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, September 10, 2010

War News for Friday, September 10, 2010

IEA trims 2011 oil use growth estimate, sees risks

12 US soldiers accused of killing Afghan civilians

U.S. Concerned About TAPI Pipeline

U.S. Urges Iraqis to Try New Plan to Share Power

Three soldiers killed in south Yemen


Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: Four men raided the home of a policeman in a village northwest of Baquba and beheaded his wife when they failed to find the officer, an interior ministry source said.

#2: Gunmen beheaded Sunni cleric Jabbar Saleh al-Jibouri at his house in a village near Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, a police spokesman said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: AN Australian soldier had been wounded in an insurgent bomb explosion in Afghanistan, the Defence Department says. The special operations soldier was injured when a Bushmaster vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) in northern Kandahar Province on August 31. The driver of the vehicle was not hurt but the soldier, who was working nearby, sustained a minor wound and suffered concussion.

#2: An Afghan insurgent commander who was allegedly planning bombings in Kabul on the eve of the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections and two of his associates have been killed in an airstrike, NATO said Friday. The military alliance said in a statement that intelligence sources tracked Nur Mohammed and two armed militants to a field in the remote Musahi district of Kabul province. Coalition aircraft conducted the airstrike Thursday night after ensuring no civilians were present, it added.


DoD: Sgt. Jesse M. Balthaser

DoD: Sgt. Philip C. Jenkins

DoD: Pvt. James F. McClamrock

DoD: Cpl. John C. Bishop

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6u5ZneaW2c&p=7C5E359DC7666CD8&index=3