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, January 2, 2010

War News for Saturday, January 02, 2010

7 Iranian Policemen Killed in Clashes with Drug Traffickers:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two people were killed and 14 injured in twin car bombings in Baghdad on Saturday, an Interior Ministry source said. A booby-trapped car went off at one end of Eshreen thoroughfare in southern Baghdad neighborhood of Baiyaa and another car bomb detonated at the other end of the crowded street, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The coordinated bombings killed at least a civilian, wounding 14 others, the source said.

One civilian man was killed and three others wounded in the area of al-Bayyaa, southwestern Baghdad, on Saturday, according to an Iraqi police source. “The IED, attached to a civilian vehicle boarded by four persons, went off on 20 street, al-Bayyaa neighborhood, southwestern Baghdad, killing one passenger and wounding three others,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: In a separate incident, an Iraqi army lieutenant was gunned down by a sniper at a checkpoint in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, the source added.


Mosul:
#1: Two policemen were shot and killed Saturday by unidentified gunmen near the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, security officials said, DPA reported. The officials gave no further details of the attack on the policemen, which took place late Friday.

#2: An Iraqi soldier was wounded when an improvised explosive device went off in eastern Mosul city on Saturday, a local police source in Ninewa said. “The IED went off near a fixed Iraqi army checkpoint in al-Qadissiya II neighborhood, eastern Mosul, leaving one Iraqi soldier wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Gunmen shot and wounded a goldsmith when they stormed his shop in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.


Tal Afar:
#1: Iraqi forces in Talafar defused on Friday evening a rocket in a village near the district, a security source in Ninewa said. “The Katyusha, which was ready for firing in the direction of the district, was defused in the village of Abrat al-Najjar, western Talafar, (60 km) northwest of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A policeman was wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen using small arms in northern Talafar district, west of Mosul city, a security source in Ninewa said on Friday. “Unidentified gunmen attacked a policeman during his break time in al-Orouba district, northern Talafar, (60 km) northwest of Mosul, leaving him wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A policeman was killed and three civilians wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off inside the policeman’s vehicle in central al-Falluja city on Friday, a local police source said. “An IED planted in a vehicle went off on Friday, killing its owner, a policeman, near his home on Zawba’a street, al-Risala neighborhood, central Falluja, and wounding three civilians who happened to be near the explosion scene,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Update A northwest Pakistani village that tried to resist Taliban infiltration struggled with grief Saturday as families mourned 96 people killed in an apparent revenge suicide bombing at an outdoor volleyball game. The attack on Shah Hasan Khel village was one of the deadliest in a surge of bombings that have killed more than 600 since October.

#2: Five civilians were killed and six wounded when their pick-up truck detonated an improvised explosive device in southwestern Afghanistan, the governor of Nimroz province told a foreign news agency Saturday. The attack was carried out by the Taliban in the district of Bakwan, Farah province, said governor Ghulan Dastagir Azad, whose province borders Farah.

#3: Afghan forces eliminated two militants and detained eight others during a routine operation in the southern Zabul province, south of Afghanistan, a press release of the Defense Ministry said Saturday. The operation took place in Mizan district on Thursday during which two anti-government militants were killed and eight others made captive, according to the press release. There were no casualties on the troops, it stressed.

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