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, October 6, 2011

War News for Thursday, October 06, 2011

Afghans rally in Kabul, demand NATO troops leave


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A soldier was killed and two wounded in an armed attack in west Baghdad, security sources said today. One of the attackers was killed and another one arrested, the source told Aswat al-Iraq. The source added that an armed group were riding a civilian car when attacked a military patrol with grenades, which led to the casualties. The police forces followed the attackers and killed one of them and arrested another.

#2: (taji area) A security force, northern Baghdad, managed to control and explode two car bombs. A security force in anti-m unit blew up the two cars in Taji town and Al Mushahada area in Tarmiyah, spokesman of Baghdad operations’ command, General Kassem Atta, told Alsumarianews.


Hilla:
#1: Gunmen opened fire at one of the representatives of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, wounding him and one of his relatives near his house in western Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, late on Wednesday, police said


Balad:
#1: Gunmen in a car killed a member of the Yathrib town council, near Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police in the town said.


Samarra:
#1: Gunmen threw hand grenades at a police check point, wounding four policemen on Wednesday night in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Sulaimaniyah:
#1: Turkish military aircrafts attacked on Tuesday night border regions in Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region, eye witnesses in a border village in Bashdar District reported. The shelling caused a state of panic among residents, witnesses added. The bombardment, which lasted for more than 2 hours.

#2: Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had reached a deal earlier with Iranian Government to stop clashes in return of halting attacks on border regions in Iraqi Kurdistan.


Mosul:
#1: A civilian was killed by gunmen north of Mosul, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that unknown gunmen killed the man who works as a farmer, west Mosul.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb went off and a car bomb detonated in succession in central Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, killing one civilian and seriously wounding 14 others, including five policemen, police said.

One civilian was killed and five wounded, including two cops, in two blasts that struck Ramadi, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the toll from the two consecutive explosions east of Ramadi reached to one civilian and wounding five, including two cops. There was a five minute gap between both explosions.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War" 10 years later (10/7/01)
#1: The Taliban opened fire on a bus in southern Afghanistan Thursday killing two civilians, including a child, and wounding 16 others, a local official said. The attack came after the bus driver ignored demands from the militants to stop as he drove along a road in the troubled Gereshk district of Helmand province. A man and a child were killed, and eight women, four men and four children were injured, provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.

#2: Afghan intelligence officials said today that they have broken up a cell which was plotting to kill President Hamid Karzai, arresting six people in Kabul whom they claimed were affiliated with al-Qaida and the Haqqani militant group. Intelligence service spokesman Latifullah Mashal said the cell included one of Mr Karzai’s bodyguards, as well as a professor at Kabul University and three college students.

#3: Four people including two law enforcement officials -- were killed in southwest Pakistan Wednesday when suspected militants opened fire on a police patrol car, according to a senior local police official. The suspected militants were riding on a motorcycle when they started firing on the car, Fareedullah Bareech told CNN. The attack -- which occurred in the provincial capital city of Quetta.

#4: Wali Jan, the second-in-command of a local police battalion, was killed when a bomb exploded as he left his house early Thursday in Trinkot, the capital of Uruzgan province, the province's police spokesman said. The policeman's son and bodyguard were wounded in the explosion, Farid Aiyel said.

#5: Also early Thursday, gunmen open fire on a bus in Greshk district of nearby Helmand province, killing one child and injuring 15 other people, including four children and eight women, the provincial governor's office said.

#6: Unidentified assailants attacked the NATO oil tankers and set the three of them on fire in Bolan district on Wednesday. According to the Balochistan Levies, the NATO oil tankers were carrying fuel for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan and were on there way from Karachi to Chaman, when some unidentified armed culprits riding the motorcycles opened fire on the tankers in Hirok area of Bolan. Resultantly, three oil tankers caught fire and were reduced to twisted metal. The National Highway was blocked because of the fire, and traffic was disrupted on Quetta-Sibbi section of the highway for several hours.

#7: Gunmen shot and killed the acting police chief of Shindand district in Herat province on Thursday morning, local police officials said. The incident happened at 8 am local time when Kashmir Khan, the acting police chief, left his house for the office and was mown down by gunmen on motorbikes, Herat police officials told a TOLOnews reporter. Mr Khan was filling in as Shindand's police chief while Colonel Dawood, the regular district police chief, participated in a seminar in Kabul.

#8: Afghan and foreign troops killed two insurgents and detained several more during a clearing operation in Noor Gol district of northeastern Kunar province overnight, ISAF said.

#9: The shadow Taliban governor for Faryab province in the northwest of the country, Qari Ziauddin, was killed in a foreign forces air strike on Tuesday, ISAF said. Ground troops sent in later to assess the area killed four insurgents after coming under fire from the militants, it said.

#10: Afghan and ISAF forces killed "several" insurgents in Kandahar province after the militants opened fire on their patrol on Tuesday, ISAF said.

#11: Gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed four people, including two traffic policemen, on a road in the capital of the southwestern Baluchistan province, police officials said.

#12: Taliban militants fired four rocket propelled grenades at a Pakistani security checkpost in the South Waziristan tribal region, killing one soldier, security officials said.

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