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


Friday, January 18, 2008

War News for Friday, January 18, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier in a an improvised explosive device attack north of Baghdad on Friday, January 18.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Two Iraqis were killed and four others injured in a bomb attack in Baghdad on Friday, a well-informed police source said. "A roadside bomb detonated near furniture's factory in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Ur, killing two civilians and wounding four others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

A woman and a girl child were killed and three others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near a U.S. patrol in the neighborhood of Ur, eastern Baghdad, on Friday, police said. The IED went off when a U.S. convoy was passing in Ur neighborhood, eastern Baghdad, meters away from a joint Iraqi army and police checkpoint in the area," an Iraqi police source, who refused to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

#2: 2 unidentified bodies were found by Iraqi Police in Baghdad today.1 in Saidiyah and 1 in New Baghdad

#3: A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations north of Baghdad Jan. 18.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: Two policemen were killed and two wounded when a bomb exploded in a house they were searching in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Two policemen were killed and two wounded when gunmen attacked a police patrol in al-Wejaiheiah east of Baquba, police said.

Muqdadiyah:
#1: In Muqdadiyah city, some 100 kilometres north-east of Iraq's capital Baghdad, US forces killed four suspects on Thursday during an operation targeting al-Qaeda, according to a US military statement.

#2: 3 unidentified bodies were found in Shirween village, Muqdadiyah district by Iraqi Army this afternoon. One body was decapitated.

Jalawla:
#1: U.S. soldiers killed six people, including two women, during raids against al Qaeda near the town of Jalawla, 120 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province, the U.S. military said. Ground troops and support aircraft returned fire on a building in Jalawla, killing three suspected al Qaeda fighters. The bodies of two women were found inside the building along with another two women who were wounded. In a separate raid nearby, U.S. forces killed a man who ignored warning shots when he emerged from another building, the military said.


Nassiriya:
#1: Iraqi police clashed with gunmen from a Shi'ite cult who staged a series of hit-and-run raids in two southern cities on Friday, security officials said. Witnesses in Iraq's southern oil hub of Basra and Nassiriya said at least four people may have been killed in the violence, in which gunmen were reported to be using heavy machine guns and mortars.

A policeman in Nassiriya, 235 miles southeast of Baghdad, said three policemen may have been killed in clashes there but the reports could not be verified immediately.

At least 10 people including a police major-general and two colonels were killed in Nassiriya, hospital and police officials said. Hospital officials said 53 people had been wounded. Witnesses said gunmen from the "Soldiers of Heaven" attacked four police stations in the city.

Iraq's security forces clashed with gunmen of a Shiite militia in the southern city of Nassiriya on Friday, leaving at least 50 people dead, security and health sources said. The sources said more than 70 were also wounded in the clashes between members of the so-called "Soldiers of Heaven" and Iraqi security troops in the capital city of Dhi Qar province, some 390 km south of Baghdad. Among the dead were Colonel Naji Rostam al-Jabiry, commander of Nassiriya's emergency troops. and Colonel Zamil Bader al-Romadl, deputy chief of the criminal intelligence.


Basra:
#1: At least two policemen were injured on Friday as violence flared in the Iraqi city of Basra, some 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, security sources said. The two were wounded when militants fired on a police patrol in the Maqal area in southern Basra, sources told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

In central Basra, a Reuters cameraman said he saw the bullet-riddled body of one man lying in a street, as well as a policeman who had been shot in the arm.

#2: Iraqi police clashed with gunmen from a Shi'ite cult who staged a series of hit-and-run raids in two southern cities on Friday, security officials said. Witnesses in Iraq's southern oil hub of Basra and Nassiriya said at least four people may have been killed in the violence, in which gunmen were reported to be using heavy machine guns and mortars.

#3: Dr. Luma Salih, an attendant doctor was killed by sniper fire as she left the hospital on her way home this afternoon. The general hospital is located in Ma’qel, 8 km to the north of Basra city.


Kirkuk:
#1: 8 members of the Islamic State of Iraq were killed as they passed the village of Sa’diyah, Abbassi district, west Kirkuk. The Chief of suburban police in Kirkuk, Brigadier Sarhad Qadir said that it is probable that the attack was carried out by members of the Sahwa who are behind clensing the area from these Qaeda members.


Mosul:
#1: in the northern city of Mosul and near Lake Hamrin, five terrorist suspects were killed and another 17 were arrested, said US statements.



Afghanistan:
#1: Helicopter gunships fired on vehicles carrying suspected Islamic militants close to the Afghan border, killing eight of them, the military said on Friday. The eight were killed when Cobra gunships fired on two vehicles carrying rebels near one of two forts that came under rebel attack earlier this week in South Waziristan, the military said in a statement.

#2: fighting Friday killed two people close to the village of Chakmalai in the same province, said Alam Sher, a medical orderly stationed there. He said that a large number of infantrymen had moved in under the protection of helicopter gunships. An intelligence official in the region confirmed that fighting was going on in Chakmalai and that the army and paramilitary Frontier Constabulary were trying to clear the area of pro-Taliban insurgents.



Casualty Reports:

Chris McGraw, 30, a staff sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division, was wounded when his unit encountered fire Tuesday, leaving three soldiers dead, said Kevin, a 23-year-old Sandusky firefighter. Chris was treated at a military hospital in Germany for a bullet wound in his left shoulder and a badly injured right arm.

Spc. Randy Moore, 23, is in critical condition in a hospital in Germany after an explosion in Iraq on Sunday. He was on life support but he’s been breathing on his own, so that’s good,” McCloy said.She said he lost his left hand and the doctors are hoping to save his left arm and his legs. “He had a lot of shrapnel cuts on his legs,” she said. Much of his body has burns. His spine is fractured. “The doctors are feeling confident that they can save his legs,” McCloy said. She said an improvised explosive devise, or IED, hit near Moore’s Humvee when he was near heavy fighting around Baghdad Sunday.

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