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, April 1, 2008

War News for Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Photo: An Iraqi army tank that was destroyed during clashes lies on a road in Basra, 340 miles south of Baghdad April 1, 2008.REUTERS/Atef Hassan


MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier in a roadside bombing in an northeastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday, March 31. No other details were released.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center Soldier in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl on Saturday, March 29th. He was wounded in a roadside bombing in south of Baghdad on Sunday, March 23rd. No other details were released.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A total of 923 civilians were killed in March, up 31 percent from February and the deadliest month since August 2007, according to data compiled by Iraq's interior, defence and health ministries and obtained by Reuters.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded four people, including two policemen, in Karrada district in central Baghdad, police said.

#3: Around 3 pm, 2 mortar shells hit Zafaraniyah neighborhood near the Al-Ali Al-Adheem mosque . Three people were injured with two houses destroyed in that incident.


Mahaweel:
#1: Police killed one gunman in clashes on Monday in Mahaweel, 75 km (45 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Lake Tharthar:
#1: Six fighters affiliated to anti-Qaida Awakening Council groups were gunned down by unknown gunmen in Salahudin province, a provincial police source said on Tuesday. "Gunmen in a convoy of vehicles approached on Monday evening a checkpoint manned by local Awakening Council fighters in an area near the al-Tharthar Lake and opened fire, killing six fighters," Col. Hasan Ahmed from the provincial police command told Xinhua. The gunmen were pretending as they were in a wedding procession in order to approach closer to the checkpoint, Ahmed said.


Mosul:
#1: One mortar bomb landed in eastern Mosul on Monday, killing one person, police said.

#2: Around 12 pm, a roadside bomb exploded by mistake killed five Sahwa members and injured three others .The Sahwa members found that IED at Shurqat in Mosul and they thought they defused it.



Afghanistan:
#1: A top Taliban commander who had escaped government custody twice was arrested in fighting that left three insurgents dead in southern Afghanistan, police said Tuesday. A Taliban force headed by Mullah Naqibullah attacked a police patrol Monday in Kakaran village, 12 kilometres north of Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand province, said Mohammad Hussain Andewal, provincial police chief. “The police returned their attack with small-arms fire and killed three Taliban militants,” Andewal said, adding, “After the gun battle calmed down, police discovered and arrested Mullah Naqibullah, who was wounded in the fighting.”

#2: Three civilians were killed as NATO aircraft targeted suspected position of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, a local official said Tuesday. "NATO aircraft pounded three persons all of them farmers when they were busy in irrigating their lands in Panjwai district Monday night killing the trio," Hajji Shah Baran the district chief of Panjwai told Xinhua.

Posted by whisker at 3:55 AM

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