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 9, 2010

War News for Saturday, January 09, 2010

The Danish military is reporting the death of a Danish ISAF soldier in a roadside bombing near FOB Armadillo, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, January 7th. Two additional soldiers were wounded in the attack and three more soldiers were wounded in another roadside bombing coming to the aid of the victims of the attack.

The Spanish MoD is reporting the death of a Spanish ISAF soldier in a vehicle maintenance accident in a FSB in Herot, Afghanistan on Friday, January 7th.


Fate of 15 Iraqi political parties in balance:

Xe Services aiming for Afghan police training deal:

CIA suicide bomber filmed with Taliban leader:

Pakistan Renews Call For End To U.S. Drone Strikes:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded four civilians in southeastern Baghdad on Saturday, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi army soldier was wounded by gunmen fire in southern Kirkuk city, according to a local senior police official. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire at an Iraqi army soldier in front of his house in al-Askari neighborhood, southern Kirkuk, on Friday evening, leaving him wounded,” Brig. Sarhad Qader, the director of the Kirkuk Districts’ Police Department (KDPD), told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Gunmen in a speeding car shot and wounded an off-duty Iraqi soldier in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A roadside bomb struck the vehicle ofa politician in Paghman district, 20 km west of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday, killing one person and wounding five others. The explosion targeted the vehicle of Mohammad Rafi Tahiri, a candidate for the provincial council of Wardak province, at 10:30 a.m. local time, killing one of Tahiri's bodyguards and injuring five others, but Tahiri escaped unhurt," a press release issued by the interior ministry said.

#2: Taliban militants killed three civilians on charges of spying for government and the NATO-led forces in Kunduz province, north of Afghanistan, provincial police chief Abdul Razaq Yaqubi said Saturday. "The militants shot dead two civilians in Gur Tepa area and another in Chardara district on Friday on charges of spying for Afghan and international troops," Yaqubi told Xinhua.

#3: Rockets fired at a building that will house the US consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat damaged two floors but caused no casualties, an Afghan official said Sunday. The US embassy in Kabul confirmed an incident at the consulate site, but could not immediately provide any details. "Three rockets were fired at the US consulate, two hit the third and fourth floors, another missed the compound completely," said Akramuddin Yawar, police chief for the country's western zone

Posted by whisker at 4:19 AM

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