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, June 2, 2007

Security Incidents for Saturday, June 02, 07


(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier who was severaly wounded on Wednesday, May 30th, in a roadside bomb blast in a southwestern neighborhood of Baghdad. He died later in a military medical facility. We suspect that he was one of the two wounded from the incident described in this CENTCOM release. An article that appeared earlier on Private 1st Class Joshua Moore did say that three soldiers died in that incident, with one survivor left badly burned.

(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier when his patrol was attacked with small arms fire somewhere in Baghdad on Wednesday, May 30th. Another soldier and an interpreter were wounded in the incident.

(3) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad sodlier in a small arms fire attack in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, May 31st.

(4) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Corps - Iraq soldier in a small arms fire attack on Friday, June 1st. The place of the attack is given as "Zawiyah". Unfortunately, towns and villages with this or similar names occur in Ninawa, Diyala, Wasit and Al Anbar Provinces, so it is not possible with the information given to pinpoint the location

(5) CENTCOM is reporting the death of a U.S. Servicemember in Kabul. The date is given as "today" on a news release dated June 1st. The cause of death is "undetermined", i.e. no indication is given as to whether it was hostile or non-hostile.

(6) The McAllen (Texas) Monitor is reporting the death of a McAllen native. Army Staff Sergeant Juan Campos, 27, was severly injured in a roadside bomb blast near Baghdad on May 13th. On May 16th he arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, with burns over 80% of his body, plus kidney damage. He needed a respirator to breathe. Campos finally succumbed to his injuries on Friday, June 1st, according to his family. He had just been home on leave in late April ... and was wounded two weeks after returning to Iraq. He was married and has an 8-year-old son.


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Baghdad:
#1: A series of mortar barrages killed eight civilians and wounded 25 others early Saturday in a Sunni neighborhood in central Baghdad, police said, The mortars began slamming into the Fadhil area in Baghdad at 1:30 a.m. and continued sporadically until 7 a.m., damaging five houses, a policeman said,

#2: While conducting combat operations in the southwest section of the Iraqi capital, a Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was seriously wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated May 30. The Soldier was taken to the Combat Support Hospital, but died of those wounds.

#3: While conducting combat security operations in the Iraqi capital, one Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier was killed and one wounded when their patrol was attacked with small arms fire May 30. One interpreter was also wounded in the attack.

#4: Baghdad Soldier was killed when a patrol was attacked with small arms fire in the eastern section of the Iraqi capital May 31

#5: Gunmen opened fire in two separate locations in western Baghdad, killing three people, including two who were in a pickup truck loaded with flour, and wounding two others, police said.

#6: Police found two bullet-riddled bodies of people who had been bound and blindfolded and showed signs of torture in the Baiyaa neighborhood in western Baghdad.

#7: Iraqi security forces killed five gunmen, wounded seven others and arrested 32 suspected militants in several areas in Baghdad under the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan during the past 48 hours, the Baghdad operations command said on Saturday


Diyala Prv:
#1: A U.S. helicopter also was forced to make a precautionary landing north of Baghdad on Saturday, but nobody was injured, military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle said. The aircraft, which went down in the volatile Diyala province, was being recovered, and the reason for the precautionary landing was under investigation, she added, declining to give more specifics due to security concerns.

Zawiyah:
#1: One MNC-I Soldier was killed by small arms fire at approximately noon June 1 in the vicinity of Zawiyah.

Khan Bani Saad:
#3: "An Iraqi soldier was shot dead when insurgents ambushed a joint U.S. and Iraqi patrol in the Khan Bani Saad area, some 25 km southwest of Baquba," a source from the police of Diyala province told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The attack took place after the gunmen blew up two roadside bombs in a quick succession near the patrol in the area. The blasts resulted in the damaging of a U.S. tank and a Humvee, but it was not clear whether there was any casualties among U.S. soldiers as the troops cordoned off the area, the source said. The U.S. military did not confirm the incident yet.

Khalis:
#1: In a separate incident, the source said that gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in Khalis town, some 70 km northeast of Baghdad. Policemen at the checkpoint battled the attackers for at least two hours and resulted in the kidnapping of two policemen by the gunmen, the source said without saying whether there was any human casualty.


Basra:
#1: An explosive charge went off near a British vehicle patrol in al-Shuala area, 8km west of Basra, today morning with no reports of casualties," Captain Katie Brown told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) over the phone.

#2: The spokeswoman added "the British base at the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's palaces came under indirect fire as some mortar shells fell outside the compound."

#3: Meanwhile, an eyewitness told VOI "the Iraqi-British Joint Coordination Centre in al-Hakimiyah area in central Basra came over night under intensive fire." He added "ambulances were seen rushing to the location after the attack."

A British soldier was wounded on Saturday in a mortar attack on the Iraqi-British Joint Coordination Centre in Basra, a security source said. "Four mortar rounds fell today morning onto the Iraqi-British Joint Coordination Centre wounding a British soldier," the source, who asked not to named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The Coordination Centre is located in al-Hakimiyah area in central Basra.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: insurgents used explosives to destroy the Sarha Bridge, near the town of Tuz Khurmato on the Chinchal river, some 150 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad. The blast severely damaged the bridge, forcing motorists into detours and traffic jams.


Salaiman Bek:
#1: The body of tribal figure Rokan al-Jubouri was found in the town of Sulaiman Bek, 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The body bore signs of torture.


Kirkuk:
#1: An armed group ambushed and kidnapped on Saturday three Iraqi soldiers near Kirkuk, a security source said. "An armed group ambushed and kidnapped three Iraqi soldiers while on a mission on the main road linking al-Hawija district with Baiji," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Unidentified gunmen shot dead the Al Qaeda militant group's leader in the western Iraq city of Fallujah Saturday, police said, as fighting between rival Sunni factions continued. Colonel Tareq Al Dulaimi, a senior police intelligence officer with close ties to Anbar Province's pro-US tribal coalition, confirmed reports that Muwaffaq Al Jugheifi had been killed but did not identify the attackers.

#2: Three Iraqi children were killed when a U.S. tank fired at insurgents planting roadside bombs near the Sunni town of Falluja, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.




Afghanistan:
#1: Elsewhere, suspected Taliban militants attacked a local police commander's home, killing five of his family members and sparking a gunbattle with police that left 10 insurgents dead, an official said. The attack in the southeastern province of Ghazni killed the commander's wife, two sons and two nephews, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. The commander worked for Afghanistan's auxiliary police, a system of backup officers who supplement the country's regular police force.

#2: A boat crossing a river in Afghanistan's most dangerous province sank on Saturday, and at least 60 people were killed, including Taliban militants, the Defense Ministry said. The boat sank while crossing the Helmand River, which snakes through Helmand province, the world's leading opium poppy region and site of fierce battles the last several months. Hundreds of Taliban insurgents are believed to be in Helmand. The Afghan army was investigating to see how many Taliban insurgents and how many civilians were on board, the ministry said.

#3: Afghan police killed four Taliban fighters and captured two others in the southern Uruzgan province on Saturday, a local official said. Some Taliban militants raided a police checkpoint on the outskirt of Uruzgan's provincial capital Tarin kot at 8:30 a.m. (0400 GMT), provincial police chief Mohammad Qasim told Xinhua. The police fought back, killing four rebels and arresting two others, he added. There were no casualties on the police side, he said.

#4: A U.S. servicemember in Kabul died today of an undetermined cause. The cause of death is under investigation. The servicemember’s name will be withheld until next-of-kin notification.

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