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, January 27, 2012

War News for Sunday, Friday 27, 2011

Suicide Car Bombing Kills 28 in Baghdad

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 26

US Army's massacre in west Iraq's Haditha township must not pass without punishment, MP

German parliament resolves drawdown of Afghan mission


Reported security incidents
#1: Pakistani gunship helicopters on Friday attacked two militant camps in the northwestern Kurram tribal region near the Afghanistan border killing seven militants, security officials said. The death toll could not be independently verified and militants often dispute official accounts.

#2: Meanwhile, in Dera Bugti a paramilitary soldier was killed when a landmine exploded during mine-clearing operations, security officials said. After the explosion, militants opened fire and killed another soldier, officials added. Baloch separatists and Taliban militants have been active in the province and have been blamed for such violence in the past.

#3: Militants fired three rocket-propelled grenades at Pakistan's top military academy in the northern town of Abbottabad, damaging a section of the boundary wall but causing no injuries, police officials said.

#4: Militants attacked a paramilitary checkpost in the Dera Bugti area of the southwestern Baluchistan province, killing five soldiers, security officials said.

#5: Militants attacked a paramilitary checkpost in the Barandem area of the northwestern Bannu district, killing a soldier, intelligence officials said.

#6: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, at least 3 insurgents planting roadside bombs were killed following an air raid by NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in eastern Khost province. The officials further added, the incident took place on Thursday night at Haram Khel village in central Lakan in eastern Khost province. According to reports, one of the insurgents was detained following the operation, along with explosives and other equipments at the scene of the incident.


DoD: 1st Lt. David A. Johnson

Posted by whisker at 3:38 AM

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