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


Wednesday, May 7, 2008

War News for Wednesday, May 07, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - West soldier who died in action against an enemy force in Al Anbar Province on Tuesday, May 6th. No other details were released.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an explosion in Sabari district, Khowst province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 7th. Two additional soldiers were wounded in the attack. No other details were released. We assume these to be American soldiers.


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: At least eight people were killed and 13 injured Wednesday when US aircraft bombed positions of the Mahdi Army militia in Sadr City in east Baghdad, according to witnesses. Fresh clashes between the Shiite Mahdi Army and US forces broke out Tuesday evening, the witnesses said.

Iraqi health officials said Wednesday that the clashes between U.S.-led forces and Shiite extremists left at least 28 people wounded in Sadr City.

#2: The U.S. military also on Wednesday said four militants and two U.S.-allied Sunni fighters were killed in northwest Baghdad when the Sunni guards responded to an attack Tuesday evening on a checkpoint, killing three attackers. Two Sunni guards later died in a hospital, it added.

#3: The military on Wednesday said four rockets fired by Shiite extremists from Sadr City landed in residential areas in downtown Baghdad and wounded seven Iraqis Tuesday evening. An attack aircraft responded on Tuesday evening, killing one militant, the military said.

#4: Around 7:45 a.m. a stick bomb exploded in a bus carrying employees of the Iraqi foreign ministry near Al Alawi area in central Baghdad injuring three employees, Iraqi police said.

#5: Around 10 a.m. a stick bomb exploded in a civilian car near Al Tayaran square in central Baghdad injuring one civilian.


Al Hay:
#1: Police imposed a curfew on the town of al-Hay, 200 km (120 miles) south of Baghdad, after clashes with militiamen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a raid on Sadr's office there, police said. Two people were wounded.


Kut:
#1: In southern Iraq, gunmen killed an Iraqi army officer in a drive-by-shooting in the Shiite city of Kut, police said


Al Numaniya:
#1: Gunmen shot dead an army officer as he left his house in al-Numaniya town, 120 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Yusufiya:
#1: Gunmen shot dead a teacher as he left his school on Tuesday afternoon in Yusufiya, 15 km (9 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Four Iraqi army soldiers were killed in clashes with insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a security source said Wednesday. 'An army patrol was engaged in clashes with a terrorist group Wednesday in a Mosul district, about 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, which left four patrol members dead,' the source added.

#2: Gunmen using explosives flattened a policeman's house in Al Yousif area in Mosul.

#3: Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint killing two soldiers.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A US soldier has been killed on patrol in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, the military said on Wednesday, without providing details on the circumstances.



Afghanistan:
#1: A roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two officers, an official said. The blast happened just outside the capital of Khost province as the officers traveled from their homes to work, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. The explosion was powerful and the car was destroyed in the blast, Pacha said.

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