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


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

War News for Thursday, October 27, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier at Selly Oak Hospital, England on Sunday, October 25th. The soldier was originally wounded in an IED attack in Kandahar province on Tuesday, September 15th.

The Washington Post is reporting the deaths of eight American ISAF "troops" in multiple complex bomb attacks in undisclosed locations in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, October 27th. One Afghani civilian was also killed and "several" other soldiers ware wounded in the attacks.


U.S. military ready to pack up bags after Iraq poll:

Ex-Gitmo detainees sue UK to make evidence public:

German Limits on War Are Facing Reality in Afghanistan:

Iraq Reaches Voting Deal as Toll Rises in Bombings: The details of that agreement were not revealed. (sort of a waste to publish an article without any details.)


Reported security incidents

Mosul:
#1: Police forces defused two explosive charges in central Mosul on Monday, a police source said. “A police force managed to defuse a bomb, which was placed under the social security network department near the Ninewa provincial council in central Mosul, without damage,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The same force defused another explosive device, placed near the first bomb,” he added.

#2: Gunmen riding bicycles opened fire killing a young Turkoman in west Mosul on Monday morning.

#3: U.S. forces killed a civilian and arrested four of his brothers in west of Mosul on Tuesday, according to a security source. “U.S. troops raided Tuesday morning (Oct. 27) a house in Tal Zalat village, west of Mosul, where they killed a civilian and arrested four of his brothers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Unknown gunmen shot and killed a civilian in Bab al-Saray market in central Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: Another civilian was killed by gunmen in al-Sergkhana region, central Mosul,” he added.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three policemen and one civilian were wounded by a roadside bomb that targeted the Iraqi police in downtown Falluja city on Monday afternoon.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A brigadier escaped assassination Tuesday in Islamabad. No one was hurt in the Islamabad attack. "Brigadier Waqar Ahmed, who was posted at GHQ, was accompanied by his mother and driver and was going to a local hospital when terrorists fired bullets on him," police officer Khurshid Khan told a foreign news agency. "Luckily all of them survived," he said.

#2: Pakistan's army pushed deeper into a Taliban sanctuary close to the Afghan border Tuesday, killing 42 alleged militants in the latest stage of an offensive against extremists blamed for surging suicide attacks. An army statement said troops were progressing well on three fronts in South Waziristan, but were meeting resistance. It said over the last 24 hours, at least 42 militants and one solider had been killed.

#3: Taliban militants laid ambush on police patrol in Zabul province south of Afghanistan, leaving five policemen dead, a senior police officer General Abdul Razeq said Tuesday, Xinhua reported. "Militants opened fire on police when they were on patrol in Shumanzai district Tuesday night, killing five policemen," Razeq told Xinhua. He added that four militants were also killed in the gun battle lasted for a while.


DoD: Spc. Eric N. Lembke

DoD: Pfc. Kimble A. Han

DoD: Cpl. Gregory M.W. Fleury

DoD: Capt. Eric A. Jones

DoD: Capt. David S. Mitchell

DoD: Capt. Kyle R. Van De Giesen

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