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, April 10, 2008

War News for Thursday, April 10, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an northeastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, April 9th. No other details were released.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a non-combat related injuries on Wednesday, April 9th. No other details or the location of death were released.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition force Soldier in a roadside bombing in an central neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, April 9th. No other details were released.

The U.S. Air Force is reporting the death of an Airman in combat operations near Forward Operating Base Poliwoda, Balad, Iraq on Wednesday, April 9th. No other details were released. We assume this to be a death previously unreleased by CENTCOM.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: At least four people have been killed in a US raid in Baghdad's Shia stronghold of Sadr City amid fresh fighting between Shia fighters and Iraqi security forces. Six people were also wounded in the air raid after midnight near the Al-Albaith mosque.

#2: In one incident, a combined US-Iraqi checkpoint was attacked from a nearby rooftop by small arms fire and troops retaliated, killing one of the attackers, a military statement said.

#3: Another four fighters were killed when troops retaliated after they were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades at a checkpoint.

#4: while a air raid on Wednesday night killed four armed men after they attacked Iraqi troops.

#5: The U.S. military said four gunmen were killed late Wednesday by Hellfire missiles targeting a group of men who firing at troops putting up concrete barriers around a checkpoint. However, police who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said two of those killed in the attack were brothers aged seven and nine.

#6: General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Baghdad operations, said in a statement that the Iraqi forces killed three militants in Azamiya district, while three Iraqi police were also killed.

#7: US helicopters continued Thursday to strike the Sadr City, witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Loud explosions could be heard in Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which has been encircled by US and Iraqi troops since March 25. Intensive attacks were reported occurring Wednesday and lasting until the early hours of Thursday. There however was no word as to the number of casualties.

US military carries out air strikes in Sadr city, northwest Baghdad, and Shoala, northeast Baghdad around dawn Thursday. No casualties report was available at the time of publication.

#8: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol, killing one civilian and wounding four, including two policemen, in central Baghdad, police said.

#9: A roadside bomb wounded six people, including three policemen, on patrol near al-Shaab National Stadium in central Baghdad, police said.

#10: A U.S. fighting vehicle took a rocket-propelled grenade round in northwestern Baghdad on Wednesday night, wounding one U.S. soldier, the U.S. military said.

#11: A U.S. vehicle in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, was struck by an improvised explosive device on Wednesday night and one U.S. soldier was wounded, the U.S. military said.

#12: An IED targeted a US military convoy on the main route from Baghdad al-Jadeeda to Sadr city at 3 am Thursday. No casualties were reported.

#13: A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near Sheik Abdulqadir al-Gailani Shrine, downtown Baghdad wounding 2 policemen and destroying their vehicle.

#14: A mortar round fell on a house in al-Shuhadaa, Bayaa area at 4.30 pm today, wounding 3 of its inhabitants and causing material damages to the house.

#15: 2 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police today. 1 in Ur and 1 in al-Alaam.


Mahmudiyah:
#1: Iraqi soldiers discovered 33 bodies in a mass grave at a house in Mahmudiyah south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. It said initial reports indicated the remains had been buried for more than a year. A number of mass graves have been uncovered in Iraq in recent months in the wake of rampant sectarian fighting in 2006-2007.


Tuz Khormato:
#1: Gunmen assassinated the Ministry of Interior's representative in the Directorate of Police in Tuz Khormatu, 110 km to the east of Tikrit. He was driving in the city centre with one of his relatives when gunmen opened fire upon the vehicle killing both the MOI representative and his relative at around 9.30 pm Wednesday.


Dor:
#1: Head of the Municipal Council of Dor, 160 km to the north of Baghdad survived an assassination attempt as a roadside bomb targeted his car when he drove to work at 9.30 this morning.


Hawija:
#1: In one incident, militants wearing police uniforms attacked a house in Kirkuk's Howija area in the early hours of Thursday. Two brothers were killed and their father was wounded in the attack, police sources said.

In the town of Hawija near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen wearing army uniforms attacked a house, killing two boys and wounding the mother and father.


Kirkuk:
#1: A police officer and his nephew were killed when militants attacked them on their way to work in Jamila district in Kirkuk.

#2: Another civilian was killed when militants open fire at him near his house in Rashad area, southern Kirkuk, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Two car bombs targeting checkpoints in Mosul, Iraq, exploded, killing three people and injuring as many as 30 others, U.S. military officials said. In the Mosul bombings, officials told CNN a police truck was destroyed and two buildings were set on fire because of the bombings aimed at police checkpoints.

#2: 8 mortar rounds fell on a residential neighbourhood, al-Sumood, south Mosul, wounding 11 civilians including women and children.

#3: A member of the PUK was killed by gunmen today, Thursday. He was abducted between Amian and Ismawa, east Nineveh Wednesday evening on his way home.



Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide attack on a NATO convoy killed eight civilians and wounded 22 others today in southern Afghanistan, an official said. The car bomber blew himself up shortly after a NATO convoy passed near him in Kandahar city, said provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib. No NATO troops were wounded in the blast, he said. The 22 wounded included two policemen and seven people who were in serious condition, Saqib said.



Casualty Reports:

Staff Sgt. Brian Moore, a New Hampshire National Guard member from West Topsham, Vt., was hospitalized after an attack on a base in Iraq. Fourteen soldiers from the 237th Military Police Company were wounded in the attack on Camp Rustamiyah in southeastern Baghdad on Sunday. Brian Moore sustained a severe concussion when he was thrown into a cement wall by the force of the blast, according to his brother. He was also treated for wounds to his back caused by shrapnel from the explosion. While Moore initially lost feeling in his lower body, he now has sensation in all his limbs and is making a full recovery, his brother said.

U.S. Army Sgt. John Borders was engaged in a routine security patrol On January 5, 2006, about an hour and a half outside of Taji, Iraq. An improvised explosive devise went off under the driver's side of the Humvee that Borders was driving. The vehicle was blown apart. Borders landed, critically injured, in a grimy canal. He suffered from burns, a lacerated liver, lung contusions and multiple shrapnel injuries. Nearly all his bones were broken, said his father-in-law, John Lovill. Since then, Borders has had more than 50 surgeries, including one to remove his right leg.

0 comments: