tirah valley near the border with Afghanistan. The vehicle was destroyed by the blast, officials told the media.

#2: Suspected militants detonated a remote-controlled bomb in the Ghundi area of Quetta as a paramilitary convoy passed by, damaging a vehicle and wounding two troops, police said on Friday.



Casualty Reports:
Army Sgt. Kenneth E. Harker, 27, who attended Central High School, lost both of his legs when his Humvee struck a roadside bomb in the Sadr City district in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 7, 2008. Harker's left leg needed to be amputated immediately below the knee, and his right leg was removed a year later because it never healed properly.

#2: Gun shots were heard at the burial ceremony of ex-Afghan president Burhanudin Rabbani in a Kabul hilltop where people gathered to bury his coffin on Friday.

"Some mourners hurled stone at the vehicles of officials who attended the burial ceremony and security guards opened fire into the air to control the situation," an eyewitness, Mohammad Karim, told Xinhua.


DoD: Sgt. Timothy D. Sayne

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

send the drones - OBAMINATION

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