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, September 21, 2009

War News for Monday, September 21, 2009

Sept. 17 airpower summary:

Sept. 18 airpower summary:

Soldiers' brain injuries from blasts in Afghanistan take a tollRead more:

Afghan police say more troops not the answer:

Report: More troops needed for Afghan war success:


Reported Security incidents:

Diyala Prv:
#1: Sunday The officer was shot dead by gunmen in military uniform at the town of Jalawlaa, 120 km northeast of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: Sunday In separate incident, a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol at the town of Sa'adiyah, some 110 km northeast of Baghdad ,wounding three officers and two soldiers, the source said.

#3: Sunday Also in the day, a policeman and a civilian were wounded when gunmen attacked a police checkpoint at the town of Maqdadiyah, 100km northeast of Baghdad, the source added.

#4: Sunday In Baquba, the capital city of Diyala province, two policemen were wounded in two attacks by unknown gunmen in the city during the day, while outside Baquba, a woman and a four-year-old child were wounded in land mine explosion in a farm at a rural area.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol in Yarmouk neighbourhood, Sunday, injuring two servicemen.


Tel Afar:
#1: A four-year-old child has been killed by random fire in Talafar district, a local security source said on Monday. “On Monday, the morgue in Mosul received the body of a child, who was killed by unknown fire in front of his house in al-Khadraa neighborhood on Sunday (Sept. 20) evening,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The source did not provide further details.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Three soldiers (Danish) from a different company were injured on Friday when their vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device in the province. The three were evacuated to the Camp Bastion field hospital and were well enough to contact relatives themselves.

#2: Police in North West Frontier Province killed a militant planning a suicide attack, said provincial police chief Malik Naveed Khan. Two provincial government ministers in the area may have been the target, Khan said.

#3: Militants killed a soldier and wounded five in an overnight attack on a checkpost in the South Waziristan ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, intelligence officials said. A militant spokesman said several soldiers were killed in the attack on two military posts


DoD: Pfc. Jeremiah J. Monroe

Posted by whisker at 4:16 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)