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


Sunday, March 25, 2007

Security Incidents for 03/25/07

PHOTO: An Iraqi boy sleeps as U.S. army soldiers from B Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment search his home in west Baghdad's Ghazaliyah neighborhood, Iraq, Sunday, March 25, 2007. The U.S. and Iraqi forces continued house searches throughout the dangerous Sunni area of Ghazaliyah Sunday, discovering caches of weapons and ammunition. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

In Country:

At least 12 Iraqis soldiers and officers were killed and 26 others wounded in operations during the past 24 hours, according to an Iraqi military statement released Sunday.

Baghdad:

Iraqi and U.S. soldiers detained 16 insurgents and found two weapons caches on Saturday during search operations in the western Ghazaliya district of Baghdad, police said

Six militants were killed while 23 others were arrested in action around the Iraqi capital's suburbs, the statement added. Also large amounts of weapon caches were found and ten explosive devices were defused.

Gunmen and Iraqi security forces clashed Sunday as U.S. attack helicopters buzzed overhead in a Sunni area in central Baghdad, and police said at least two people were killed and four wounded. The fighting started about 1:30 p.m. when gunmen attacked Iraqi army patrols in the Fadhil neighborhood, which sits on the east side of the Tigris River, police said. The U.S. military had no immediate comment. Iraqi police said two civilians were killed and four people wounded — two policemen and two civilians.

A suspected sniper shot dead a man in the al-Sinak area in central Baghdad, police said.

A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol, killed an Iraqi soldier near Yarmouk hospital in western Baghdad, police said.

Two people were killed and five wounded in a mortar attack in Abu Dsheer in southern Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

Around 4:30 p.m. a mortar shell landed on a resident house in Al Shurta Al Rabia (south west Baghdad) causing injuries to 5 civilians.

Around 5 p.m. a mortar shell landed in Palestine street east Baghdad. one woman was injured

Police found 17 corpses throughout Baghdad. Three corpses were found in Risafa (the eastern side of the city) and 14 in Karkh side (the western side of Baghdad). The corpses were found in the following neighborhoods: 3 corpses in Sileikh, 1 in Raghiba Khatoun, 1 in Kamaliya, 2 in Baia, 1 in Amil, 1 in Doura, 1 in Shuala, 1 in Saidiya, 2 in Hurriya, 1 in Jamia, 1 in Eskan, 1 in Yarmouk, 1 in Ghazaliya.

Diyala Prv:

Forensics in Baaquba on Saturday received five unidentified bodies found by Iraqi police patrols, a medic said.

police source said that the clashes between Iraqi police and gunmen in Baquba yesterday afternoon caused of killing 2 and arrest 8 from gunmen one of them was wanted to security forces

Iraqi police defused a rocket was prepared to target a Kurdish political party in the city of Jalawla today

Gunmen attacked Diyala police directorate this morning. The driving by gunfire targeted the visitors to the building and police responded to the source of fire. No casualities were reported.

Haswa:

Suspected Shiite militants bombed a Sunni mosque in southern Iraq on Sunday in apparent retaliation for a suicide attack the day before against a Shiite shrine in the same city. The explosives blew a hole in the minaret of the Sunni mosque in Haswa, a predominantly Shiite city 30 miles south of Baghdad, but the mosque was empty and no casualties were reported.

In retaliation for yesterday bombing in the mixed city of Haswa (50 Km south of Baghdad) gunmen burned 4 Sunni mosques and attacked the Iraqi Islamic party (IIP) headquarter in the city. Around 1 p.m. and during the funeral of yesterday bombing victims, Shiite gunmen attacked and burned two mosques, Abdullah Al Jubouri and Hiteen mosques. The gunmen set a bomb in Usama bin Zaid mosque and burn it. The fourth mosque, Al Anwar mosque, gunmen bombed the Minaret and burned the mosque after no resistance were noticed. Almost at the same time the gunmen attacked the IIP headquarter in the city and a clash started between the guards and the attackers till around 4:30 p.m. The three hours continues clashes and sectarian violence stopped after the arrival of the American and Iraqi troops. Police said 2 men were injured only but sources of the IIP said 15 of the attackers were killed.

U.S. and Iraqi troops clashed with gunmen in the town of Haswa, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, as a Sunni mosque was set ablaze in an apparent revenge attack for the destruction of a Shi'ite mosque in the town a day earlier. Police said four people were wounded in the Sunni mosque attack

Latifiya:

Iraqi soldiers killed an insurgent, detained 71 others, and discovered two car bombs and 10 weapon caches on Saturday in the town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, the Defence Ministry said.

Tikrit:

One Iraqi policeman was killed and three others wounded when an explosive charge went off near a patrol, a security source in Tikrit, Salah al-Din province, said on Sunday. "The blast, which occurred on the main road north of Tirkit, killed a policeman ranked captain and seriously wounded three others," the source, who preferred not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Sulaimaniyah:

Three people, including two policemen, were wounded after gunmen, believed to have links to the Ansar al-Islam (Islam Supporters) organization, clashed with police at a checkpoint in Iraqi Kurdistan Sulaimaniyah, a security source said on Sunday."Gunmen, believed to have links to the Ansar al-Islam organization, attacked overnight a police checkpoint in Banjoin district near the borders with Iran," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The attackers used small and mid-sized arms in the hour and a half long clashes, he said.

Mosul:

Gunmen killed Ali Amin, the director of a gas factory, near his house in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, police said

Police said they found the bodies of five people, including a policeman, in different districts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

Al Anbar Prv:

Clashes erupted between police and tribal leaders opposed to al Qaeda on one side and al Qaeda militants on the other in the Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, police Lieutenant-Colonel Ahmed al-Dulaimi said.

An unidentified number of U.S. soldiers were killed and wounded by explosive devices on Saturday night when their convoy of tanks and Hummer vehicles was attacked east of the city of al-Rutba, Anbar province, eyewitnesses said. "Unidentified gunmen lurking in 4WD vehicles with mounted machine-guns ambushed the U.S. convoy after the explosive devices went off," eyewitnesses driving on the international highway linking Iraq to Syria and Jordan told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Civilians, who were driving nearly 200 meters behind the U.S. convoy, told VOI that a number of U.S. soldiers were killed and wounded, adding that the explosive charges destroyed several U.S. military vehicles.

Thanks to whisker for the links above.

Posted by Dancewater at 11:10 PM

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