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, December 1, 2007

War News for Saturday, December 01, 2007

The Boston Globe is reporting the death of a soldier who died in an explosion in Baquba, Diyala Province on Friday, November 30th.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded three police commandos when it targeted their patrol in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, police said.

#2: A bomb left in a taxi wounded the driver and another person in the New Baghdad district of the capital, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb went off, this morning, in al-Hurriya city, northern Baghdad, wounding four civilians," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#4: Also in a separate incident, a bomb "stashed in a mini-bus exploded in Baghdad al-Jadiydah area, southeastern Baghdad, leaving four civilians wounded," the same source said.

#5: Around 4,00 pm, an IED exploded targeting a national police patrol in Mansour neighborhood west Baghdad. No casualties reported.


Diyala Prv:
Dwelah:
#1: Dozens of suspected al-Qaida militants stormed a Shiite village north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 13 people and torching homes, police said. The attack on the predominantly Shiite village of Dwelah, about 45 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province, began at about 6:30 a.m. with a bombardment of mortar rounds, a police officer said. Then 50 to 60 armed militants streamed in and opened fire, forcing families to flee. The militants burned homes and killed at least 13 villagers, including three children and two women, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information about the attack. Fourteen villagers were wounded.
The villagers apparently also fought back, and three gunmen were killed in the attack in one of Iraq's most violent regions, police said.

Some 35 villagers others were kidnapped in the attack that also caused severe damage to eight houses," he added.

Baquba:
#1: Iraqi army's 5th Division troops and Diala police, backed by the Multi-National Forces, launched a security crackdown in al-Makhisah village, killing eight al-Qaeda militants and wounded four," General Abdel Karim al-Rubaie, Diala Operations Commander, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Al-Makhisah village is located near Baaquba city.

Duluiyah:
#1: In the same area in the town of Duluiyah, a suicide attacker cornered in his home by local volunteers in the U.S.-backed program blew himself up on Friday, killing one of the fighters and wounding two, a police officer said.

#2: Just a few miles north of that attack, insurgents killed another of the local guards, members of a so-called Awakening Council, another security official said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details of the attack.


Iskandariya:
#1: And about 30 miles south of the capital, militants stormed a Sunni village just outside Iskandariyah, killing three of the Awakening members and abducting five on Friday, including the village's tribal chief, according to Ahmed al-Azawi, spokesman for the Awakening Council and an Iskandariyah police officer.


Najaf:
#1: One individual was killed and another was wounded while planting an improvised explosive device in Iraq's most holy Shiite city of Najaf on Saturday, according to Iraqi authorities.


Salman Pak:
#1: A suicide attack killed one civilian and wounded five others in Salman Pak, 45 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Tikrit:
#1: Police found an anonymous body of a civilian on Samarra- Door street south of Tikrit city around 11,15 am.


Al Anbar Prv:
Amarah:
#1: Also in Iraq's south, gunmen abducted the dean of a technical institute in Amarah, a Shiite militia stronghold about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, leaving behind his car and driver, according to an aide. Raid al-Saaiy was taken away by gunmen in a pickup truck, said the aide, Ahmed Ajeel.


Kurdistan:
#1: The Turkish army says it has inflicted "heavy losses" on rebels from the Kurdish separatist PKK movement across the border in Iraq. The army said it fired on a group of about 50 rebels. It was not immediately clear whether troops entered Iraq.


Afghanistan::
#1: Four Taleban rebels were killed when their ammunition exploded during a wedding party they attended as special guests in a southern Afghan village, police said Saturday. Eight other Islamic rebels were injured in the blast in southern Zabul province late on Friday, provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqoub told AFP. It was not yet known what triggered the blast, he added.

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