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


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

War News for Tuesday, March 11, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: A gunman shot dead a Swedish journalist outside a restaurant in a brazen attack in one Kabul's most heavily guarded districts on Tuesday, police and embassy sources said, underscoring growing insecurity threatening next month's elections. The Swedish Embassy identified the victim as Nils Horner, 51, who worked for Swedish Radio and had dual British-Swedish nationality.

#2: Three Taliban militants were killed while five others arrested in military operations, said the Afghan Interior Ministry on Tuesday. "Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) carried out several cleanup operations in several provinces within the past 24 hours, killing three Taliban members and detaining five other militants," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

#3: Two policemen guarding a polio vaccination team in northwest Pakistan were were shot dead by armed men on Tuesday, police said, the latest setback to efforts to eradicate the crippling disease. Tuesday’s attack took place in the village of Gandi Umar Khan, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the nearest city of Dera Ismail Khan, on the second day of an innoculation drive, senior police official Sadiq Baluch told AFP.

#4: A local leader of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal-Jamaat, (ASWJ) was killed around midnight in a drive-by shooting near Zia Masjid located in an area between Rawalpindi and Islamabad. According to details, the unidentified miscreants sprayed bullets on the car of ASWJ Rawalpindi President Mufti Tanvir Alam; however, he was not on board his car. Instead, another ASWJ local leader Sohail Muawiya lost his life on the spot during the armed assault. According to Shehzad Town police, the gun attack also wounded two other people riding the car—Amanullah and Nasir. A stray bullet killed a passer-by, too.

Posted by whisker at 4:40 AM

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