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


Monday, February 1, 2010

War News for Monday, February 01, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an American soldier in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, February 01.


US drones killed 123 civilians, three al-Qaeda men in January:

US releases names of prisoners at Bagram, Afghanistan :


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi police official says a female suicide bomber walking among Shiite pilgrims in northern Baghdad has detonated an explosives belt, killing at least 41 people. The official says the bomber struck Monday as the pilgrims were walking near the Shiite neighborhood of Shaab. He says that about 106 people have been wounded. A hospital official also confirmed the casualties. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media. Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad's top military spokesman, said 19 people were killed and 80 wounded. The bomber, pretending to be a pilgrim, struck as a group of pilgrims made their way through the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab in northern Baghdad, an Iraqi police official said.


Mosul:
#1: U.S. soldiers killed three suspected insurgents and wounded another who it says were planting roadside bombs near a major road on Saturday south of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

#2: A civilian was wounded when gunmen attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A senior Iraqi police officer was killed by gunmen at his home at dawn on Monday, Iraqi security officials said. Security sources told the German Press Agency dpa that gunmen entered the house of Colonel Khalaf al-Dalimi in the outskirts of the city of Ramadi near Baghdad, at around 5 AM (0200 GMT). The gunmen killed al-Dalimi and then fled.

#2: A roadside bomb blew up in central Fallujah, Sunday, killing the insurgent who was planting it.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Meanwhile, two would-be suicide bombers targeted a police station Monday in southern Zabul province, but were driven back before they could set off their explosives. Officers opened fire on the two attackers as they approached the police headquarters in Qalat city, killing one, said deputy provincial police chief Ghulam Jalanai Farahi. One officer was wounded in the firefight. The second attacker escaped during the fighting and security forces were searching for him, Farahi said.

#2: an attack on a convoy of commercial trucks contracted by WFP on 30 January. "We believe that eight trucks were destroyed and one truck was damaged. The other 19 trucks in the convoy were undamaged," Challiss McDonough, WFP's information officer in Kabul, said told. One truck driver was injured in the incident and another, along with his truck, was unaccounted for, she said.

#3: A NATO oil tanker was attacked and burned down on Monday morning in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, police said. Police said a couple of unidentified militants opened fire at the tanker that was soon wrapped up in flames. Locals said the militants ordered the driver and his assistant to get down and set the tanker on fire.

#4: NATO forces have killed at least five people, including a baby, during a night raid targeting militants in central Afghanistan. Afghan officials say the foreign forces killed the civilians in an attack on a village house in Uruzgan province on Saturday night. The NATO alliance has confirmed the death of the baby and expressed regret for what it called a tragic loss of innocent life.

#5: NATO and Afghan forces also killed seven militants in a gunbattle Sunday in the south of the country, according to the Afghan army. The troops were on patrol in Helmand province when they came under attack and returned fire, said Gen. Sher Mohammad Zazi, the army commander for southern Afghanistan. He said no government or international troops were wounded, and the bodies of seven militants were recovered after the battle. NATO forces did not immediately comment on the incident.

#6: Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships have killed 15 Taliban in clashes that erupted after militants attacked a military post and convoy in the northwest of the country, an official said on Monday. The latest fighting broke out on Sunday afternoon in the militant stronghold of Wara Mamoon and lasted until midnight, local government official Bajaur Abdul Malik told Reuters. "The Taliban first attacked our checkpoint and convoy and then we responded with ground and air attacks," he said. Malik said 15 militants and one soldier were killed and 10 militants were wounded.

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