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, June 9, 2008

War News for Monday, June 09, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Coalition force Soldier (Multi-National Division - North) in a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device bombing in Ta’Mim province on Sunday, June 8th. Eighteen other soldier and two Iraqis were wounded in the attack.

The Canadian DND is reporting the death of Captain Jonathan (Jon) Sutherland Snyder in a freak accident when he fell into a well while on patrol in the Zhari District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on Saturday, June 7th. Here's the NATO statement.

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of three British ISAF soldiers in a suicide explosive device attack in 1km west of their Forward Operating Base in the Upper Sangin Valley, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Sunday, June 8th. One additional soldier was wounded in the attack. Here's the NATO statement.


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Meanwhile, a parked car packed with munitions exploded near a passing Iraqi army patrol in eastern Baghdad, killing three civilians and an army lieutenant, police said. The explosion wounded seven others, and damaged several cars and shops in a busy commercial district of Karrada, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.

A car bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol at Rashid Camp street (east Baghdad).Three people were killed (including 1 soldier) and 12 others wounded(included 4 soldiers and one officer).

#2: Two civilians were killed and five others wounded on Monday when a car rigged with explosives went off in the southern Baghdad district of Mujammaa al-Mashn, police said. "A car bomb pared on a roadside in Mujammaa al-Mashn, on the southern Baghdad al-Rashid camp highway, went off on Monday, leaving two people killed and five others wounded," a police source, who declined to have his name revealed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#3: Four bodies were found with gunshot wounds in different districts of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb detonated in Harthiyah neighborhood(central Baghdad)on Karkh bank. Five people were injured with no casualties reported of the American side.

#5: Mortars hit the green zone (IZ) where the Iraqi government headquarters and the foreign embassies are .No casualties reported.

#6: Gunmen killed three jewellers and wounded a fourth in an armed robbery in western Baghdad on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said. The attack took place in the afternoon when gunmen stormed three shops selling jewels in the Sayyd al-Halib marketplace in Mansour district and shot dead the jewellers by guns equipped with silencers, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. A fourth jeweller was seriously wounded by the attack, the source said. The attackers seized large amounts of jewels from the three shops, he added.

#7: Gunmen launched a (rocket) propelled grenade on a police patrol in Shaab neighborhood. Two policemen were injured.

#8: Police found three dead bodies in Baghdad: 2 were found in Karkh bank; 1 in Saidiyah and 1 in Shurta .While 1 was found in Talbiyah in Risafa bank.

#9: An Iraqi soldier was killed and five civilians wounded when an Iraqi army convoy was hit by an explosion in the Rusafa district of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Mortar shells fell on a residential building in the village of Sanija near Baquba, 57 kilometres north-east of Baghdad. One man was killed and three people from the same family were injured, according to the source.

#2: In the second attack, a bomb went off near a farmland in the village of Muradiyah near Baquba, injuring four women from the same family.

#3: Twenty-five unidentified bodies were buried in the al-Sharif cemetery in central Baaquba, a police source in the province of Diala said on Monday.

#4: (?) Also in Diyala, a hotbed of Sunni insurgency, a mass grave containing 25 decomposed bodies was uncovered by Iraqi troops and members of a tribal police force, medical officials told dpa. The discovery was made during search operations in the Qatun area, west of Baquba.

Baquba:
#1: A car bomb, targeting an Iraqi police checkpoint near a shopping centre in Baghdad's district of Karada, killed five people, including one policeman, and injured 10, police sources told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

#2: A roadside bomb killed a man driving a tractor just north of Baquba, police said.

Hibhib:
#1: Gunmen killed a former retired officer at Hibhib (north of Baquba).

Balad Ruz:
#1: Gunmen killed a woman in Balad Ruz (31 miles east of Baquba).

Muqdadiyah:
#1: Gunmen opened fire in Muqdadiyah town (30 miles northeast Baquba). Two people were seriously wounded in that attack.


Kut:
#1: Six Katyusha rockets on Monday hit al-Nuaamaniya base of the Georgian forces without leaving casualties, an Iraqi army source said.


Amara:
#1: An Iraqi policeman was killed by unidentified gunmen in central al-Amara on Monday, a security source within the Missan police command said. "Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a Basra province policeman who was driving by at the Industrial Zone in central Amara, killing him instantly," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. "The killed policeman was a driver for a police director in Basra," 590 km south of Baghdad, the source added, not giving more details about the incident.


Basra:
#1: The British base at the Basra International Airport came under attack with indirect fire during the early hours of Monday but caused no casualties or damage, the Multi-National Force (MNF) in southern Iraq said. "The base came under attack with more than 10 Katyusha rockets but left no casualties or damage," Cap. Chris Ford, the spokesman for the MNF in Basra, told Aswat al-Iraq


Tarmiya:
#1: A bomb exploded near a checkpoint controlled by a U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol, killing one person and wounding three others in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen stormed a house and killed two people in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen killed one policeman while he was on a foot patrol in western Mosul, police said.

#3: One policeman was wounded on Monday when an improvised explosive device exploded targeting his vehicle patrol in southwestern Mosul, said an official police source. "An improvised explosive device went off targeting a police vehicle patrol at al-Tawafa area in southwestern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#4: Gunmen launched a propelled grenade on joint forces from Iraqi police and American armies in Zanjili town .Two Iraqi policemen were injured.


Tal Afar:
#1: Two clans' chiefs were killed in an attack that was conducted by unknown gunmen targeting a house at Talafar suburb in west of Mosul, an official police source said on Monday. "Unknown gunmen attacked on Monday afternoon a house at al-Isslah al-Zeraee area in west of Mosul, and killed two chieftains of Talafar suburb, who were inside the house," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq on condition of anonymity. From his side, Najim Abdullah, head of Talafar's local council, told VOI that the two victims are "Sheikh Abdul-Noor Mohammed Noor al-Tahan, head of Obaid clan, and Sheikh Mohammed Khlail Hanash, head of al-Halabeek clan, and they are prominent figures in Talafar suburb, and they had an active role in the tribal meetings that aimed at reconciliation and rejecting violence inside the suburb."


Northwestern Iraq:
#1: American soldiers, acting on intelligence gleaned from Iraqis already in U.S. custody, approached a suspected militant safehouse Monday in a remote area of northwestern Iraq, the military said. Troops immediately came under heavy fire from a fortified enemy position, it said.
When U.S. forces called in airstrikes, "secondary explosions erupted from the target buildings, indicating weapons and bomb materials inside," a military statement said. Five men were confirmed dead, and multiple suicide vests and heavy machine guns were also discovered in the ruins of their hideout, it said.



Afghanistan:
#1: A BBC journalist working in Afghanistan’s Helmand province was found dead Sunday a day after he was kidnapped. Abdul Samad Rohani, a native Afghan and BBC regional reporter, was abducted from the city of Lashkar Gar on Saturday when his body was found dumped in a cemetery, apparently shot in the head, a spokeswoman for the pubcaster confirmed.

#2: At least four policemen were killed and two others were injured in attack on their van in northwestern Pakistan, local media reported Monday. The police mobile van came under attack at the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province, while patrolling late Sunday night, the News Network International (NNI) news agency quoted police as saying. The police said that unidentified gunmen opened fire at the mobile van, killing four policemen at the spot and injuring two others.

#3: Ghazni province's deputy governor Kazim Aliyar says three police died when a bomb ripped apart a police truck on patrol. Three police were wounded in Monday's blast in the eastern province.

#4: In the western province of Ghor, police chief Shah Jahan Noori says anti-government militants attacked a security post and killed two police. Three militants also died in Sunday's clash.

#5: The U.S.-led coalition says several militants were killed during a Sunday operation in Helmand that targeted a Taliban leader.

#6: Two oil tankers, carrying oil to Afghanistan, were blown up through a time device at the border town of Torkham on Sunday. However, no casualty was reported. The tankers were parked in a private area on the Pak-Afghan border, when some unidentified miscreants detonated them with explosives at 9:15pm.

#7: Insurgents attacked a police convoy in central Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 11 police and wounding one. The convoy attack occurred in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, said the province's deputy governor, Kazim Allayar. He said at least three police vehicles were destroyed. It was not immediately known if any insurgents were killed.

#8: A contracted supply aircraft for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISFA) was damaged by insurgent fire Monday morning in Nuristan province of eastern Afghanistan, the military alliance said.

Insurgents attacked an international military base in the northeastern province of Nuristan on Sunday, hitting a supply helicopter as it landed, the U.S. military said on Monday. Soldiers returned fire and called in airstrikes and the insurgents broke off their attack. No one at the base was hurt.

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