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


Friday, October 2, 2009

War News for Friday, October 02, 2009

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Corps-Iraq soldier in an indirect fire attack on Camp Liberty, Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday, October 1st.

The British MoD is reporting the death of an ISAF Airman in an IED attack near Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Thursday, October 1st.

The Washington Post is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in a RPG attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, October 1st. Several other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

Reuters is reporting the deaths of two U.S. ISAF service members in a suicide bombing in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, October 2nd.


Odierno: May not be possible to declare victory in Iraq:

Officials: Pakistan readies Waziristan offensive:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Three Katyusha rockets were fired from Ghazaliyah neighbourhood, western Baghdad towards Baghdad International Airport, Thursday, No casualties were reported.


Mosul:
#1: Police forces killed a gunman in northeastern Mosul, a security source said on Friday.“A force from the national information office of the Ninewa police managed on Thursday night (Oct. 1) to kill a gunman after chasing him in Daourt City in northeastern Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the gunman blackmailed an owner of a store, but the forces tracked down him and killed him and found an amount of money in his possession.

#2: A police patrol found the body of a twenty-year-old male in Thawra neighbourhood, Thursday. The body had signs of fire shots to the head and chest.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Also Friday, Afghan authorities reported that militants attacked a convoy of empty trucks returning to Pakistan after delivering supplies to a NATO base in Kunar province of eastern Afghanistan. One driver was killed, three were wounded and 13 trucks were burned, according to police chief Khalilullah Zaiyi.

#2: An al Qaeda-linked Uzbek militant leader was killed in Pakistan in a U.S. drone missile strike in August, Pakistani intelligence agency officials said on Friday. Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, was killed in a missile strike in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border, where he had been based for some years, they said.

#3: A mortar bomb fired by Pakistani security forces at a militant hideout in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border hit a house and killed four people, including two children, said administration official Ghulam Saeedullah.

#4: A bomb wounded five people in a busy market in Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border, a hotbed of support for al Qaeda and Taliban militants, government officials and witnesses said.

#5: Six militants were killed and nine others arrested during the ongoing search and clearance operations in northwest Pakistan, according to officials Friday. Pakistani security forces are continuing operations in various areas of Swat and Malakand, North West Frontier Province. Seven militants including a local commander were arrested and seven other suspected militants voluntarily surrendered, according to the Inter Service Public Relations.

#6: Meanwhile, at least three militants were killed while two others arrested by Security forces during search operation at Tehsil Nawagai in Bajur tribal agency on Friday, local officials said.

#7: Taliban insurgents burned two fuel tanker trucks Friday in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, nearly a month after a deadly airstrike on militant-hijacked petrol trucks in the same province. The trucks were transporting fuel to NATO forces from the Tajik border and were on their way to Kabul when they were ambushed by the Taliban, provincial Governor Mohammad Omar said. The attack happened on the outskirts of the provincial capital, also called Kunduz, Omar said, adding that both drivers were able to escape unharmed.



DoD: Staff Sgt. Alex French IV

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Christopher D. Shaw

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III

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