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 31, 2010

War News for Monday, May 31, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF Marine in an IED attack in an unidentified location in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 30th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in a small arms fire attack in an unidentified location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 30th.


Kurds kill Turkish soldiers in rocket attack:

Battalion among hardest hit in Afghan war:

B-17 to drop flowers for CIA killed in Afghanistan: (This is such an obscene joke...whisker)

In Afghan region, U.S. spreads the cash to fight the Taliban:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A prominent local leader of anti-insurgent Sunni forces was shot and killed by two gunmen Monday. The attackers were armed with silenced pistols and shot Nael al-Azami near a popular cafe in Baghdad's northern Azamiyah district.

Two roadside bombs planted under Ghadeer bridge went off simultaneously when a police patrol passed, killing a civilian and wounding eight people, including six policemen, in Ghadeer district in eastern Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol in the capital's Ghadir neighbourhood, killing one policeman and wounding 10 bystanders and officers nearby.

#3: A roadside bomb targeting a police troop went off and wounded six, including three policemen, in Zayouna District, eastern Baghdad, police said.

#4: A sticky bomb attached to a SUV went off and wounded a civilian in Palestine Street, north-eastern Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: In Kirkuk, a policeman has died after a roadside bomb hit his patrol Sunday evening. Four of his colleagues were seriously hurt in the blast.


Mosul:
#1: Police found the bodies of two unidentified females who had been suffocated to death in south-eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles ) north of Baghdad, police said


Northern Iraq:
#1: A 14-year-old Iraqi girl was killed Sunday and dozens of families fled their homes to escape Iranian artillery shells in northern Iraq, according to a Kurdish Regional Security Forces spokesman. The artillery shells rained down on villages Sunday where Kurdish rebels were thought to be operating, said Jabbar Yawer. The artillery targeted villages in the Balakiyaki border area, about 125 km (77 miles) northeast of Irbil province. The barrage began late Saturday and continued until Sunday morning, Yawer said. A number of farms in the villages were heavily damaged, Yawer said.




Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: NATO launched airstrikes Monday against Taliban insurgents who had forced government forces to abandon a district in eastern Afghanistan. Early Monday, NATO aircraft fired guided munitions on Taliban positions at Barg-e-Matal district in Nuristan, a province in the mountainous region on the Pakistani border. No casualty figures were given.

#2: Further south, NATO said a civilian contractor's helicopter crash-landed Sunday in Paktia province, killing one civilian on the ground and slightly injuring three crew members. NATO said the cause of the hard landing was being investigated, but there were no reports of insurgent involvement.

#3: In the north, insurgents detonated a remote-controlled bomb Sunday as a police convoy passed by, killing seven officers in a province previously considered to be relatively safe, said deputy provincial Gov. Shams-ul Rahman.

#4: In nearby Kunduz province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Ali Abad district, triggering a gunbattle that killed three insurgents and wounded seven others, the Interior Ministry said.

#5: Eight Afghan police were wounded Sunday by a suicide bomber who struck a checkpoint on the outskirts of Khost City southeast of Kabul, officials said.


DoD: Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht

2 comments:

Dancewater said...

sure glad we have plenty of cash to spread around to the Taliban!

Dancewater said...

sure glad we have plenty of cash to send a B17 to drop flowers!

We are rich!