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


Monday, December 5, 2011

War News for Monday, December 05, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, December 3rd.


US convoys leave Iraq under tribal protection

US vacating air base in Pakistan used by drones

US official says no sign Iran shot down drone


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb killed a Shi'ite pilgrim and wounded nine others late on Sunday in Baghdad's southwestern Bayaa district, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded seven Shi'ite pilgrims late on Sunday in Baghdad's southwestern Amil district, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb went off and wounded five people in Baghdad eastern Camp Sara district, a hospital source said.

#4: Gunmen using silenced weapons wounded Iraqi army Brigadier General Ali Fadhil, and killed his wife, late on Saturday, while he was driving his car though a crossroads in Baghdad's northeastern Ur district, police said.


Latifiyah:
#1: Iraqi officials say a bomb blast has killed two Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad during an important religious ritual for the Muslim sect. Police officials say Monday's attack on Shiite pilgrims in Latifiyah, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the Iraqi capital, also wounded three people. A medical official confirmed the toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the are not authorized to talk to the media.

Gunmen using hand grenades attacked Shi'ite pilgrims marching to the holy city of Kerbala to mark Ashura, a major religious ritual, killing two and wounding four in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: A roadside bomb went off near a joint Iraqi army and police checkpoint, killing one soldier and wounding three soldiers and one policeman in Baghdad's western outskirts of Abu Ghraib, police and hospital sources said. An interior ministry source said four soldiers were killed and two wounded.


Dujail:
#1: A sticky bomb attached to the car of Brigadier Ali Resool of the Federal Police blew up and wounded one of his guards in Dujail, 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. An hour later a bomb was placed outside of Resool's house and seriously injured his son.


Kirkuk:
#1: A bomb went off inside a house, killing two men and wounding one woman in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police sources said. Police said they suspect the victims were manufacturing or moving the bomb when it went off.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded three people in southwestern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen in a car shot at another vehicle carrying a police officer, killing him and wounding two of his security guards near the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: Gunman broke into a funeral, killing one man and wounding a woman and a child on Saturday in Mosul, a source in the Nineveh province security operations center said. The attacker was killed by nearby policemen as he tried to escape, the source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan civilian and a soldier were killed and six civilians were injured Sunday night in a clash took place in country's Kunar province, 185 km east of capital Kabul, an official said on Monday. "So far two killed with a civilian and an army soldier with Afghan National Army and six injured civilians have been admitted to a hospital here in Asadabad," head of a government-run hospital Farooq Sahaq said. The gunfight between Afghan soldiers and suspected Taliban insurgents took place late on Sunday in Nanglam area of restive Manogai district, a witness who has transported the injured men to the hospital told Xinhua. "The clash was going on for more than an hour and there were casualties on Taliban insurgents," the witness named Zabi said.

#2: A total of 20 insurgents were killed and 15 others were captured when Afghan and NATO-led coalition forces launched operations in different parts of the country over the past 24 hours, country's Interior Ministry said on Monday. "During the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan National Army and Coalition Forces launched nine joint operations in surrounding areas of Kabul, Kunar, Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni, Khost, and Herat provinces," the ministry said in the statement.

#3: Five Afghan civilians including four children lost their lives as a roadside bomb struck a civilian vehicle in Uruzgan province 370 km south of Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, police said. "The tragic incident happened at around 03:15 p.m. local time today in Chora district as a result five civilians including four children and a woman were martyred," provincial police spokesman Mohammad Farid Aael told Xinhua. Six more people including two children, a woman and three men sustained injuries in the incident, he added.


Civ: Bob McCullough

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