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, July 20, 2007

Security Incidents for Friday, July 20, 2007

(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Corps - Iraq soldier in a roadside bombing in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, July 19th.

(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier from an explosion near his vehicle in Baghdad Province on Thursday, July 19th.

(1) The British Ministry of Defense has announced the deaths of three of their service personnel in an indirect fire attack at the Contingency Operating Base in Basra on Thursday, July 19th. One was an airman from the Royal Auxiliary Air Force's 504 Squadron, while two were airmen assigned to 1 (Fighter) Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment.

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Baghdad:
#1:One MNC-I Soldier died of wounds suffered when an explosive device detonated next to the Soldier’s vehicle during combat operations in eastern Baghdad July 19

#2: One Task Force Lightning Soldier died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion near his vehicle while conducting operations in Baghdad Province, Thursday. One other Soldier was injured during the incident and was transported to a Coalition medical facility for treatment.

#3: Seventeen bodies were found dumped in various parts of the capital on Thursday, police said.

#4: One Iraqi policeman wounded by a roadside bomb in the Mansour district of west Baghdad, police said.

#5: U.S. forces kill three suspected militants and detain 44 others in operations in south Baghdad on Friday, the military said


Basra:
#1: It is with profound sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the deaths of one serviceman from 504 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force and two servicemen from 1 Squadron RAF Regiment on Thursday 19th July 2007. They were killed in an indirect fire attack on the Contingency Operating Base in Basra, Iraq.


Dhuluiya:
#1: Gunmen kill two people in a drive by shooting in Dhuluiya, 70 km (43 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi civilian was killed and five others wounded Friday morning when a US helicopter bombed a residential area in Mosul, 402 kilometres north of Baghdad, the independent Voices of Iraq news agency reported citing an official security source. Two women and two children were among the wounded in the attack on Mosul's south-eastern Mithaq neighbourhood, General Abdul-Kareem al- Juburi, police operations director of Ninevah province, told Voices of Iraq.
There was no immediate comment from the US army.




Afghanistan:
#1: Afghan security forces are hunting for 22 South Koreans abducted by Taliban militants from the bus they were traveling on in the south, officials said Friday. The militants stopped a bus in Leyuni Bazaar, in Qara Bagh district of Ghazni province, on Thursday and abducted a group of South Korean church volunteers, Mohammad Zaman, deputy police chief, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. South Korean Foreign Ministry officials said they had received an intelligence report saying 20 South Koreans were abducted and they were members of Saemmul Church in Seongnam on the outskirts of Seoul, according to Yonhap news agency. The ministry identified the victims as Christian minister Bae Hyeong Gyu, 44, seven men and 13 women in their late 20s and early 30s who were doing Christian volunteer work in Kandahar. South Korea was reported to be considering sending an ambassador-led taskforce to Afghanistan Friday night to handle the case.

#2: Clashes broke out Friday between Pakistani troops and militants in North Waziristan after a suicide car bomber hit a security checkpoint, killing four people, officials said. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists, said security forces backed by a helicopter gunship raided an alleged militant hide-out, triggering a shootout. It was not immediately clear whether the militants suffered casualties.

#3: The British Ministry of Defence said there were no British casualties in a suicide attack in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on Friday. Earlier, Helmand provincial police chief Hussain Andiwal told Reuters a suicide car bomb attack on British troops in the Sangin district of Helmand had wounded three soldiers and two Afghan civilians.

#4: An ISAF helicopter made a precautionary landing near Kamdesh in the Nuristan province early this morning. There were no casualties of any type. Just before 7 a.m. the pilot of a UH-60 Blackhawk, used to carry troops and equipment, chose to make a precautionary landing in the Kamdesh valley. The incident is under investigation. Insurgent activity was reported in the vicinity when the helicopter made its precautionary landing. “But there is no clear indication that any fire was directed at the helicopter,” said Maj. John Thomas, ISAF spokesman.

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