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, November 20, 2008

War News for Thursday, November 20, 2008

Nov. 18 airpower summary:

US says American troops attacked in Philippines:

3 soldiers, 4 Kurish rebels killed in seperate clashes in SE Turkey:

Estonia Plans To Extend Iraq Military Presence To End-2009:

Gulf War Illness:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Wednesday Police found one dead body in Nasr neighborhood in Karkh bank in Baghdad today.

#2: A bomb attached to a car belonging to presidential guards wounded three of the guards in central Baghdad's Karrada district, police said.


Diyala Prv:
Al Saadiya:
#1: An Iraqi army officer was killed and a soldier was injured on Thursday while an attempt to defuse a bomb in Diala, a local official said. “An Iraqi army officer was killed and a soldier was injured when a bomb exploded while trying to defuse it near al-Saadiya district garage in northeast of Diala,” Aamer Refaat, member of the security committee of the Diala provincial council, told Aswat al-Iraq.


Kut:
#1: Gunmen stormed a house and killed five members of the same family, including two children, on Wednesday near the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said


Shwan:
#1: Police found the body of a woman with gun shot wounds in the town of Shwan, near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Dour:
#1: Six militants were killed and three villagers wounded on Wednesday during clashes between a local U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol and militants in a village near the town of Dour, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Ninewa Prv:
#1: Police forces on Thursday found five unidentified bodies in southwestern Ninewa, a police source said. “The bodies of five people, including two women, were found by policemen in Tal Abta district in al-Hadar district, southwest of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.“The bodies bore signs of gunshot wounds to the different parts of the bodies,” he added. “The corpses were found inside a civilian vehicle,” he highlighted, noting that the bodies were sent to the forensic medicine department.



Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide car bomber attacked a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, inflicting some casualties, a NATO force spokeswoman said. "We have ISAF casualties, but we don't know how many," said the spokeswoman, referring to NATO's International Security Assistance Force. The bomber blew himself up at the gate of the base, an Afghan district official in Khost province said.

A suicide bomber attacked a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, wounding two NATO soldiers and four Afghan nationals. The bomber attacked a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base in the Sabari district of the south-eastern province of Khost, an ISAF spokesman said. The spokesman, who requested anonymity, said two ISAF soldiers and four Afghan nationals were wounded in the attack but did not say whether the wounded Afghans were also security personnel.

#2: Meanwhile, Taliban militants ambushed a convoy Thursday in which the Gilan district governor of southern Ghazni province was travelling, sparking a fierce battle with security personnel escorting the convoy, said Sayed Ismail Jahangir, spokesman for the provincial governor. He said the district governor was unharmed but nine attackers, including their local commander, were killed. The security forces seized several motorbikes and weapons from the insurgents, he said, adding no Afghan police forces were killed in the gunbattle.

#3: At least 24 Islamic militants, including al-Qaeda-linked Uzbek fighters, were killed as Pakistani jets and artillery pounded their hideouts in the restive north-western tribal district of Bajaur, an intelligence official said Thursday. The shelling that started late Wednesday and continued Thursday in four areas of the district, which borders Afghanistan, also destroyed half a dozen bunkers and an ammunition depot belonging to the militants, the Pakistani official said.

#4: Suicide car bombing targeting compound of district government in eastern Afghan province of Khost killed one policeman and injured seven more on Thursday, said an official. Lutfullah Khan, the district chief of Duanandal, told Xinhua that it occurred at around 3:30 p.m. (1100 GMT) when the bomber drove a car laden with explosive material and blew himself up near the district compound, leaving one policeman dead and seven others wounded.

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