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, June 7, 2012

War News for Thursday, June 07, 2012

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in a helicopter crash in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, June 6th. News reports that a NATO helicopter was shot down in Ghazni province killing two American soldiers.


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghanistan's president said Thursday that 18 people killed in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday were all civilians. NATO has so far said it has no records of civilian deaths from the pre-dawn strike Wednesday on a house in Logar province. The NATO and Afghan troops were going after a local Taliban leader when the international coalition says they came under fire and called in an airstrike on the house.

#2: Another 20 civilians were killed when a pair of suicide bombers struck within minutes of each other outside the sprawling NATO base in the southern city of Kandahar. Underlining the challenge facing security forces, two suicide bombers detonated their explosives in a parking area outside the sprawling NATO base in Kandahar which has been repeatedly attacked. The Taliban appeared to be targeting companies that provide sup-plies to NATO. Eight of the 22 killed worked for companies that supply equipment to the base. A bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up in an area packed with truck drivers and other civilians waiting to get into the facility. As people gathered at the site of the blast, another bomber walked into the crowd and detonated his explosives, said Ahmad Faisal, a spokes-man for the provincial governor.

#3: Eight persons including two children were killed while dozens injured in a blast outside a seminary at Sariab Road in Quetta, Geo News reported Thursday. According to sources, an event was taking place at Jamia Islamia Miftah-ul-Uloom when a blast occurred outside the seminary. The explosive device was strapped to a bicycle present beside the seminary gate. As a result of blast, eight persons including two children were killed while dozens were injured, hospital sources told. The bomb was detonated outside the Islamic seminary as a degree ceremony for students was being held inside, DIG Operations Qazi Abdul Wahid told reporters.

#4: Afghan army and police, backed by the NATO-led coalition forces, have eliminated 26 Taliban insurgents during cleanup operations within the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Thursday morning. "The joint forces conducted nine cleanup operations in Laghman, Takhar, Kandahar, Helmand, Logar and Herat provinces, killing 26 armed Taliban insurgents over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

Posted by whisker at 4:24 AM

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