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


Saturday, May 29, 2010

War News for Saturday, May 29, 2010

FEATURE-Death and betrayal stalk police in Iraq:

Taliban Leave Pakistan, but Afghans Repel Them:

When Afghans Seek Medical Aid, Tough Choice for U.S.

Options studied for a possible Pakistan strike:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: The homes of two Sahwa members and one policeman were blown up in Hor Rijab area, south Baghdad, at 2 a.m. Friday. The families had abandoned their homes many months earlier for fear of retaliation and three civilians from a neighbouring house were severely injured.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Three sahwa (awakening) tribal pro-government fighters were wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) west of Baaquba city on Friday, an official security source in Diala said. “An IED planted in waste dumps in al-Katoun neighborhood, (3 km) west of Baaquba, went off near a sahwa checkpoint, leaving three fighters wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Saturday detonated a policeman’s house east of Ramadi city. “Large portions of the policeman’s house were destroyed due to the blast,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He noted that some nearby houses were also damaged due to the explosion. “The blast caused no casualties,” the source explained.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A SUICIDE attacker with explosives strapped to his body blew himself up on Saturday outside a military caterer in Kabul but caused no casualties, Afghanistan's interior ministry said. The explosion took place east of the capital, close to a warehouse and supermarket run by Supreme Food Services, supplier of food to the foreign military, ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. 'It was suicide attack and the suicide attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body,' he said. It was not immediately clear what the target of the attack had been, he said, adding the attacker, who was on foot, may have detonated prematurely. The blast took place at the Kabul end of the road to Bagram air base, a huge Nato installation and until recently the biggest in the country, which is about 45 kilometres further north.

#2: Taliban insurgents overran a remote district in eastern Afghanistan after days of heavy fighting in the area, a provincial police official said on Saturday. The battle erupted earlier this week in Barg-i-Matal district of mountainous Nuristan province, a remote area bordering Pakistan, when hundreds of Taliban fighters stormed the district centre, said Qasim Payman, police chief of the province. "The police force in the area has tactically retreated from the district after days of fighting," he told Reuters, adding there were no signs of reinforcements despite repeated requests.

#3: A bomb blast in Khost city the capital of the Khost province in eastern Afghanistan injured four civilians on Saturday morning, police said. "An explosive device was detonated in an ice cream shop in Sargardan square in Khost city this morning at 8:45 a.m. local time injuring four civilians including a 14 years old boy," deputy to provincial police chief Guldad told Xinhua.

#4: Militants ambushed an Afghan police convoy with a roadside bomb and gunfire in eastern Afghanistan, killing five officers before fleeing NATO aerial bombardment, an official said Saturday. Two militants were killed and up to six wounded in the battle Friday in Paktia province, said Ghulam Dastagir, the deputy provincial police chief. He said the convoy was headed toward the Dandi Pathan district when one vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb blast, killing five officers and wounding the district police chief. Militants opened fire after the blast, triggering a gunbattle that lasted several hours before NATO aircraft were called in.

#5: Two missiles fired by U.S. drone aircraft struck militant compound near Afghan border, killing nine militants, including some foreigners, Pakistan officials said. There was no independent confirmation of attack.

3 comments:

Dancewater said...

same old, same old, from the US military leaders: kill people, claim they are Taliban or something, and then later find out they are just innocent people, and say "SORRY" than do it AGAIN!

rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat
rinse and repeat

It seems that the blood sucking US government and the blood sucking Americans who support them can NEVER GET ENOUGH OF SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD since they do it repeatedly for YEARS ON END.

US admits fault in drone attack that killed 23 innocent Afghans

The U.S. military has acknowledged that operators of a remote-controlled drone aircraft are to blame for the deaths of 23 civilians in an attack in Afghanistan earlier this year.

U.S. troops fired missiles and rockets at the civilians' vehicles in Uruzgan province after mistaking them for a convoy of Taliban insurgents.

The military's investigative report into the February 21 incident says the crew operating the drone provided "inaccurate" reporting and ignored or downplayed information that civilians were in the convoy.

The report, released Saturday, describes the command posts as "poorly functioning" and says they failed to provide the ground force commander with evidence and analysis that the vehicles were not a hostile threat.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, said inadvertently killing or injuring civilians is "heartbreaking." He said the U.S. will do all it can to regain the trust of the Afghan people.

+++++++

That last line by McChrystal is pretty damn funny if you have a really dark sense of humor. He really should have said that the US will do all it can to bomb the shit out of innocents again, asap. And it is not "heartbreaking" in his sociopath eyes - it is inevitable and he could not give a shit honestly. The blood-sucking, blood-loving Americans will eat it up! Those war-supporting Americans can never get enough, as long as they can cheer it all on from the safe little homes!

Dancewater said...

Here is a story of US military trying to do some good in Afghanistan, against all odds:

When Afghans seek medical aid, tough choice for US

Some of our troops in Afghanistan are much better people than the blood-sucking war mongerers back in the states.

Dancewater said...

Iraq war badly planned, poorly resourced, says Bremer

Planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq was inadequate and not enough troops were sent to ensure post-conflict security, the former U.S. diplomat who led the civilian occupation authority after the war has told a British inquiry.

Paul Bremer, who governed Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) for 13 months after President Saddam Hussein was toppled, said there had been a serious miscalculation by those responsible for planning the invasion.

"It is impossible to exaggerate the difficulties created by the chronic under-resourcing of the CPA's efforts," Bremer said in a statement, made public on Friday, to an inquiry examining Britain's role in the war.