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


Monday, April 21, 2008

War News for Monday, April 01, 2008

Baghdad:
#1: Six people died in clashes in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City on Monday. A police commander said the dead in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City included three policemen and three civilians. Four other civilians were injured in the violence, according to the officer who asked not to be named since he was not authorized to release the information.

The two hospitals in Sadr City said on Monday they had received 14 dead and 55 wounded since Sunday morning.

#2: US warplanes bombed the east Baghdad district of Sadr City overnight, where Shiite militiamen are battling security forces, residents said on Monday, as the American military reported another five people killed in the embattled township.

#3: About two hours later, according to witnesses, helicopters fired missiles at four targets in Sadr City, where hundreds of people have died since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias across Iraq in late March.

#4: It said another gunman was killed and two wounded when they attacked a military observation post in Sadr City and US troops returned fire.

#5: Militants fired a rocket on Sunday that landed in the Kadhimiya area of northern Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding eight, the U.S. military said.

#6: Also in Kadhimiya, an improvised explosive device detonated in front of a U.S. patrol, killing one civilian and wounding three, the U.S. military said.

#7-9: Three council members, including a woman, were seriously wounded in different incidents when bombs were attached to their cars in different areas of Baghdad, police said.

#7: Around 8 am, three IEDs planted in three cars targeted employees of the Cabinet office. The first one was in Dora and the employee was driving his own car the BMW when it exploded and he was injured in that incident.

#8: The second one targeted another employee who was injured as he was driving his Hyundai car with another passenger who was sitting by him.

#9: The third one targeted a female employee’s car at Alawi neighborhood. She was injured in that incident.

#10: Three policemen were killed and four civilians wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol on Sunday in the New Baghdad district, police said.

#11: Around 10 am, two roadside bombs targeted two cars near the red crescent in Mansour neighborhood .No casualties reported.

#12: Around 11 am, random clashes took place at Rubayee street of Zayuna (east Baghdad). Six people were killed including a woman in that incident.

#13: Around 3:20 pm, mortars hit the green zone (IZ) in central Baghdad.No casualties reported.

#14: Around 4 pm, a roadside bomb targeted a KIA mini bus near the oil marketing headquarter at Zayuna neighborhood (east Baghdad). One person was killed and five others were injured in that incident.

#15: Around 4 pm, a mortar shell hit Mashtal neighborhood (east Baghdad). Two people were injured in that incident.

#16: Around 4 pm, clashes took place at Mashtal neighborhood (east Baghdad) between the Iraqi army and the Mahdi army . Five people were injured in that clashes.

#17: Around 6 and 6:30 pm, two Katyusha missiles hit the Supreme council headquarters .No casualties reported.

#18: Around 6:10 pm, a Katyusha missile hit the Salhiyah compound (central Baghdad).No casualties recorded ,but some cars were damaged in that incident.

#19: Police found 4 dead bodies in Baghdad today: (3) were found in east Baghdad (Risafa bank); 1 was in Zayuna , 1 was in Husseiniyah and 1 was in Mashtal. While(1) was found in Dora.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A woman suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew herself up Monday at a checkpoint manned by tribal police in Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, killing three of them, police said. Seven tribal policemen from Awakening Council were also injured in the attack in Mafraq area west of Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest near a joint checkpoint of Iraqi and U.S. forces in the district of Kanaan, Baaquba, during the early hours of Monday but left no casualties, a security source said.


Basra:
#1: A bomb hit a British army patrol Monday in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, damaging a military vehicle, eyewitnesses said. The bomb went off as the British patrol was passing at a crossroad between Basra airport and Qaziz, north of Basra, 550 kilometres south of Iraq, the witnesses said.

The U.S. military says a roadside bomb hit one of its convoys in the southern city of Basra, causing casualties. The military has given no further details. AP Television News footage from Basra showed smoke rising from a vehicle burning on a highway overpass. U.S. troops and Humvees blocked access to the scene.


Southern Iraq:
#1: The Iraqi Defence Ministry said Iraqi forces killed 30 militants in southern Iraq over the past 24 hours.


Sulaiman Pek:
#1: Gunmen killed a police captain near his house on Sunday in the town of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A policeman was killed and four wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Kirkuk, police said.

A Kurdish official and four of his escorts were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their vehicle in central Kirkuk on Monday, an official police source said. "An IED targeted the vehicle of Jabbar al-Hadj Jalal, the official in charge of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) relations department, when he was heading to his work in Sahat al-Tayaran area in central Kirkuk, wounding him and four of his escorts," the source, who refused to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Mosul:
#1: Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a civilian in al-Islah al-Zeraei region in western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) on condition of anonymity.

#2: Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Ninewa operations, Brigadier Khaled Abdul Sattar, told VOI that an improvised explosive device went off targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Jameaa neighborhood in northern Mosul, wounding two policemen.

#3: Policemen found a driver’s body after hours of being kidnapped,” the brigadier added.“The forces found the body of a driver from Ninewa’s water department in al-Haramat region in western Mosul,” he explained.“Gunmen kidnapped him in 17 Tamouz region in western Mosul this morning and took him to unknown place,” Abdul Sattar highlighted.



Afghanistan:
#1: Clashes and airstrikes in southern Afghanistan killed 11 Taliban militants, the country's Defense Ministry said Monday. Afghan and foreign troops clashed with Taliban fighters and called in airstrikes Sunday in Garmser district of Helmand province, leaving seven militants dead, the ministry said.

#2: Four other militants were killed Sunday after they ambushed an Afghan army patrol in Kandahar province, the ministry said in a statement.

#3: Separately, a roadside bomb hit an Afghan army patrol in Zabul province, wounding five soldiers, the ministry said.

#4: A roadside blast hit a U.S. military vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Monday, causing minor injuries, the military said. The roadside bomb struck a vehicle in the southern Kandahar province, said Lt. Col. Paul Fanning, a U.S. military spokesman. There were no deaths, but a "couple of soldiers" were lightly wounded, he said.


Casualty Reports:

Jose Pequeno, a sergeant in the National Guard was left with severe head injuries after a roadside bomb tore through his Humvee while on patrol near Ramadi in March 2006. He has been receiving treatment at the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., ever since.

Justin Kuehnle, 21, was injured when he hit a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq.

0 comments: