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, June 12, 2007

Security Incidents for Tuesday, June 12, 07


(1) CENTCOM is reporting the death of a U.S. airman assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing on Monday, June 11th. The only location given for the death was "Southwest Asia". CENTCOM did not indicate whether the death was hostile or non-hostile, providing no further details except to say that the death was under investigation.

(2) The Canadian Department of National Defense has announced the death of a Canadian soldier in a roadside bomb blast about 40 km north of Kandahar City on Monday, June 11: Trooper Darryl Caswell of the Royal Canadian Dragoons based at Petawawa, Ontario. Caswell was part of a convoy carrying supplies to the Canadian forward operating base at Kahkrez when the incident happened. Two other soldiers received non-life-threatening injuries.


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In Country:
#1: At least two units in the Salvadoran military contingent in Iraq came under artillery fire by insurgent groups, El Salvador's National Defence Ministry said Tuesday. The attacks, which took place over the weekend, did not cause casualties.


Baghdad:
#1: Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq have threatened to kill 14 soldiers and police officers they abducted earlier, al-Arabiya news channel reported Tuesday. The news channel broadcast a video that Sunni extremists had placed on the internet in which the abducted men appeared in their uniforms. In a written message to accompany the video, the group said that members of the security forces would be killed if the government in Baghdad did not release all Sunni women held in Iraqi prisons within 72 hours

#2: A roadside bomb wounded two civilians in the Mansour neighbourhood of western Baghdad, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb wounded three civilians in Zaafaraniya south district of Baghdad, police said

#4: A roadside bomb killed two civilians and wounded seven others near al-Resafi square in central Baghdad, police said.

#5: "Unknown gunmen attacked, toady, a police vehicle in Bob al-Sham area in northeastern Baghdad, killing three policemen," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. The source added "the gunmen then set ablaze the police vehicle burning the victims' bodies that were onboard."

#6: Iraqi security forces found 26 unidentified bodies in different parts in Baghdad during the last 24 hours, a police source said on Tuesday. "Iraqi security forces found 26 unidentified corpses in different parts in Baghdad. 21 of them were found in Karkh, western side of Baghdad ," a source in the interior ministry told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "Five bodies were found in Rasafa, eastern side of Baghdad," he also said.

#7: 3 civilians were wounded in an IED explosion in Al Waleed neighborhood south east Baghdad around 10,00 am

#8: A civilian was injured when he tried to pull out a body in Mansour neighborhood downtown Baghdad. The body was bombed and thrown in the area.

#9: The bodies of 2 lawyers exploded when police patrols tried to put them in the cars in Saidiyah neighborhood south Baghdad. No casualties among police or civilians reported.

#10: 1 civilian was killed and 2 wounded when a mortar shell hit Al Bayaa neighborhood south Baghdad.

#11: A policeman was injured by a sniper in Karrada neighborhood downtown Baghdad.

#12: An Iraqi army soldier was killed and 2 others injured in an IED explosion targeted their patrol in Adhemiyah neighborhood north Baghdad.

#13: 2 civilians were killed and 6 others wounded in an IED explosion in Bab Al Muathim neighborhood downtown Baghdad.

#14: 3 policemen were killed by gunmen in Bob Al Sham area north


Diyala Prv:
#1: 2 civilians were wounded in an IED explosion targeted a car coming to Baghdad

Baquba:
#1: Fierce clashes broke out between joint U.S.-Iraqi forces and al-Qaida militants in the city Tuesday morning, leaving two Iraqi soldiers and six militants dead, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. The fighting also prevented university students at nearby colleges from taking their final exams, according to the provincial police center.

gunmen was killed in clashes between police force and gunmen in Al Tahreer neighborhood south Baquba police said. The source said that a policeman an d a civilian were injured in the clashes

#2: In a similar incident, gunmen shot dead two more people in the village of Albu Aziz, east of Baquba, he added

#3: 2 men were injured when mortar shells hit one of the examination centers in Al Asri area in Al Khalis town north of Baquba city. The two men were escorting their daughters while the daughters were doing the exams.

#4: Gunmen from what is called the Islamic state of Iraq kidnapped two brothers of a police officer and one of his sons when they broke up the officer’s house in Al Mu’alimeen neighborhood downtown uqdadiyah town north east of Baquba city.

Muqdadiyah:
#1: Elsewhere in the province, gunmen stormed the house of the Sunni mayor of Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, forcing the family members outside, then blowing up the house, the police officials said. Najim al-Harbi, a member of the Iraq Islamic Party, was not home when the attack took place.

Khalis:
#1: Two people, including a schoolchild, were killed when gunmen sprayed their minibus with bullets in Al-Aswad near the town of Khalis, police Lieutenant Ahmed Ali said from the provincial capital of Baquba.

#2: Gunmen exploded two houses of displaced families in Al Khalis town early morning today.

#3: 2 civilians were killed and 2 others were wounded when gunmen opened fire targeting a mini bus near Al Aswad district south Khalis today afternoon.

#4: 2 men were killed by gunmen near Albo Azeez village in Khalis town today afternoon.

Bani Saad:
#1: 3 civilians were inured when mortar shells hit Al Khloof village in Bani Saad yesterday evening.


Madaen:
#1: "Unknown gunmen in civilian cars kidnapped, this afternoon, six construction workers in al-Madaen district, 37 km southeast of Baghdad, and forced them at gunpoint to unknown place," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. All the captives were from the nearby al-Wahda town and they came to al-Madaen seeking daily-pay jobs in construction, the source added.


Kut:
#1: Unidentified gunmen fired four mortar shells at the Multi-National Forces (MNF) Delta military base in western Kut during the early hours of Tuesday, a security source in Wassit province said. "Four successive blasts were heard in the environs of the base but nothing was confirmed about the exact place where the mortar shells fell," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Babil Prv:
#1: Suspected Sunni insurgents bombed and badly damaged a span over the main north-south highway leading from Baghdad on Tuesday the third bridge attack in as many days in an apparent campaign against key transportation arteries. The attack occurred 35 miles south of Baghdad and just six miles south of a bridge brought down on Sunday by what was believed to be a suicide truck bomber. The explosion at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday not thought to be a suicide bomb struck a bridge linking the villages of al-Qariya al-Asriyah and al-Rashayed in northern Babil province. No injuries were reported.About 60 percent of the bridge was damaged, and cars could still pass over it via one lane, police said. But debris from the blast fell on the main north-south expressway below, further complicating efforts to reopen that main artery, closed after Sunday's blast dropped masses of concrete onto the roadway.


Basra:
#1: A security source said that a civilian was killed when the British forces opened fire targeting a taxi in Al Qibla neighborhood west Basra city last night.


Tikrit:
#1: Iraqi police found the body of a kidnapped policeman in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S.-Iraqi Joint Coordination Center said. He had been shot.


Touz Khormato:
#1: A roadside bomb detonated on Tuesday night near a supply convoy of U.S. forces in Soliman Beik area in eastern Touz Khormato, setting a vehicle ablaze, killing two persons and injuring others," the source in the Salah al-Din police department told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).The source did not identify the dead men, noting that U.S. forces sealed off the area.


Hawija:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded five policemen near Hawija, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said

#2: Gunmen killed a policeman in a drive-by shooting on his way home near Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: An armed group shot and killed policeman Udai Farouq this afternoon in al-Howayja district, southwest of Kirkuk," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI)."The gunmen opened fire against the policeman inside his car, killing him on the spot," he added.

#2: A civilian was injured when gunmen opened fire in Al Nasir neighborhood downtown Kirkuk city yesterday evening.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a medical student at a college in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
Ramadi:
#1: A suicide car bomber killed three police officers and wounded 15 other people at a checkpoint west of Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.




Afghanistan:
#1: A Canadian soldier was killed today when a roadside bomb detonated near the vehicle he was travelling in, about 40 km north of Kandahar City. The incident occurred at approximately 6:25 p.m. Kandahar time (10:05 a.m. EST). Two Canadian soldiers suffered non-life threatening injuries from the blast. They have been evacuated by helicopter to the Canadian-led multinational hospital at Kandahar Airfield for further treatment and are expected to return to duty soon.

#2: Afghan police mistakenly thought U.S. troops on a nighttime mission were Taliban fighters and opened fire on them, prompting U.S. forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft, killing seven Afghan police, officials said Tuesday.

#3: U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops, meanwhile, killed more than 24 suspected Taliban fighters during an eight-hour battle in southern Afghanistan on Monday, the coalition said.

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