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


Sunday, December 9, 2007

News of the Day for Sunday, December 9, 2007

Cars burn after clashes erupted between Iraqi policemen and insurgents in the town of Buhriz, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007. (AP) And yet again, an incident reported only in a photo caption -- this was unmentioned in the AP dispatch for the day, nor was it reported anywhere else. It reminds us once again that the news we post here every day is far from complete. -- C

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

Three bodies found in various places on Saturday.

Iraqi security forces claim one suspected militant killed, 14 arrested, arms cache found. Two security force members injured in the operations.

Hillah

Roadside bomb attack on police convoy kills the police chief of Babil province, Brig. Gen. Qais al-Maamouri, and two of his bodyguards. Local security officials do not know whether the perpetrators were Shiite or Sunni militants (which they call "al Qaeda") but al-Maamouri has been known as an opponent of Shiite militias. Reuters gives the death toll of bodyguards as 5, but differs from all other sources in this.

Mosul

Attack on the convoy of the head of the Nineveh Provincial Council, Hisham Abdul Kareem al-Hamdani, damages a vehicle but he is apparently unscathed.

Baiji

Suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint kills 2 soldiers, injures 7. This is the second attack on security forces in this city in two days. Update: Here are a few more details, thanks to Whisker for the link.

Kut

Gunmen killed Iraqi army colonel Omran Mousa in a drive by-shooting. Aswat al-Iraq, without identifying the victim, gives some additional details. Victim was killed while entering his home, apparently a suspect is in custody.

Gunmen kidnap the driver of the head of the city's anti-crime department.

Shirqat

Insurgents blew up the house of a member of a neighbourhood patrol, wounding three members of his family .

Kirkuk

Two policemen wounded in roadside bomb attack on Saturday. (I believe this incident was reported too late for yesterday's post.)

Other News of the Day

Iraq Interior Ministry says it has assigned 3,000 undercover officers to track down members of the Baathist al-Awda (Return) Organization, led by Izzat Ibrahim al-Dori and Muhammad Younes al-Ahmad. I must say I am rather skeptical of the effectiveness of such a campaign. -- C

Dozens of internally displaced families demonstrate in front of the Green Zone, calling to be returned to their homes. Government officials promise to look into the matter.

UN News Service contradicts recent optimistic reports in the U.S. press about large numbers of Iraqi refugees returning to Iraq. Excerpt:

AMMAN, 9 December 2007 (IRIN) - Due to the fragile security situation in Iraq, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is not encouraging Iraqis in Jordan to return to their homeland, but it is ready to help those who are determined to do so, according to Imran Riza, UNHCR representative in Jordan.

"We still need to make a thorough evaluation of the situation before we can say it is safe [for them] to return. We are not in a position to encourage Iraqis to leave Jordan, but we are ready to help those who desire to do so," said Riza, who noted that the number of Iraqis returning to their country from Jordan is very small, in contrast to Syria where thousands of Iraqi asylum seekers are returning every day.

Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, more than two million Iraqis have fled to neighbouring countries, with Jordan (500,000-750,000) and Syria (1.2-1.4 million) hosting the greatest numbers.

Recent figures issued by UNHCR in Syria show that more Iraqis are leaving (1,500 a day) than entering (500 a day) the country.

As far as the Iraqi government is concerned, the return from Syria can be attributed to an improved security situation in Baghdad and other cities, but aid agencies say strict immigration rules and difficult financial conditions abroad were the catalysts propelling this movement.

In contrast, the majority of Iraqis in Jordan are well off with established businesses in Amman and other main cities. The Jordanian government allows Iraqis to own property and invest in the stock market. The fact that most Iraqi asylum seekers in Jordan are Sunnis makes it difficult for them to return, according to members of the Iraqi community.

"Sectarian violence remains the biggest threat for us because relatives in Baghdad say the Shia militias have not stopped random killings of Sunnis," said a Sunni Iraqi businessman from Rabia in Amman, who wished to be identified only by his first name, Samer.


Congressional Democrats cave on Iraq war funding. So what else is new? Excerpt:

WASHINGTON (AP) - After weeks of tough talk, Democrats appear resigned to back down again on providing money for the Iraq war.

What happened?

"Republicans, Republicans, Republicans," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "The real problem here is the president and his Republican backers" who have "staked out an increasingly hard-lined position."

Indeed, with Democrats holding a razor-thin majority in the Senate and with 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles, Senate Republicans were in a plum negotiating spot this month.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., insisted that if Democrats want legislation paying for government operations this year, they will have to include money for the Iraq war.

"Do Republicans have a tough stance on funding the troops in the field? Yes," said McConnell’s spokesman, Don Stewart. "Because we made a commitment to the troops overseas to give them the training and equipment and support that they need."

Democrats now are expected to allow Senate Republicans to attach tens of billions of dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a $500 billion-plus government-wide spending bill. That move would be in exchange for GOP support on the huge spending measure.

The war money would not be tied to troop withdrawals, as Democrats want. But it would let Democrats wrap up their long-unfinished budget work and go on vacation before Christmas. It also would spare them from criticism during the holiday recess by President George W. Bush for leaving work without providing money for the troops.


At regional security conference, Iraq's National Security Advisor Mouaffak al-Rubaie calls for a regional security pact including Iran, criticizes Saudi Arabia and Iran for "settling scores" on Iraqi soil. Subtext, of course, is rejection of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates's assertion that it is counterproductive to negotiate with Iran. However, as al-Rubaie depends on the U.S. military for every breath he draws, he is necessarily circumspect. -- C Excerpt:

MANAMA (AFP) - Iraq's National Security Advisor on Sunday called on Gulf states to form a regional security pact, which would include Iran, while he reassured the area's US allies that Baghdad is "heading West" in its foreign policies.

But Mouaffak al-Rubaie also criticised Saudi Arabia and Iran for what he called settling scores on Iraqi soil and called for regional reconciliation that put sectarian differences aside.

"It is extremely important to have a regional reconciliation rather than having this heightened sectarian tension in the region," he told delegates at a security conference held in the Bahraini capital Manama.

"That is why Iraq is looking seriously to call for a regional security pact like the good old (1954 anti-Soviet alliance) Baghdad Pact or a NATO-style pact, with a set agenda: counter terrorism, counter narcotics, counter religious extremism and counter sectarianism," he said.

The Iraqi official said security in the region was "indivisable. You cannot stabilise Iraq and destablise Iran, for example."

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi meanwhile agreed that Iran should be included in any regional security arrangement.

"It is our destiny to live with Iran... It is inevitable ... that we should work on regional arrangements that lead Iran to be a source of good to the region and not a source of harm," he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference, which Iran decided at the last minute not to attend.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had told participants on Saturday that Washington saw Tehran's foreign policies as a threat to the Middle East and all countries within the range of the missiles he said it was developing.

Rubaie meanwhile made it clear to the Sunni-dominated Gulf countries that Baghdad was set to strengthen its ties with the United States, in an apparent bid to dampen their concerns over the influence of Shiite Iran over the Iraqi govenment.


Quote of the Day

A pathological presidential liar, or an idiot-in-chief. It is the nightmare scenario of political science fiction: A critical juncture in our history and, contained in either answer, a president manifestly unfit to serve, and behind him in the vice presidency: an unapologetic war-monger who has long been seeing a world visible only to himself.


Keith Olbermann

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