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


Friday, August 6, 2010

War News for Friday, August 06, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, August 6th.


One soldier killed in clash in eastern Turkey

Tariq Aziz: 'Britain and the US killed Iraq. I wish I was martyred'

Basra a window on Iraq's ambition and dysfunction

SKorea: Afghan security guards staged attack on SKorean base in northern Afghanistan

TAPI Natural Gas Pipeline Through Afghanistan Revived

8 hurt as Canadian Chinook makes ‘hard landing’ in Afghanistan, catches fire

U.S. worried by Karzai's attempt to assert control over corruption probes


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb hit an Iraqi police patrol and wounded 15 people, including two police officers, in the Kadhimiya neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad.

15 people were wounded, including two policemen, when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in north-west Baghdad, police said. Another police source said the explosion killed two and wounded 16.

#2: A second roadside bomb hit an Iraqi army patrol and injured six people, including two Iraqi soldiers. The blast occurred in the al-Khadraa neighborhood in western Baghdad.

#3: The third explosion of the day took place near Haifa street in central Baghdad. A roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police patrol, killing one officer and wounding five people.

#4: Gunmen stormed a Baghdad money exchange and killed three people Thursday, the latest in a spate of brash daylight robberies of banks or financial centers in the Iraqi capital. Police said they did not know how much money was stolen in the southeastern New Baghdad neighborhood. Fleeing the scene, the gunmen also opened fire on a crowd of people who rushed to the store in response to the shooting. Hospital officials confirmed three people were killed, including the owner of the money exchange. Five passers-by were wounded.

#5: Two traffic police were killed in a drive-by shooting in a western Baghdad neighborhood Friday in which gunmen used pistols fitted with silencers, police officials said.

#6: A roadside bomb wounded two civilians in Baghdad's western district of Mansour, police said.

#7: A roadside bomb wounded two civilians in Baghdad's northern district of Adhamiya late on Thursday, police said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: “Bomb squad experts also defused two IEDs in central Baaquba city while the police secured protection for the return of a family that had been displaced from Mandili, Khanaqin district, (155 km) northeast of Baaquba, to its original residential place in al-Mustafa neighborhood,” Shimari added.


Wassit Prv:
#1: Two members of an Iraqi rapid response force were killed and four others injured Friday when their vehicle overturned in Wasit city, officials said. The car overturned when the front tire blew out, and the driver lost control of the vehicle. The unit was driving on the highway near the town of Zubaydiah.


Thar Thar:
#1: Three members of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia were killed and two were wounded when insurgents attacked their security checkpoint late on Wednesday in Thar-Thar, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, police said.


Yathrib:
#1: Insurgents attacked the local leader of the government-backed Sahwa militia in Yathrib, 90 km (56 miles) north of Baghdad, wounding three of his security guards, police said.


Mosul:
#1: “An Iraqi army’s 2nd Division force shot dead a gunman in clashes and arrested nine wanted men in security operations carried out by the force in Mosul in accordance with Article 4 of the law on terrorism,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A bomb attached to a car killed the driver and wounded three passersby in the centre of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1-2: Bombs killed 12 Afghan construction workers in two separate incidents in the eastern part of the country, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said on Friday. The bombs Thursday were "insurgent-planted improvised explosive devices," the international force said. Nine of the workers were killed in the Bar Kunar district of Kunar province. Three others were killed and two more wounded in the Qarabaugh district of Ghazni province.

7 comments:

The Wiz said...

Tariq Aziz says some interesting things.

As to the question of why Sadam pretended he had WMDs; When asked why Saddam kept the US guessing about his weapons programme, he confirmed the dictator's account to his captors that he had been playing to Iran, not to the west. "Partially, it was about Iran [the deterrent factor]," Aziz said. "They had waged war on us for eight years so we Iraqis had a right to deter them. Saddam was a proud man. He had to defend the dignity of Iraq. He had to show that he was not wrong, or weak.

Interesting how he said "partially." There were also other reasons that they bluffed about WMDs. What were they? Was it to bluff the US? Other Arab countries? Maybe scare Israel? Or to scare his own people and own military into compliance.

And he is very worried about the US withdrawing its troops from Iraq too, soon, stating to Obama"He cannot leave us like this. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves," he said. "When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death."

Strange how you guys missed this story!!!

Cervantes said...

Oh, so now you think Tariq Aziz is a credible authority? Why weren't you quoting Saddam all the time while he was still alive, to give us the straight poop on the situation? I'll bet you hang on Osama bin Laden's every word as well.

That, btw, is standard practice for wingnuts.

The Wiz said...

Because like most crooks, once they sit in prison for a few years, they tend to give it up.

I posted his comments mainly because you didn't. You attempt to carry an aura of credibility as a news site but you handpick articles that support your anti war point of view. I am just trying to add balance.

I'm not saying he is now fully reliable but his current statements show the confusion of dealing with this regime.

As for should I quote Saddam, good idea as he said the same thing before he was executed. He said he bluffed he had WMDs because he didn't want to look weak to Iran. And he obviously wanted to look tough to his people.

SoDamn Insane was a master of deceit and manipulation. And it was his long history of duplicity that led to his demise.

Cervantes said...

Look at the third link from the top in Whisker's post today.

Moron.

The Wiz said...

Before I posted my comment at 8:41, I purposefully looked for any links to that story. I even checked yesterday's post to see if was posted later yesterday. It was no where to be found. Even the links to the stories of the pipelines' the Bazra widow, or the Canadians wasn't there when I posted. They may have been added later.

The other possibility is that when I logged in, the days post was not yet up. It may have been posted just as I clinked the link to the comment section.

Dancewater said...

You cannot post to the comment section before the post goes up. It is impossible, unless you are one of the blog administrators.

And Saddam CLEARLY SAID HE HAD NO WMDS ON LIVE TELEVISION IN FEBRUARY 2003. He was speaking on Channel 4 TV in Britain. There was no 'bluffing' at all.

whisker said...

I purposely chose the link not only because it was the original article and it was not softened up for the American press's. I placed the article in the morning when I posted the blog which show's that the idiot doesn't read the blog and just wants' to listen to his own dribble on the chat.
E