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, June 29, 2007

Security Incidents for Friday, June 29, 07


MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of five Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers in a roadside bomb attack that was followed by small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. The attack occurred in a southern neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, June 28th. Seven other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

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Baghdad:
#1: Five Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb detonated near a combat patrol in a southern section of Baghdad June 28. Small arms and rocket-propelled attacks followed shortly after the blast. Seven other Soldiers were wounded in the attack. All of the wounded Soldiers were evacuated to a combat support hospital following the attack. One Soldier has returned to duty.

#2: Four people were killed in a mortar attack in the Al-Fadhil district of the capital overnight and 10 more people were wounded in four other mortar strikes in different locations in the city, the Interior Ministry said.

#3: A number of mortar bombs struck the Green Zone in Baghdad on Friday and Reuters reporters saw smoke rising from the vicinity of the U.S. embassy. There was no immediate reports of casualties from the attack, an almost daily occurrence against the heavily fortified compound which is also home to key Iraqi government ministries and the country's parliament.

#4: A U.S. military convoy killed an Iraqi man in Al Rashad neighborhood, Iraqi police said. U.S. officials were not available to comment.

#5: A mortar shell landed in Al Karada neighborhood. No human causalities

#6: Around 6:30 p.m. Gunmen executed 1 man and 3 women; one of them was pregnant, in al Saidiyah neighborhood, residents said.

#7: Police found 7 dead bodies throughout the capital today. 2 in Saidiyah, 2 in Doura, 1 in Shuala, 1 in Jisr Diyala, 1 in New Baghdad

Diyala Prv:
Khalis:
#1: The U.S. military is investigating the killings of 17 people in a U.S. helicopter attack north of Baghdad a week ago, after residents of the area complained that the victims were not fighters from the group al- Qaida in Iraq, as the military originally claimed, but members of a village guard force and ordinary citizens. A U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, said the June 22 incident in Khalis

Muqdadiyah:
#1: Unidentified gunmen bombed Thursday night a Sunni mosque in Muqdadiyah north of Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said Friday. The gunmen used explosive charges to blow up Khalil al-Saleh mosque in the Askari district, which collapsed completely. There was no casualties resulting from the blast.


Haswa:
#1: In other developments, Iraqi police said a bomb exploded under an oil pipeline south of Baghdad on Friday, spilling crude oil and sparking a huge fire. The explosives were planted under a stretch of pipeline in the Mowehlah area of Haswa, a town 30 miles south of the Iraqi capital, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The blast ignited a huge fire around 5 a.m., the officer said. By midday, firefighters were still struggling to extinguish the flames, which were fueled by a continuing leak of oil from the pipeline, he said. Workers also were looking for a way to temporarily cut off the oil flow, until a repair could be made, the officer added.


Kut:
#1: One woman was injured after a roadside bomb attack on a U.S. patrol in Kut, police said

#2: The body of a university lecturer was found beside a river in Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, one day after he was kidnapped, police said.

#3: eyewitness said on Friday that a roadside bomb went off near a U.S. military convoy at the northern outlet to the city of Kut. An eyewitness told VOI that the bomb was planted at the northern outlet of Kut near the al-Zahraa public hospital, and exploded while a U.S. military convoy was passing by, destroying a Hummer. “The U.S. force started a random shootout after the blast,” he noted, adding no further details.


Basra:
#1: the British military issued a statement saying all of its bases came under attack from mortars or rockets in the past 24 hours, but there were no casualties or damage.


Balad:
#1: An Iraqi army patrol in Balad district found this afternoon three unidentified bodies that bore signs of gunshot wounds,” the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Tikrit:
#1: A roadside bomb was detonated at 11:00 am on Friday in al-Arbaaeen street in central Tikrit, injuring three civilians seriously,” the source also added


Mishada:
#1: In other violence, Iraqi police said a suicide car bomb exploded at Iraqi army post north of Baghdad, destroying the building and igniting a fire. There was no immediate word on casualties. The blast went off at a railway station in Mishada, a town 20 miles north of the capital, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.


Mosul:
#1: One insurgent was killed and two were detained in Mosul following a clash with police, the police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Unidentified gunmen opened fire against Karim Saber, a policeman from al-Shaab police department in central Kirkuk, killing him instantly,” the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#2: Another policeman was injured in a separate attack by unknown gunmen in Wahed Hozayran region in Kirkuk,” the same source said. “Police forces rushed to the area and carried the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment,” he noted.

#3: An armed group in an unknown car opened fire against a civilian in a region in southern Kirkuk, wounding him seriously. He was rushed to hospital for treatment,” the source continued

#4: the chief of the Taza police department south of Kirkuk, Colonel Orhan Abdullah, said that the province’s police forces killed on Thursday night a suspected gunman and arrested six others believed to be involved in killing three policemen last Wednesday. “A policeman was killed in the operation,” the colonel noted

#5: Unknown gunmen kidnapped four Iraqi civilians in southern Kirkuk on Friday. A source at the police in Kirkuk told KUNA gunmen stopped a convoy of trucks of a construction company and abducted four drivers and took them to an unknown place.



Afghanistan:
#1: US soldiers have killed four civilian members of the same family during a raid in Nangarhar in Afghanistan, an Afghan rights body has claimed. It says the soldiers also arrested 15 civilians during the pre-dawn raid which took place in Khogiani district which lies in the foothills of the provincial capital Jalalabad. Among those killed in the raid were an 85-year-old man, Mohammada Jan, two of his sons and a grandson


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