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


Thursday, January 14, 2010

War News for Thursday, January 14, 2010

NATO is reporting the deaths of another two American ISAF soldiers in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday,January 13th.


The anatomy of America’s defeat in Afghanistan: (take some of this with a grain of truth.)


Reported security incidents

Kirkuk:
#1: A shepherd was wounded on Thursday by a landmine explosion in the south of Kirkuk, a senior police officer said. “A landmine went off on Thursday (Jan. 14) by a a shepherd near a village of Lilan district, south of Kirkuk, seriously injuring him,” Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Armed men opened fire upon a Sahwa checkpoint in Rashad district, in west Kirkuk, injuring one Sahwa member.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded one soldier in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen shot and wounded a man inside a restaurant in northern Mosul, police said.

#3: Gunmen in a speeding car killed a man and woman in western Mosul, police said


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: One civilian was killed and another one was wounded in a sticky bomb explosion in western Falluja, according to a security source. “A bomb, stuck to a civilian vehicle, went off in central al-Khalidiya district, western Falluja, killing the driver and injuring the persons beside him,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy market district in central Afghanistan Thursday, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than a dozen, provincial officials said. The attack in the town of Dihrawud, in Uruzgan province, came as shoppers and vendors gathered for the weekly bazaar. Provincial Gov. Asadullah Hamdan said 16 people were killed and 13 wounded in the blast.

#2: In other violence, a suicide bomber targeted a police patrol Thursday in the southern town of Musa Qala, killing an Afghan police officer and wounding four civilians, according to officials. Provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said the bomber was on foot, but the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said the attacker was in an explosives-laden vehicle. The discrepancy couldn't immediately be reconciled. Musa Qala is in Helmand province, which is expected to be a major focus for NATO forces as they step up efforts to rout the Taliban.

#3: Police also said that four would-be suicide bombers were killed in a premature explosion the night before near Kandahar. The suspects were traveling from the Panjway district to Kandahar when the blast occurred about 8 p.m. Wednesday, deputy provincial police chief Fazel Ahmad Sharzad said. He said the men were planning an attack in Kandahar but explosives in the car detonated before they reached the city. He didn't say what the target may have been.

#4: Ten people were killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan on Thursday. Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has escaped in the attack. The assault took place in Garyom village in a remote area of North Waziristan. The drone fired two missiles at the house of tribesman Muhammad Yaqoob. The sources confirmed the killing of 10 persons. The toll is likely to rise. "Hakimullah Mehsud was present at the same place in Shaktoi where the drone attack took place," TTP spokesman Azam Tariq told foreign news agency. "But he had left the place already when the drone attack took place. He is alive and completely safe." Tariq did not say when Mehsud left the area.

#5: Insurgents fired at an ISAF helicopter with small arms in the Nad Ali district of Helmand. The helicopter landed safely at its destination. ISAF forces did not return fire and no one was injured in this incident.




DoD: Staff Sgt. Matthew N. Ingham

DoD: Cpl. Jamie R. Lowe

DoD: Cpl. Nicholas K. Uzenski

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