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, October 26, 2012

War News for Friday, October 26, 2012

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a small arms fire attack from an ANP in Khas Uruzgan, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan on Thursday, October 25th.
 
The Italian MOD is reporting the death of an Italian ISAF soldier from a small arms fire attack in the Bakwa districk, Farah province, Afghanistan on Thursday, October 25th. Three additional soldiers were wounded in the attack. Here’s the ISAF statement.


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing 36 people and wounding 23, officials said. The attack in the town of Maymana, capital of northern Faryab province, came as people were gathering at the mosque to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday. Top provincial officials, including the governor and the police chief, were inside the building when the bomber set off his explosives outside, where a large crowd had gathered, officials said. The officials were not hurt, but most of the dead were police officers and soldiers. He said in a statement that 36 people died in the blast and 23 were injured.
 
#2: At least 17 militants have been killed in an overnight attack on government office buildings in Registan district of southern Afghan province of Kandahar, authorities said Thursday. "A group of militants, numbered dozens of armed men, launched an attack against district compound in Registan at around 2 a.m. local time Thursday, sparking a three-hour gunbattle that left 17 militants dead," administrative chief of the district, Abdul Khaliq Ayoubi, told Xinhua.

#3: In a separate development, two police officers were wounded when a landmine planted by the militants struck their car in Ghazni city, the provincial capital of eastern Ghazni province 100 km south of Kabul earlier Thursday.

#4: an armored vehicle 'Cougar' South of the Task Force was involved in the explosion of a rudimentary bomb near Kormaleq, about forty kilometers from Farah.


MoD: Corporal David O'Connor

MoD: Corporal Channing Day

IT/DM: Corporal Titian Chierotti

Posted by whisker at 4:49 AM

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