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, May 10, 2010

War News for Monday, May 10, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF Marine from an IED attack near Patrol Base Blenheim in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 9th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 9th. Various news reports this to be a small arms weapons attack. We believe this to be an American.


German Heron UAVs Tested in Afghanistan:

Where Iraq Meets Iran, Guards See Shifting Lines:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: The first attack came around 3 a.m. in western Baghdad when gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on an army patrol, killing one soldier and injuring another, Iraqi officials said.

#2: That incident was followed by at least six other attacks. Although most of them were drive-by shootings.

At dawn in Baghdad, gunmen equipped with silencers killed at least seven Iraqi soldiers and policemen when they attacked six checkpoints

#3: a roadside bomb in western Baghdad targeting a police patrol killed three civilians.


Suwayrah:
#1: The single deadliest attack, however, struck civilians in the small town of Suwayrah as a pair of bombs - one in a parked car and the other planted along a road - killed eight passers-by and wounded 71, according to an Iraqi police official and a hospital worker in the nearby city of Kut.

In the bloodiest incident, a suicide bomber wearing a vest laden with explosives and another driving a car killed at least 13 people and wounded 40 in a marketplace in al-Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, said Majid Askar, an official with the Wasit provincial council.


Yusufiya:
#1: A minivan parked in front of council offices damaged the building but caused no casualties in a section of Yusufiya, 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said.


Mussayab:
#1: A roadside bomb went off in a market, wounding three people near Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, the spokesman of the local government said.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: A car bomb in a market killed two people and wounded 12 in the district of Abu Ghraib, in western Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb killed two people in Abu Ghraib, police said.

#3: A bomb destroyed a house, killing the owner, in Abu Ghraib, police said.


Tarmiyah:
#1: And in Tarmiyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Baghdad, city Mayor Mohammed Jassam was injured when bombs in parked cars targeted his convoy. In all, five people were killed and 18.

The car bomb in Tarmiya targeted the convoy of the local mayor, officials said.


Samarra:
#1: Four policemen were wounded on Monday when a roadside bomb hit their patrol in western Samaraa city. “One of the injuries is a police lieutenant,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He noted that the blast left damage in the patrol’s vehicle.


Balad:
#1: Unknown gunmen detonated the house of a Sahwa (Awakening) fighter in Balad, south of Tikrit city, without causing casualties. “The house was totally destroyed,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Meanwhile in the outskirts of the northern city of Mosul, at least two people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb near a checkpoint, according to Iraqi army colonel Rebwar Younis.

At least two Kurdish peshmerga fighters were killed and three wounded when a suicide bomber in a car drove into a checkpoint manned by U.S., Iraqi and Kurdish forces east of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen in a car shot dead a student in front of his house in northern Mosul, police said.

#3: Gunmen attacked a carpenter's family, killing him and his son and seriously wounding two female members of his family, on Sunday in western Mosul, police said.


Tal Afar:
#1: Police found two unidentified bodies in separate areas of Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: In the former al Qaeda stronghold of Anbar province, five bombs went off at dawn outside the homes of police officers, killing two people in the city of Falluja and two in a village 20 km (12 miles) east of Falluja, police said.

Three civilians were killed on Monday and seven others were wounded when unknown gunmen detonated four houses belonging to security elements in central Falluja city.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A rocket fired by insurgents hit a home in Marjah district of the southern province of Helmand on Sunday, killing four members of the same family, provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said.

#2: In a separate incident, two children were killed and one injured Sunday by a roadside bomb in neighbouring Nad Ali district (Helmand Prv.), Ahmadi said, blaming Taliban militants for the attack.

#3: Also on Sunday, four policemen were killed and two others wounded by a roadside explosion in Gerishk district of the same province (Helmand Prv.), the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#4: US and Afghan soldiers engaged the militants for a full day on Saturday in the western district of Shindand, the commander of Afghan army commando forces in Afghanistan told AFP. “We together with US Marines launched an operation against insurgents as a result of which 10 Taliban were killed,” said Zainudin Sharifi. Maj Zainudin Sharifi, the commander of the Afghan National Army’s rapid-response team in Herat province, said the fighting occurred Saturday in Zerko, a Taliban area of Shindand district. Sharifi said members of the defense force, hired by the Afghan Interior Ministry, came under fire when they were investigating tips that suicide bombers were planning to attack a coalition outpost. Four were captured and beheaded.

#5: Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has a military base in Shindand, part of the relatively peaceful province of Herat, which shares a long border with Iran. Sharifi did not say when the insurgents had captured and beheaded the four Afghan guards or provide any other details.

#6: Meanwhile, four members of a community defense force protecting villagers in Afghanistan were beheaded by militants in a weekend battle, an Afghan army official said on Sunday.

#7: A roadside bomb struck a car Monday in southeastern Afghanistan, killing two civilians a day after an insurgent rocket killed four other civilians, authorities said. Monday's bombing happened in Zabul province, said Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

#8: Four Afghan policemen were killed and two wounded when their vehicle struck a homemade bomb in the Gereshk district of southern Helmand province on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.

7 comments:

Dancewater said...

lots more dead and injured people in Iraq, thanks to those murderous assholes in the US and UK who started this war and the murderous idiots who still support it.

may they rot in hell

Cervantes said...

Well yes, but as the U.S. continues to reduce its role the Iraqis are going to have to find their way to a solution. At this point, there just isn't very much of a constructive role that the U.S. can play. The forces have been set in motion and they are going to play out as they will, sadly.

Dancewater said...

I agree, we cannot do anything to bring real security to the Iraqi people and we never could.

We sure as hell should pay MASSIVE REPARATIONS though.

Dancewater said...

Across Iraq, Gunmen, Bombers Strike, Killing 76 People

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Across-Iraq-Gunmen-Bombers-Strike-Killing-31-People-93280829.html

A wave of attacks across Iraq killed at least 76 people Monday, and wounded about 200 others.

The violence began before dawn, with gunmen in speeding cars killing soldiers and police at checkpoints across Baghdad. The assailants used silencers, a new gangland-style twist to their attacks.

In the hours that followed, two bombs, also targeting police, exploded in the capital. Other blasts occurred outside the homes of policemen in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. A Fallujah resident said one of the houses destroyed belonged to a policeman killed two years ago and that the victims were family members. "What did they do?" he asked.

In the northern city Mosul, a suicide bomber exploded a car near a checkpoint guarded by national and Kurdish forces. Two blasts also rocked Suwayra, southeast of Baghdad. In the deadliest attack, two car bombs struck workers in Hilla, in central Iraq.

Dancewater said...

Thousands return, millions stay away....
Iraqi Official Says Refugees, IDPs Returning To Homes

A top Iraqi official says thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq and refugees from neighboring countries have returned recently and others want to return, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq reports.

Iraqi Immigration and Displacement Minister Abd al-Samad Rahman Sultan says that some 10,700 internally displaced families have returned to their homes in the past three months, and another 950 families have returned from Egypt.

Sultan adds that some 630 Iraqi families in Jordan and 520 families in Syria have applied at Iraqi diplomatic missions in those countries seeking help in facilitating their return.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Iraqi_Official_Says_Refugees_IDPs_Returning_To_Homes/2033616.html

Dancewater said...

return or go to another country, still facing extreme financial and other hardships ......

Refugee center in financial struggle
Founder’s funds are running short

As a refugee from Iraq, Joseph Ziauddin knows what it’s like to come to the United States with nothing.

Eleven years later, Ziauddin and a small group of volunteers are trying to help a new wave of refugees – particularly those from Iraq – arriving in San Diego County every day.

“When you want to help people, it doesn’t matter who you are,” Ziauddin said.

For almost two years, Ziauddin has been operating the nonprofit East County Refugee Center in El Cajon. The volunteers in the three-room office on East Park Avenue help about 100 to 150 refugees a month with everything from immigration questions to applying for a driver’s license or putting together a résumé.

Ziauddin, a 47-year-old Alpine resident, said he has been largely funding the refugee center out of his own pocket since it opened. He estimated he’s spent about $50,000, but his funds are running short. He’s applying for government grants, but money for the bills is getting tight while he waits to hear if any of the requests for funds have been approved.

“Still, I have hope that this center will not close,” he said.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/08/refugee-center-in-financial-struggle/


++++++++++

We will never see those murderous war supporter assholes step up and help these people.

Dancewater said...

Death toll in Iraq now up to 102 for just today. The number wounded is 350.

Too bad it happens to the innocents instead of the war-mongerers.

may the war makers rot in hell