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


Saturday, March 21, 2009

War News for Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Canadian DND/CF is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in an IED strike in the Zhari District, west of Kandahar City, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on Friday, March 20th. Five additional soldiers were wounded in the blast.

The Canadian DND/CF is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers in an IED strike in the Shah Wali Khot district, north-east of Kandahar city, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on Friday, March 20th. Three additional soldiers were wounded in the blast.

The VOA is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier during a hostile incident in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, March 20th. No other details were reported.


March 19 airpower summary:

Firebombing and Atom Bombing: an historical perspective on indiscriminate bombing:

Taliban have achieved strategic stalemate in Afghanistan: Miliband:

20 jailed militants freed in Pak’s Swat valley:

British Intelligence Showed Iraq Posed No Great Danger, Former Diplomat Says:

Indians, Pakistanis trade fire in Kashmir: Pakistan:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Friday Three people (two civilians and a policeman) were injured by two roadside bombs in Salman Faiq Street in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 7 p.m.


Hilla:
#1: A Sahwa council member was killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted his vehicle in Babel province, a police source said on Saturday. “A sticky explosive charge exploded inside a car belonging to a Sahwa council member in Sanidig area (60 km northwest of Hilla city),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.“The member was fatally wounded and died later in al-Maseeb hospital,” the source added.


Tikrit:
#1: A police chief in Salah al-Din province was wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted his vehicle in northern Tikrit city, a local security source said on Saturday. “Last night, an explosive charge detonated near a vehicle belonging to a police chief in al-Qadissiya neighborhood (northern Tikrit city), while he was heading home,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The official was slightly wounded in the blast, the source noted, adding that another device went off after bomb disposal experts had arrived on the scene, wounding one of them.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A SUICIDE car bomb attack killed five civilians and a policeman in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar today. The bomber attacked a police checkpoint in Chaparhar district of eastern Nangarhar province where officers were searching cars. Four more officers were injured.

#2: A police official says a bombing has killed five people near a shrine in eastern Afghanistan. Provincial police spokesman Wazir Pacha says five people have been wounded in Saturday's attack on the outskirts of Khost city in the eastern Afghan province with the same name.

#3: U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed one militant and detained four more during an operation in Zadran district, 135 km (85 miles) south of Kabul, the U.S. military said.

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