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


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

War News for Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three Iraqi civilians have been injured in an ecxplosive charge blast southwest of Bahdad on Tuesday night, a security source reported on Wednesday. "An explosive charge blew off on the main road passing throuh southwest Baghdad's Hay al-Amil district on Tuesday night, wounding 3 civilians, who were driven to hospital, the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Samarra:
#1: Two gunmen wearing women's clothes stormed a pharmacy and killed the owner late on Tuesday in the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kurdistan:
#1: Turkey has bombed the Sulaimaniyah and Arbil provinces of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region, wounding one civilian, Kurdish officials said on Wednesday. "The Turkish aerial bombardment was renewed on Tuesday night and the civilian Ismail Baz Hamed, 20, was wounded during this bombing," said Hassan Abdullah, the mayor of the Qalat Dizah area in Sulaimaniyah. "The bombing caused heavy damage to farms and livestock in Qalat Dizah," he said. An official from Kurdistan region's interior ministry said there were also strikes in Arbil province. "Turkish airplanes bombed many areas... in Arbil on Tuesday night," the official said on condition of anonymity.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: According to local authorities in southern Afghanistan, at least 14 Taliban militants were killed following clashes with the NATO-led coalition forces in southern Helmand province. Helmand provincial governor office following a statement said, the clashes took place on late Tuesday night. The source further added, the incident took place after a patrol convoy of Afghan and coaliton forces were ambushed by Taliban militants in Zanboli and Mir Mandab area of Greshk district. Provincial governor spokesman Daud Ahmadi in the statement said, Afghan and coalition forces did not suffer any casualties during the incident.

#2:" Pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Agency have destroyed at least two NATO oil tankers carrying fuel for US-led foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Officials told Press TV that the armed militants opened fire on the two NATO oil tankers in the Charwazgai area of Landi Kotal tehsil of Khyber Agency on late Tuesday. As a result of the shots, both oil tankers were damaged. However, no human loss was reported in the attack.

#3: In a militant attack on the police station in the town of Dera Ismail Khan in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, gunmen killed at least two policemen and injured five others, including the chief of the police station.

Two policemen were killed and four wounded in a gun and grenade attack by militants at a police station near the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan. Over a dozen militants stormed into the police station before dawn, firing and throwing grenades

#4: Armed militants also killed a prayer leader of a local mosque in Quetta city in southwestern Pakistan.

#5: Three civilians were killed and three others, including a woman and child wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, police said. The bomb was planted under a bridge in Alingar district of Laghman province before it ripped through a civilian van, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang told AFP. "The van was hit by a roadside bomb on a bridge in Alingar, killing three men and wounding three other people, including a woman and a child," he said.

#6: Helicopter gunships attacked militants hideouts in Kurram, a northwestern tribal region on the Afghan border, killing around a dozen militants and wounding 14, local officials said. Four hideouts were destroyed, they said. On Tuesday night, at least 11 militants were killed and six soldiers wounded in clashes the same region. There was no independent confirmation of the death toll. Militants often dispute the government's version of events.


DoD: Pvt. Jackie L. Diener II

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