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


Monday, September 6, 2010

War News for Monday, September 06, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED attack in the Nad 'Ali district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, September 5th. Here's NATO"S release.

The British MoD is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, England on Sunday, September 5th. He was wounded from an IED attack in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, September 4th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, September 5th. This is likely the release for what news reports a Georgian soldier died in an IED attack which wounded another soldier.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, September 5th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen killed a senior Iraqi officer in western Baghdad early on Monday, as they opened fire on a brigadier general while he was driving his car in al-Ameriya.

#2: In western Baghdad's Harthiya neighborhood, gunmen using silencers wounded a senior Ministry of Agriculture employee as he was leaving his home in al-Harthiya neighborhood.

#3: A double bombing in western Baghdad's Ghazaliya neighborhood Monday wounded at least 15 Iraqis. First, a roadside bomb targeting civilians detonated, which was followed by a second blast when security forces responded to the scene. Six Iraqi soldiers, four policemen and five civilians were wounded.

#4: In southern Baghdad's Dora district, a roadside bomb hit a convoy of a private Iraqi security company, wounding at least two civilian bystanders and damaging one vehicle.

#5: Gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in western Baghdad, wounding a policeman, while a bomb attached to a civilian vehicle wounded its two occupants.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A chieftain and two of his guards were all wounded on Monday when a roadside bomb went off in the al-Saadiya district, northeastern Diala province. “The blast took place on the major road in the al-Saadiya, 155 km northeast of Baaquba city,” a local source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Hilla:
#1: Two young brothers were killed in a landmine explosion in southern Iraq on Monday, in what police said appeared to be an accident. The incident, which took place in Hilla, some 100 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad.


Samarra:
#1: Five Iraqi businessmen who were involved in building a police station and a youth centre north of Baghdad were killed in a gun and knife attack overnight, police and medical officials said on Monday. The murders occurred in the al-Shouhada neighbourhood of Samarra, 110 kilometres (68 miles) north of the capital, a lieutenant colonel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. Two other men were wounded, he said. Doctor Khalid al-Bazi at Samarra city hospital said five bodies had been received and that three of the victims been shot to death and the other two shot and stabbed.


Mosul:
#1: Two mortar shells landed on a public street and wounded a civilian in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least 17 people were killed and 45 wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday, destroying the building, police said. "There were nine policemen among the dead," senior police official Iftikhar Ahmad told AFP by telephone after the attack on Lakki Marwat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, not far from tribal areas that are a stronghold of the Taliban. Police said 20 policemen were among those wounded by the blast which destroyed the police station and damaged a nearby administrative building.