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 23, 2007

Security Incidents for Saturday, June 23, 07


(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier from a non-hostile, unspecified cause, presumably in Baghdad, on Saturday, June 23rd.

(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers when their unit was struck by a roadside bomb followed by small arms fire in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Saturday, June 23rd. Three other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

(3) MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of four Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers in a roadside bomb attack northwest of Baghdad on Saturday, June 23rd. An Iraqi interpreter was wounded in the blast.

(4) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a Multi-National Corps - Iraq airman in a roadside bombing near Tikrit in Salah ad Din Province on Saturday, June 23rd.

(5) The British Ministry of Defense has announced the death of another soldier from 4th Battalion, The Rifles Regiment. The soldier died in a roadside bomb attack in Basra City on Friday, June 22nd.

(6) The DoD has announced a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. Private 1st Class Jacob Timothy Tracy, 20, of Palestine, Illinois, was severly injured when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad on June 17th. He was transported to a medical facility in Balad where he died the next day, Monday, June 18th. Tracy was born September 20, 1986, in Paris, Illinois, according to his obituary, attending Palestine High School as a teenager. The Terre Haute (Indiana) Tribune Star interviewed several people who knew him, all of whom remembered Tracy as always talking and always cracking jokes. "You couldn't be mean to him because once you did, he'd say something that'd make you laugh," a friend reminisced, "And you just couldn't be mad anymore." Tracy enlisted in the army in August of 2006 and had been deployed in Iraq since March according to an Associated Press piece.

(7) The Associated Press is reporting the death of a U.S.-led coalition servicemember in Afghanistan on Saturday, June 23rd. The victim died in the vicinity of Langar village in Helmand Province in an insurgent attack that involved small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. Two other servicemembers were wounded. We are assuming that the death was that of an American as the bulk of these U.S.-led forces are American.

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Baghdad:
#1: Police found 11 bodies on the streets of Baghdad on Friday. Most had been shot dead.

#2: Two Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers were killed and three others were wounded when their unit was struck by a roadside bomb, then received small arms fire in eastern Baghdad early June 23.

#3: A Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier died from a non-battle related cause June 23. The incident is under investigation

#4: Three people were killed and two wounded in a mortar attack in the Bayaa district of southwestern Baghdad, police said.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: Hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi troops, under cover of F-16 fighter jets, fought their way into three neighborhoods of besieged Baqouba on Friday to help clear Diyala province of entrenched insurgents. An Associated Press employee in Baqouba reported heavy fighting as U.S. troops swept into three eastern neighborhoods in Friday’s operation, which began after U.S. forces warned residents to leave or stay indoors.


Karbala:
#1: Six men also were killed after they were seized by gunmen at an illegal checkpoint near the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, according to a member of the provincial council, Ghalib al-Daami. He said those killed included a local council member from the nearby town of Ayn Tamir.


Najaf:
#1: Gunmen killed a police officer and wounded two of his bodyguards on the road between Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa on Friday. Najaf is 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad.


Mussayab:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded two others in Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Iskandariya:
#1: A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded two others when it exploded near a police convoy in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Basra:
#1: It is with deep regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of a soldier from 4th Battalion The Rifles in Basra, southern Iraq today, Friday 22 June 2007. The soldier died from injuries sustained by a roadside bomb attack in Basra this morning. Next of kin have been informed and they have requested a 24 hour period of grace before any further details are released.


Samarra:
#1: Gunmen stormed a school building being used by commandos sent to reinforce security in the northern Sunni city of Samarra, killing two officers and wounding six other people, including five civilians, in a 45 minute gunbattle, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. The attackers, some masked and armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, were targeting Iraqi special forces sent to Samarra

#2: Three police commandos and one insurgent gunman were killed in clashes in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Yikrit:
#1: U.S. soldiers conducting raids against al Qaeda killed two men in a car which ignored orders to stop on a road near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. A bomb was found in the car, which was then destroyed by a U.S. air strike


Kirkuk:
#1: Police found a body on Friday showing signs of torture in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Gunmen killed Ahmed Jasim, deputy chairman of the sports committee in the local council of Falluja, on Friday

#2: A U.S. air strike killed five gunmen who had opened fire on a patrol seeking al Qaeda insurgents near Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.



Afghanistan:
#1: An attack on U.S.-led coalition troops in southern Afghanistan left one soldier dead and two others wounded Saturday, the U.S. military said. Coalition forces had come under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire near the village of Langar in Helmand province, the military said in a statement. The nationality of the dead and wounded troops was not disclosed.

#2: A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said troops clashed with a large group of insurgents near the porous Pakistan border in Paktika province, killing around 40 of them and wounding several others. He said it was the biggest concentration of insurgent strength since January, when over 100 were killed while crossing the border, but full details were still being gathered.

#3: Elsewhere, at least 20 suspected Taliban militants were killed in a seven-hour gunbattle in the Sha Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, while several others were killed in at least three other separate engagements, the U.S. military said in a statement.

#4: A Romanian military was injured in the head area during a patrol mission in Afghanistan, after the explosion of a grenade fired from an unknown direction, the Romanian Ministry of Defense informed. The ministry said Sergeant Gabriel Cretu was taken to hospital immediately in a helicopter. Cretu’s life is not in danger and he is to stay in hospital under the supervision of British doctors.

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