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


Thursday, July 29, 2010

War News for Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Italian defense Ministry is reporting the deaths of two Italian ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in Herat, Herat province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, July 28th. Here's the ISAF release


Spain files warrants for US troops over Iraq death

Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan had been defusing IEDs

Tonga sends troops to Afghanistan for jobs

Leaked Afghan War Reports Heighten European Doubts

Local strongman is U.S. troops' most reliable friend in Kandahar province

Military plane crashes on training mission in Alaska


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A police officer and a Sahwa leader were killed by gunmen in southern Baghdad on Thursday, an official source said. “Four gunmen opened fire on a police officer, Ali Talaa, from the protecting establishments force, and the Sahwa leader, Ramadan Ibrahim, in al-Ray region in al-Shurta al-Khamesa district, southern Baghdad, killing them instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In the eastern province of Diyala, a civilian was killed and three others were wounded in a shootout erupted following a quarrel between two families in a village near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a source from the provincial operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: Separately, three passengers were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their minibus while travelling on a main road outside the town of Kan'an, some 20 km east of Baquba, the source said.


Shirqat:
#1: In Salahudin province in north of Baghdad, Brigadier Dahham al- Jubouri, an Iraqi army officer escaped with wounds a roadside bomb explosion near his convoy while moving on a main road in north of the town of Sherqat, some 280 km north of Baghdad, a source from the provincial operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. One of Jubouri's bodyguards was killed by the blast and another was wounded, the source said.

#2: Earlier in the day, Sherqat was the scene of a suicide truck bomb explosion when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden KIA truck into the entrance of a military base in the town, killing three soldiers and wounding 11 others, the source said in earlier report.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi soldier was killed on Wednesday by gunmen in western Mosul, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen shot and killed an Iraqi soldier near his house in Mosul al-Jadieda region, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A soldier’s wife was wounded on Wednesday in a bomb explosion in northwest of Mosul, according to a security source. “The bomb exploded on Wednesday evening (July 28) in front of the house of an army soldier in Zamar district, northwest of Mosul, injuring his wife, who was carried to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: In Anbar province, a policeman was killed and an officer was wounded when a magnetic bomb attached to a civilian car detonated while passing a police checkpoint in the eastern entrance of the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Four civilians in the car were also wounded by the blast, the source said.

#2: In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off near an Iraqi army patrol north of Fallujah, killing a soldier and wounding five others, the source added.

#3: Sheikh Ihsan Abdulatief al-Douri has died of wounds he sustained in a bomb explosion on Wednesday, a medical source said on Thursday. “The sheikh died on Thursday morning (July 29) of wounds he sustained yesterday when a bomb exploded near his car while he was leaving al-Rawi mosque in central Falluja,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. A police source had said that a bomb exploded near the car of Sheikh Ihsan Abdulatief in al-Andalus neighborhood, central Falluja, killing one person, and injuring eight, including two children.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1-2: Insurgents killed six Afghan civilians and wounded three more in improvised explosive device attacks in Afghanistan on Wednesday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Thursday. Four civilians were killed and three wounded in Zabul province in the south and two died in Nimroz province in the southwest.

#3: Taliban commander Mullah Abdullah who joined government two months ago was killed at his home in northern Kunduz province, provincial governor Mohammad Omar said Thursday. "Unknown armed men, possibly Taliban militants entered the house of Mullah Abdullah in Imam Sahib district on Tuesday night and shot him dead," Omar told Xinhua. Mullah Abdullah who used to serve as a group commander of Taliban fighters in Kunduz province switched side and joined government along with 20 of his men in early May.

6 comments:

Cervantes said...

BTW, here's the Wikileaks home page on the Afghanistan document dump. Not sure why we haven't posted it before.

Knock yourselves out.

Dr.Human said...

I think our city Mosul , is the most danger palce in Iraq now a days .
God keep us safe please

Cervantes said...

I certainly agree Dr. A highly disproportionate number of security incidents are coming out of Mosul. I wish there could be a people's movement against violence and to promote peaceful settlement of the underlying disputes, but people are probably afraid to come out in the streets even for that.

We certainly are all hoping for the best for you.

Anonymous said...

We are repeatedly told that there is no debate---hardly a scientific approach.

Science is not conducted through "debate". Scientists do not sit around like RHP members playing with ideas and deciding which ones they find personally congenial. They conduct experiments and work out which theories are true on the basis of... the results of those experiments. The debate about global warming was settled when it was demostrated that if you increase the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour and so on, the temperature rises. This is true in a glass jar, and it's true in the atmosphere. Anyone who doesn't believe it has parted company with the basic laws of physics.

Anonymous said...

Wikileaks Afghan War Diary | Direct Action Station1 hour ago by admin
A group of Canadian activists met last night to begin raising $300000 in a bid to launch a boat to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, insisting it is doing nothing that will aid Gaza's Hamas government. .... UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) provides assistance, protection and advocacy for some 4.7 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory, ...
Direct Action Station - http://directactionstation.com/

Momentum builds to test Israel's blockade - The National Newspaper15 hours ago
A group American activists say they have more than a third of the funds necessary to send an aid ship. ... Mr Khalidi said the planned voyage to Gaza was further proof of the failure of Israeli propaganda among young Americans, who he said were more questioning of Israeli actions since the 2006 Lebanon war, the 2008 to 2009 Gaza war and the “flotilla fiasco” of earlier this year. “The important exceptions to this changing situation are the American political class and ...
The National Newspaper - http://thenational.ae/?q=h3m4n

Cervantes said...

I am generally predisposed not to delete comments which are substantive and inoffensive, but please stay on topic.