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, August 4, 2007

Security Incidents for Saturday, August 04, 2007


A Google Earth map of what I believe is the Taqqadum Air Field.

(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Marine from enemy action in Al Anbar Province on Thursday, August 2nd.

(2) The DoD has announced a new American death in Afghanistan: Sergeant Taurean T. Harris, 22, of Liberty, Mississippi. Harris died in a roadside bomb attack in the vicinity of Kala Gush in Nuristan Province on Thursday, August 2nd. He was assigned to the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade out of Fort Gordon, GA.

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Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi Army convoy killed one civilian and wounded five others Saturday at a busy intersection in central Baghdad, police said. Four of the wounded were Iraqi soldiers, a police officer said on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.

#2: In western Baghdad, a mortar round landed on a house in Ghazaliyah, killing another civilian, another officer said on the same condition of anonymity

#3: A mortar bomb wounded one person in al-Salhiya district in central Baghdad, police said.

#4: Three people were wounded when two mortar bombs hit al-Firdous square in central Baghdad, police said.

#5: A civilian was killed and 3 others wounded in an IED explosion in Saidiyah neighborhood south Baghdad around 8,40 am.


Basra:
#1: A large fire broke out in Basra where British forces said they had struck a disused oil installation, returning fire after insurgents launched rockets or mortar rounds at an Iraqi security forces headquarters. A British military spokesman said there were no British or Iraqi military casualties.


Hawija:
#1: Gunmen wounded an Iraqi soldier in a drive-by shooting in Hawija, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

#2: Gunmen killed one person in a drive-by shooting in Haswa, 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.


Al Rashad:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded one policeman in the town of al-Rashad south of Kirkuk, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: In northern Iraq, a police lieutenant colonel was gunned down Saturday morning on his way to work. Ismail Salim Khudaeir, worked as deputy director of the provincial security affairs department in Kirkuk, a mixed city about 180 miles north of Baghdad. He was killed in a drive-by shooting around 8 a.m. while walking to work, said police colonel Anwar Qadir..

#2: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded three people in Kirkuk, police said.



Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A Marine assigned to Multi National Force-West died August 2 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province.



Afghanistan:
#1: Ten pro-Taliban gunmen and four soldiers were confirmed killed during an insurgent attack on a military base and a security checkpoint in Dosali near Miranshah, the capital of the tribal district of North Waziristan that borders Afghanistan. A two-hour firefight ensued around 3:30 am after government forces came under rocket fire. 'We have the bodies of 10 militants, while the attackers were seen fleeing with five more bodies,' army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. Four soldiers were injured in the attack.

#2: In a separate incident near the Afghan border, a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-packed car into another vehicle in the remote town of Parachinar in the Kurram Agency. Eight civilians and the attacker died and 35 people were injured, local administrator Sahibzada Anees-ur-Rehamn said. Many of the casualties taken to the main district hospital were in a critical condition, according to doctors. The target of the attack was not immediately clear

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