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 8, 2010

War News for Monday, February 08, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the deaths of two British ISAF soldiers in a roadside bombing near Sangin, Helmand province, on Sunday, February 7th.

Metro News Canada is reporting the deaths of two Swedish ISAF soldiers in a small arms fire incident near the village of Gurgi Tappeh, about 25 miles west of the Swedish base in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan on Sunday, February 7th. An Afghan interpreter and the gunman who was wearing a police uniform was also killed in the attack.


RAF 'relying' on drones in Afghanistan:

Taliban bracing for NATO offensive:

On Afghan Road, Scenes of Beauty and Death:

U.S. choppers seen hovering over Falluja:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One civilian was killed and three others were injured in an explosive charge blast in the capital Baghdad, a local police source said on Monday. “This morning, a sticky device hit a civilian vehicle on a bridge linking al-Jadiriya to al-Doura area, southern Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding three others,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency


Diyala Prv:
#1: Three Iraqi soldiers have been injured in an explosive charge blast in Baaquba City, a local police source said on Sunday. “On Sunday, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated on the road linking al-Saadiya district to Jalawlaa (northeastern Baaquba), while an Iraqi army patrol vehicle was passing the location, wounding three patrolmen,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diwaniya:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) went off inside a bus in northeastern al-Diwaniya province, leaving one person killed and three others wounded, according to a local medic on Sunday. “One killed man and three wounded persons have been registered in Diwaniya public hospital after the blast that ripped through the district of al-Daghara,” an official in the Diwaniya health department told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on customary condition of anonymity.


Mosul:
#1: Two gunmen shot dead a woman running in the country’s parliamentary elections on the list of the al-Iraqiya Coalition west of Mosul city on Sunday, a local security source said. “Two unidentified gunmen opened fire, using their guns with silencers attached, on Dr. Soha Abdullah Jarallah, a woman running on the al-Iraqiya Coalition list, in the area of Raas al-Jada, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The candidate’s relative was also wounded in the attack,” the source added.

#2: An improvised explosive device (IED) has been safely defused in Talkeef district, northern Mosul, a local security source said on Monday. “Today, police forces defused an explosive charge in Talkeef district, northern Mosul, without causing any casualties,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: An improvised explosive device has detonated at the entrance of a hospital in Mosul, leaving no casualties, a local security source said on Monday.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: One civilian has been injured in an explosive charge blast in Anbar, a local police source said on Monday. “This morning, an explosive device detonated near a house in Rawa district, western Anbar, wounding one civilian who was close to the scene of the blast,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two Hungarian soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, when Taliban insurgents attacked their convoy with a grenade launcher in Kunduz, Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan Sunday morning. In the resultant exchange of fire one of the Pakistani assailants was killed and another was critically injured. The soldiers were ambushed while returning from carrying out checks and controls about 80km from the Hungarian provincial reconstruction team's headquarters in Puli Kumri. The shot hit the right hand window of the armoured car, wounding the driver and the platoon commander sitting next to him, Defence Ministry spokesman István Bocskai told an unscheduled press briefing on Sunday.

#2: A police constable opened fire killing one of his colleagues and wounding four others in Afghanistan's western Herat province. Ahmadi also added that the culprit after opening fire and killing a police constable run away but on the way his car rammed into a tree and badly injured.

#3: In another incident, an explosion rocked a bazaar in Shindand district (Herat Prvince) on Sunday and wounding two brothers, governor of Shindand district Lal Mohammad Omarzai told Xinhua.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class David J. Hartman

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Matthew S. Sluss-Tiller

DoD: Staff Sgt. Mark A. Stets

DoD: Sgt. Dillon B. Foxx

Posted by whisker at 3:34 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)