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 6, 2009

War News for Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an IED attack near the Nad e-Ali district center, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, October 4th.


No ISAF service members were killed over the past 24 hours: (??? - see above)

Oct. 2 airpower summary:

War on terror 'killed 1,600' foreign civilian workers: Nearly 1,600 civilian workers - both Americans and foreign nationals - have died in Iraq and Afghanistan war zones while thousands of others have been injured, a report says.

Contractors in Iraq Are Hidden Casualties of War:

U.S. Push to Expand in Pakistan Meets Resistance:


Reported Security incidents:

Wassit Prv:
#1: Security forces found seven Katyusha rockets on Monday in eastern Wassit and defused them, according to a security source. “The forces found seven Katyusha rockets in al-Daiyniya region, northeast of Kut, ready to be launched toward al-Aziziya district, north of Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: An improvised explosive device went off on Monday near the house of an officer of the criminal evidences department in southern Kirkuk, a source from the joint coordination center said. The blast caused no casualties.


Mosul:
#1: Monday An improvised explosive device went off Monday (Oct. 5) in Nables neighborhood, western Mosul, injuring a passing civilian,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Monday Another civilian was injured this afternoon in a shootout between armed men and police forces in al-Farouq region in central Mosul,” he added.

#3: Two civilians on Tuesday were wounded in an explosive charge blast that targeted police personnel in Mosul city, according to a local security source. “This noon, an explosive device hit a National Police patrol vehicle in Bab Sinjar area, western Mosul, wounding two civilians who were close to the scene of the blast,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Monday A child was killed when a hand grenade exploded after he found it in a garbage pile in an empty piece of land in central Mosul city.

#5: Monday Iraqi police said that Iraqi army soldiers shot and killed a man who was trying to attack an Iraqi army vehicle using a hand grenade in Al Qadisiyah neighborhood in east Mosul.


Tal Afar:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) on Tuesday went off in northern Talafar district, causing no casualties, according to a local security source. “This morning, a roadside explosive charge detonated in al-Muthanna neighborhood (60 km northwest of Mosul), leaving no casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Duhuk:
#1: At least ten Peshmerga fighters were wounded in car bomb explosion in west of Duhuk on Monday, mayor of Snono district said. “A suicide bomber blew up a car rigged with explosive targeting a convoy carrying 32 Peshmerga fighters on Monday afternoon (Oct. 5) near Shaalan village, Rabiyaa district, west of Duhuk,” Khedr Rashwa told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A suicide bomber killed at least six mourners at a funeral for a member of a prominent tribe with ties to both security forces and insurgents in western Iraq on Monday, a police official said. The bomber detonated an explosive belt inside a funeral tent in the mostly Sunni area of Haditha, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. At least 15 people were injured, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

#2: One gunmen on Tuesday was killed while he was trying to plant an explosive device in downtown Ramadi city, according to a police source from Anbar province. “This morning, a gunman was killed when a roadside explosive charge he was trying to plant exploded near the Ramadi Hospital, downtown Ramadi,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.There has been no word on civilian casualties, the source noted.

#3: Police forces seized on Tuesday two Katyusha rockets with two launching pads in an abandoned house in the al-Jumhoriya neighborhood in central Falluja city. “The two rockets were on pads ready for launching,” a source from the al-Anbar province’s police told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: Monday One civilian was killed and two civilians were injured when a magnetic bomb stuck to a civilian car exploded in central Fallujah.

#5: Monday One civilian was injured when a roadside bomb targeted a vehicle of Iraqi police in west Fallujah.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Pakistani fighter jets bombed Taliban hideouts in a northwest tribal region on Tuesday, killing six insurgents and wounding three others, security and intelligence officials said. The attacks struck in South Waziristan, where the military has vowed to launch an all-out offensive to purge the region of militants blamed for a wave of deadly bomb attacks in Pakistan over the past two years. ‘Makeen and Nawaz Kot areas of South Waziristan were bombed,’ said an intelligence official in the main provincial town Wana. ‘We have reports that six Taliban were killed and an unknown number of them were injured.’ A security official based in neighbouring Dera Ismail Khan district confirmed the death toll and said three insurgents were also wounded.

#2: Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says fighting in the country's south and east has killed 10 Afghan soldiers and more than 100 Taliban militants. The ministry said in a statement Tuesday the deaths occurred in the last 24 hours during two separate operations in southern Helmand province and eastern Nuristan province.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Thomas D. Rabjohn

DoD: Spc. Paul E. Andersen

DoD: Capt. Benjamin A. Sklaver

DoD: Pfc. Alan H. Newton Jr.

0 comments: