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


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

War News for Tuesday, July 13, 2010

As the withdrawal of American combat troops nears completion it's getting close to the time where we may decide to close this section of Iraq Today for good after over 7 years of tracking this insanity. Back in those early days I was one of the few people who believed this this shit would drag on for this long. When we make a decision to close this section we will likely leave the same name or change it to something like today in Afghanistan and track other stupid area of American canonizations for ore corporative leaders. We would like to hear from any of our readers either from comments or from e-mail about your thoughts and ideas about this change. --whisker.


The British MoD is reporting the deaths of three British ISAF soldiers from a combination of weapons attacks southern Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 13th. News reports that an apparent Afghan Insurgent wearing an Afghan army uniform fired an RPG killing three soldiers and wounded four more.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, July 11th.

NATO is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, July 11th.


U.S. and Afghanistan Debate More Village Forces

Iran shelling displaced hundreds in north Iraq -HRW


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad on Tuesday, two bombs exploded near a petrol station in the central district of Muhandicin, killing two and wounding five others, the capital's police said.

#2: Gunmen wearing military uniforms killed a man and his wife south of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. The attackers stormed the couple's home in al-Rashid district of al-Mahmoudiya city and shot the couple before fleeing. Police gave no further details.

Unknown gunmen on Tuesday assassinated a Sahwa (Awakening) commander in Yusufiya, as well as four of his family members. “The gunmen broke into the Sahwa commander’s house in Yususfiya, southern Baghdad, killing him and four of his family members,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Three Iraqi soldiers were wounded Monday in a bomb blast in west of Baghdad, according to a police source. “An improvised explosive device went off on Monday (July 12) targeting a military vehicle in al-Nasr Wal Salam region in Abu Ghrieb district, west of Baghdad, injuring three Iraqi soldiers and damaging the vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Dozens of people took part in the protest on Tuesday in Khales, 65 kilometres north of Baghdad, to demand stiff penalties for the perpetrators of anti-Shi'ite attacks in the city, the local security operations command said. The demonstrators were carrying a mock coffin when a booby-trapped device exploded inside the box, killing three people and wounding seven, an official at the centre told AFP.


Mosul:
#1: President of Mosul University said on Monday that storming and searching the university is a normal measure for the military forces. “The military operation in the university on Monday (July 12) is a normal measure and we have no objection to it,” Abi Saeed al-Diyouh Ji told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “We heard shootings outside the campus, which forced the forces to search the university,” he explained. “The whole operation lasted for a few hours and the forces withdrew without arresting any student or professor,” he added.

#2: One policeman and nine children were wounded in an attack with grenades in central Mosul city Tuesday. “The attack occurred in Dakat Baraka, central Mosul, when children gathered around a TV crew shooting in the area,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: And a man was killed in the western city of Fallujah when a "sticky bomb" attached to his car blew up, a local police official said.

#2: Two consecutive bombs detonated in al-Ameriya area western Falluja, which is the biggest city of Anbar province and lies 45 kilometres west of Baghdad. The first bomb targeted Sahwa fighters, who are Sunni fighters who supported the government in its fight against al-Qaeda and helped restore order in the country, while the second went off ten minutes later in the same place after an army patrol passed by. Noone was injured in these two blasts, witnesses told dpa.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Attackers assassinated a district statistics chief as he returned from morning prayers Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, an official said, the latest of a wave of Taliban attacks on government workers. Attackers believed to be Taliban insurgents fled after gunning down Gul Mohammad, chief of statistics for Charkh district, outside his home before dawn Tuesday as he returned from his local mosque, provincial Dim Mohammad Darwesh said.

#2: A second official was shot and seriously wounded in another ambush Tuesday, said the spokesman for Logar province in the east, where both attacks took place. Another attack Tuesday morning wounded the director of civil service reform in Puli Alam, the capital of Logar. The official was hospitalized in serious condition with gunshot wounds, Darwesh said.

#3: A roadside bomb killed eight Afghan civilians and wounded seven more in an area of Helmand on Monday, the interior ministry said.

#4: Five insurgents were killed when a would-be bomber's suicide vest prematurely detonated in Maidan Wardak province to the west of Kabul, an official said.

#5: Insurgents killed three employees of a construction firm in southeastern Khost province on Monday, the Interior Ministry said.

#6: At least 10 militants were killed and five others injured Tuesday, as Pakistani security forces have stepped up operations against extremists in Orakzai Agency tribal area in the northwest Pakistan, local media reported citing local sources.

#7: A pilotless plane of the Pakistan Air Force crashed in the area of Sargodha city of Punjab province on Tuesday, local media reported. According to reports the plane was on regular rehearsal and test flights when it fell and crashed due to technical reasons. Security forces reached the site and started collecting the remnants of the jet.


DoD: Pfc. Anthony W. Simmons

DoD: Spc. Robert W. Crow

DoD: Spc. Joseph W. Dimock II

DoD: Sgt. Donald R. Edgerton

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jesse W. Ainsworth

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

God bless you for standing by Iraqis side through a difficult situation.

Anonymous said...

Im sure there is a line of people who want to take credit for the hard work you have done every fucking day for 7 fucking years.

Anonymous said...

Vote4 Unsure actually but good luck with your decisions.

Anonymous said...

No.. I think you are making the right decision but at a later date it may become appropriate again when the non-existant Iraqi government gains some ground as they might need some help. You can always post Iraqi stuff if the need arises and the excellent bloggers(if they stay) will be sure to keep us up to date with the happenings in Iraq and FROM Iraqis. Maybe there is no black and white answer as such.

Anonymous said...

Get your chess boards out Iraqis. :-).

Cervantes said...

My feeling is that while we might shift our emphasis to Afghanistan, we should continue to keep track of Iraq as long as U.S. troops remain -- which I suspect may be a long time. And the U.S. still bears responsibility for what happens to the Iraqi people and even if the U.S. public loses interest, we should try to keep some focus on Iraq if we can.

But Whisker does considerably more work here than I do, so I largely defer to him.

Anonymous said...

Srry.. the radio gets to me sometimes.

Yes they will probably be there a long long time in some form or other even if the war is over.

Dancewater said...

I don't believe the US troops are leaving Iraq. There will be a reduction in the numbers, but there will be tens of thousands of US troops there for years to come.

And they will still be fighting and dying there.

I wish that I am wrong about this.

Anonymous said...

Suggestion: Do change your emphasis to Afghanistan but still do some coverage of Iraq. There's precious little being done and the Americans are not leaving it soon.

Maybe you could title it "The Bush-Obama War(s)"

I love what your doing and if there's anything you should add I'd suggest covering the Horrendous Costs associated with this war and what America could do with that money. And THANKS for everything.

Anonymous said...

MAP 5.1 2010/07/15 00:36:03 -34.131 -72.152 11.4 OFFSHORE LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE