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


Tuesday, December 18, 2007

War News for Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Baghdad:
#1: Nine bodies were found in different districts of Baghdad on Monday, police said.

#2: A mortar round wounded one Iraqi soldier and two civilians in western Baghdad's Jamiaa district, police said.

#3: Meanwhile, a car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded in central Baghdad Tuesday afternoon. Two policeman were killed, as were two civilians, police said. Eight other people were wounded.

#4: Around 8,15 am, an IED exploded near the rare gate of Mustansiriyah University in Waziriyah neighborhood east Baghdad. No casualties reported.

#5: Around 9,00 am, an IED exploded in Al Amirat Street in Mnsour neighborhood west Baghdad. No casualties reported.

#6: gunmen in two cars opened fire on a car carrying employees of a government body tasked with purging former president Saddam Hussein's Baath Party members in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of al-Qahira, the source said. The attack resulted in the killing of an employee and the injuring of two others, he added.

#7: Two roadside bombings were reported as well, both in western Baghdad. One wounded four people, including three Iraqi soldiers

#8: Dean of al-Ma'moun college, Mohammed Abdulhasen al-Mayahi, was shot dead by gunmen as he got out of his car in front of his home in Qadisiyah neighbourhood, central Baghdad at
06:30 pm. The gunmen, in a civilian vehicle, used silencers.

#9: 5 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police today. 1 in Shaab, 2 in Slaikh, 1 in Doura and 1 in Saidiyah.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A suicide car bomber killed one policeman, one civilian and wounded 15 people including three policemen and three children, when it attacked a police checkpoint in western Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Al-Abbara:
#1: A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a cafe in the town of Al-Abbara, in the province of Diyala, killing 16 people and wounding 24, police Lieutenant Colonel Najim al-Sumadaie from Baquba told AFP. Doctor Firaz al-Azzawi of Baquba hospital confirmed the toll.


Numaniya:
#1: Gunmen killed a Mehdi Army leader and wounded three of his guards on Monday in the town of Numaniya, 120 km (72 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


al-Zubair:
#1: One civilian was killed and three others, including a woman, were wounded by unidentified gunmen fire on west of Basra province on Monday evening, an eyewitness said."Unidentified gunmen in two vehicles opened drive-by fire at four members of the same family who were on their way from al-Jumhuri hospital to their home in al-Zubair district, (35 km) west of Basra, near the al-Marbad fuel station," the witness, who is a relative of the victims, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity


Hawija:
#1: In an unrelated overnight raid, about 250 Iraqi police raided three villages near Hawija, about 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk, in an operation against suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants, said provincial police chief Brig. Sarhat Qadir.


Mosul:
#1: Six elements from the oil establishments protection force were killed on Tuesday morning in an armed attack near their checkpoint southwest of Mosul, the director of the Ninewa police department's operations room said."Six elements from the oil facilities protection force were killed in an armed attack against their checkpoint near al-Hadar district," Brigadier Abdul Karim al-Juburi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI)."Unidentified gunmen attacked the chekpoint, killing the six elements and setting two vehicles ablaze," he added.


Sinjar:
#1: Gunmen killed seven men and wounded two others from the minority Yazidi sect when they stormed into their home near the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar late on Monday, the town mayor and local police said. Mayor Dakheel Qasim Hassoun said the victims were all from the same extended family.

#2: Later, as a police patrol attempted to retrieve the bodies and evacuate the wounded, a roadside bomb wounded three policemen and a gunbattle with militants ensued in which police killed three militants.


Irbil Prv:
#1: The Turkish army sent soldiers about three kilometers (1 1/2 miles) into northern Iraq in an overnight operation on Tuesday, Kurdish officials said. A Turkish official said the troops, seeking Kurdish rebels, were still in Iraq by midmorning. The Turkish forces crossed into an area near the border with Iran, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the city of Irbil, said Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for Kurdistan's Peshmerga security forces. About 300 Turkish troops crossed the border at 3 a.m. (0000GMT), said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the regional Kurdistan government. He said the region was a deserted mountainous frontier area.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: U.S. army killed a civilian in the city of Falluja while he was passing near a U.S. army patrol, a police source said on Tuesday."U.S. forces opened fire at a 15-year civilian young man near the western outlet of the city because he was driving his civilian car near a U.S. army vehicle patrol towards the Falluja public hospital," the source, who did not want to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).»"The forces showered the young man with bullets, killing him on the spot," he noted."The body was sent to the hospital first then to his family's house to be buried," the source added."The forces searched the car after the incident and found no weapons inside it," he noted.No word was available from the U.S. army on the incident.



Afghanistan
#1: Taliban insurgents Tuesday ambushed and killed 15 Afghan security guards working for a US private security firm in western Afghan province of Farah, a top official said. 'The US Protection and Investigations (USPI) guards were passing by the Bala Buluk district of Farah at around 5 a.m. when the Taliban insurgents launched the attack,' said Muhaiding Baluch, the provincial governor. Five guards were wounded and two fuel tankers were destroyed by Taliban insurgents in the ambush, Baluch said and added that six Taliban militants were also killed when the guards retaliated.

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