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 26, 2007

Security Incidents for Tuesday, June 26, 07

(1) The DoD has announced a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. Private 1st Class Jerimiah J. Veitch, 21, of Dibble, Oklahoma, died on Thursday, June 21st, in Baghdad of wounds he received when his vehicle was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. The NewsOK.com website is carrying an interview with Veitch's sister who states that he moved to Oklahoma from San Jose, California, before high school with his mother when she remarried. In fact, Veitch was in the process of changing his last name to that of his stepfather, Sanchez. He had been home on leave to visit his family in Dibble about two months before his death.

(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bomb attack in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday, June 25th. Three other soldiers were wounded in the blast.

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Baghdad:
#1: A Sunni tribal sheik also was killed in a drive-by shooting in southwestern Baghdad, police said. Sectarian violence persisted in Iraq. Hamid Abdul Farhan al-Shujairi, a Sunni sheik in the al-Shujairat tribe, was killed about 9:30 a.m. in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Sadiyah, a policeman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns

#2: The police said Tuesday they detained six bodyguards of the Iraqi minister of culture over terrorism charges. "Iraqi security forces pre-dawn raided the house of As'ad al-Hashimi, minister of culture, in Baghdad and detained six of his bodyguards," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#3: The U.S. military killed two insurgents and detained two others during raids targeting al Qaeda in Iraq and their bombing network in the cities of Baghdad, Mosul, and Baiji, the U.S. military said

#4: The bodies of 16 people were found shot in different districts of Baghdad on Monday, police said.

#5: Gunmen assassinated Dr. Nihad Mohammed Abdul Rahman the assistant dean of Al Nahrain college. The incident took place near the Saudi hospital in Bayaa neighborhood south Baghdad around 1,10 pm.

#6: 3 civilians were wounded when an IED exploded in Wahran intersection in Al Baladiyat neighborhood east Baghdad around 2,00 pm.

#7: 4 civilians were got poisoned in chlorine gas leaking in Al Husainiyah water plant north Baghdad today morning.


Diwaniyah:
#1: Clashes erupted in the central Iraqi city of Diwaniyah on Tuesday between Shia militiamen and local security forces following an attack on an Iraqi army patrol, officials said. The fighting began when gunmen ambushed the patrol in the northern part of the predominantly Shia city, setting a Humvee alight as explosions and gunfire radiated across neighbouring areas. ‘The clashes are still ongoing,’ said a police official who asked not to be named. ‘Two police cars have been burned and ambulances cannot reach the area to resuce those wounded in the fighting.’No health team can reach people in the area of the clashes because it’s very severe. We don’t know how many have been wounded or killed,’ Jaati told AFP. He said he had received reports that several students were wounded while sitting for final exams at a nearby secondary school for girls. Salman Al Shaikh Bakr, a high ranking education official, said at least four examination centres were hit by exchanges of fire and that several people had been wounded.

At least five people were killed when Shi'a militiamen ambushed an Iraqi army patrol on Tuesday in the central city of Diwaniyah on Tuesday, officials said. Two women were among the dead and another 14 people were wounded, including four teenage girls, according to a security official.


Madaen:
#1: Clashes between insurgents and police left one policemen dead and three wounded in the town of Madaen, just south of Baghdad, police said


Latifiya:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army convey killed two soldiers on Monday in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, police said.


Basra:
#1: Eyewitnesses said that gunmen shot dead Hussein Al Najjar, the Imam of Al Arab mosque in Basra proper. The witnesses said that the incident happened today after the sheikh left the mosque after ending the midday prayers.


Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi army soldier was injured in an IED explosion targeted his patrol near Al Safra village west of Kirkuk yesterday evening.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a college student in Mosul, police said.

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