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


Thursday, December 13, 2007

War News for Thursday, December 13, 2007

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF service member who died when an IED struck their convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, December 12th. Three other ISAF soldiers were also wounded. No other details were released. We assume this to be a U.S. soldier.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: The Iraqi army killed one gunman and detained 26 suspects over last 24 hours in Iraq, the Defence ministry said.

#2: Three bombs overnight targeted shops selling alcohol in Baghdad. The shops were damaged but there were no casualties reported, police said.

Around 5:30 a.m. an IED targeted Alcohol shop in Al Karrada near Al Tahriyat square causing damages to the shop.

Around 5:30 a.m. two IED's targeted Alcohol shop near Al Amana bus station in Karrada causing damages to the shop. Police defused third IED in the site.

#3: Gunmen killed a contractor working with U.S. forces in a drive-by shooting in Mansour district of western Baghdad, police said.

#4: Gunmen attacked the dean of Baghdad's University of Technology as he drove in northern Baghdad, wounding him seriously. His daughter was also hurt, police said.

#5: An explosive charge went off in al-Zaafaraniya region in eastern Baghdad, destroying a nearby car," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The explosion left no casualties," he noted.

#6: an Iraqi was killed and five people were wounded Thursday when a car bomb detonated near the Italian Embassy in northern Baghdad's Adhamiya neighborhood, an Interior Ministry official said. Meanwhile the Italian Embassy confirmed the bombing in northern Baghdad's Adhamiya neighborhood which killed one person but had no further details about the incident. Three police were among the wounded when the parked car blew up, the official said.

A car bomb, parked on the main road, went off this afternoon when a police vehicle patrol was passing in al-Wazieriya region in northeastern Baghdad," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#7: Meanwhile, a security source said that an explosive charge exploded on Thursday afternoon near an Iraqi army vehicle patrol on the Mohammad al-Qassem highway near Baghdad al-Jadida region."No word was immediately available on casualties," he noted.

#8: Police found three bodies in Baghdad, in Qahira, Doura and Amil.


Diyala Prv:
Muqdadiya:
#1: Sixteen dead bodies were found on Thursday in a ditch in a town north of Baghdad within Iraq's most violent province, police said. Police said the bodies found near Muqdadiya in Diyala province, all adult males, appeared to have been killed recently. Twelve of them had been beheaded, the other four shot in the head.

Baquba:
#1: Gunmen killed a woman in Al Tahrir neighborhood in Baqouba.

#2: Police found four bodies in Baqouba.


Basra:
#1: Six Katyusha rockets were fired at Basra International Airport at an early hour on Thursday morning, but no casualties have been announced, an official Iraqi police source said. British forces did not indicate whether the troops sustained any casualties.


Samarra:
#1: Iraqi police killed five gunmen believed to be Arabs from foreign countries on Wednesday in eastern Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Dour:
#1: Police found the bodies of a father and son riddled with bullets in the town of Dour, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, near Tikrit.

#2: Police said the body of a policeman was also found in the town on Wednesday, shot in the head.


Hawija:
#1: A body with gunshot wounds was found inside an unfinished house in central Hawija, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Three unidentified gunmen opened fire on a female hairdresser when they stormed her house on Wednesday night in al-Karama neighborhood in eastern Mosul, killing her instantly, and fled the place," Brigadier Abdul Karim al-Juburi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#2: The brigadier also said that "Two cops, including a lieutenant, were injured on Thursday morning when in an armed group attack in al-Masaref region in northern Mosul." "An explosive charge was detonated this morning near a bulldozer in al-Nour neighborhood in northeastern Mosul, injuring three policemen and one civilian," a police source said. "A police patrol was near a bulldozer while trying to open a sealed road and remove road blocs when an explosive charge went off, injuring the bulldozer's driver and the three cops," he explained.

#3: Meanwhile, the same source said that police forces this morning managed to defuse four bombs in al-Sanaa al-Qadeema region in western Mosul.


Khanaqin:
#1: In the Kurdish dominated town of Khanaqin, 90 miles northeast of Baghdad near the Iranian border, a roadside bomb killed four civilians and wounded 12 on Wednesday, said Col. Azad Eisa of the Khanaqin police


Al Anbar Prv:
Hit:
#1: A suicide car bomb targeted the convoy of the mayor of Hit, a town in the western province of Anbar, killing two of his bodyguards and wounding six others including three civilians on Wednesday, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: A civilian car hit a freshly planted land mine in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing six people and wounding six others, and Taliban militants beheaded a woman they accused of spying and her grandson, officials said. The blast ripped through the car as it traveled on a road outside the town of Tirin Kot, in Uruzgan province, a ministry statement said.

#2: In Uruzgan's Dihrawud district, Taliban militants beheaded a 60-year-old woman and her grandson on Wednesday, said provincial police chief, Juma Gul Himat. The militants accused the woman of spying for government and NATO forces.

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