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


Saturday, November 24, 2012

War News for Saturday, November24, 2012


Reported security incidents
#1: At least seven people including three children were killed, while eighteen others including a policeman were injured in a massive bomb blast that went off near a Muharram procession at Bannu Chungi in Dera Ismail Khan here on Saturday morning, Geo News reported. The bomb disposal squad says 8-10 kilograms of explosives were used in the locally made bomb, while police say the bomb was planted in a garbage dump.

#2: At least six Afghan security guards were wounded as a suicide car bomb went off outside an Afghan-NATO military base in eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar Friday evening, a provincial police spokesman said. "The bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the wall of the base near the entrance of the compound at about 18:40 local time," Housain Mashriqiwall told Xinhua. Earlier Friday, three civilians were killed and 90 others wounded when the Taliban carried out a suicide bombing on a police station in Wardak province 35 km west of Kabul.

Posted by whisker at 2:57 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)