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, August 10, 2012

War News for Friday, August 10, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, August 10th.
 
NATO is reporting the deaths of three USFOR-A solders from an attack by an individual wearing an Afghan uniform in an undisclosed location in southwest Afghanistan today. News reports that the local police commander invited the soldiers over to break the Ramadan fast at a house in the Sarwan Qala area in the Sangin district of Helmand province where either the local police or Taliban shot the soldiers.


Senior Army NCO Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Blast, Brigade Commander Is Wounded

USAID officer killed in Afghanistan: - The Obama administration says a U.S. government aid worker was killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan. A State Department diplomat was injured.


Reported security incidents
#1: At least one soldier was killed and several others wounded on Thursday when terrorists attacked an army convoy in the Tribal Areas bordering war-torn Afghanistan. Officials said that terrorists attacked the convoy in the Qandharo area of Mohmand Agency in the wee hours of Thursday. "One of our soldiers was martyred and seven have sustained injuries after the attack," an official said, adding that a search operation had been started in the area. The officials further said that it was a remote-controlled device planted on the roadside, which exploded while the army convoy was passing through the area. Meanwhile, two other blasts were reported in Mohmand Agency.

#2: At least two people suffered injuries in an armed attack on Nato container in the Dasht area of Mastung district, some 45 km southeast of Quetta, police said. "Unknown armed men riding a motorbike opened fire at a Nato container carrying logistics for ISAF forces in Afghanistan on national highway," said an official adding, as a result of firing, two persons identified as Abdul Rehman and Mohammad Naeem sustained bullet shots. The assailants later set container on fire and fled from the scene.

#3: Up to six Afghan civilians were killed and one injured Friday morning when a car ran over a roadside bomb in the country's southern province of Helmand, a provincial police source said. "A civilian's car was running along a road in Dahzor area of Musa Qala district at around 9 a.m. local time today but the ill- fated vehicle touched off a bomb and the blast killed six passengers and injured one other," a senior police official Mohammad Ismail Hotak told Xinhua.

#4: In a separate development, a police officer shot dead four members of Afghan Special Forces in a checkpost in Helmand's Sangin district in the early Friday morning. "The police officer invited the four cops to the checkpost in Bostanzoi area of Sangin district but at around 2 a.m. local time Friday shot them while sleeping," administration district chief Mohammad Sharif told Xinhua, without giving more details.

#5: According to local authorities in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, a number of Afghan police officers were killed or injured following an explosion in central Ghazni city on Friday. Provincial governor spokesman Fazal Sabawon confirming the report said two Afghan police officers were killed and three others were injured following the blast. Mr. Sabawon further added the incident took place after a Ranger vehicle of the Afghan public protection forces struck with a roadside bomb.


News: Civ. Ragaei Abdelfattah

DoD: Maj. Walter D. Gray

DoD: Spc. Ethan J. Martin

DoD: Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy

DoD: Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin

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