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, September 23, 2010

War News for Thursday, September 23, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, September 22nd.


Oil Ministry: Iraq's oil exports, revenues decline in August

Airman fatally shot; soldier charged

More contractors than troops killed during past year in Iraq and Afghanistan

Attack on Iran thwarted by financial and material costs

3 Journalists Arrested in Afghanistan

U.S. covert paramilitary presence in Afghanistan much larger than thought

Former soldier killed in crash after returning to Iraq

Canadian Forces Release Statistics on Afghanistan Detainees

Scientists find new dinosaurs related to Triceratops (off topic but what the hell)


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One soldier was wounded Thursday by an improvised explosive device in western Baghdad, according to a security source. “The bomb exploded on Thursday morning (Sept. 23) targeting an army vehicle patrol in al-Aamiriya region, western Baghdad, injuring a soldier,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Two mortar rounds slammed into the Green Zone, Wednesday. No casualties were reported.

#3: Two civilians were wounded by a mortar shell in the central Baghdad district of Karrada, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol, wounding three policemen, on Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a farmer driving his tractor in his orchard in Qara Teppa village, north Baquba, Wednesday, causing him serious injuries.


Kut:
#1: Unknown gunman on Thursday killed the nephew of a ranking intelligence officer in Kut city, Wassit province. “A gunman wearing a facemask opened fire today in central Kut targeting the nephew of a ranking intelligence officer,” a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Jurf al Sakhar:
#1: Gunmen opened fire at a security checkpoint manned by the government-backed Sahwa militia, wounding one Sahwa member, in Jurf al-Sakhar, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Irbil Prv:
#1: Two civilians were wounded Wednesday when an oil tanker exploded in southern Arbil, chief of local police said. “The blast occurred on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 22) in Kouran Ainkawa region, southern Arbil,” Brigadier Abdulkhaleq Talaat told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A house was damaged on Wednesday when a bomb exploded in west of Mosul, according to a police source. “The bomb went off on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 22) in front of a citizen’s house in al-Ayadiya district, west of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Gunmen shot dead a civilian in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: A child was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in front of the house of a traffic police officer in northern Mosul, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb wounded a passer-by in northern Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: NATO says an insurgent attack on a joint Afghan army outpost in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border left more than 30 of the militants dead. NATO said in a statement Thursday that troops at the combat outpost in the Spera district of Khost province returned fire with mortars in that attack. Initial reports found there were no civilian casualties. There were no casualties among NATO or Afghan troops.

#2: Meanwhile, in the south, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Mousa Rasooli said two civilians died and four were injured Wednesday when an insurgent threw a hand grenade at a police car in Zaranj district of Nimroz province. The grenade missed the car and exploded, killing and injuring the civilians.

#3: A powerful blast rocked a bazaar in Khost province, east of Afghanistan, on Thursday, injuring six persons, an official said. "The blast occurred inside a butcher shop that supplied meat to Afghan troops injuring six persons, all civilians including the butcher," a police officer told Xinhua but declined to be identified.

#4: Two bomb blasts in a span of few minutes in Jalalabad city, the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, Wednesday night left 19 people injured, provincial administration spokesman said Thursday. "In a new tactic the anti-government militants planted two explosive devices in a residential area in the city after the first blast happened around 09:00 p.m., security forces rushed to the site but second explosive device went off," Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told Xinhua via cellular phone. He said the explosions had injured 19 people including 16 civilians and three personnel of security forces.

#5: Two ISAF troops and one civilian were hurt after an armed man targeted them with small arms fire in western Ghour province on Thursday, provincial officials say. "A man with a weapon attacked Lithuanian soldiers working under ISAF's Provincial Reconstruction Team early at eleven am today and two of them were wounded in the incident," a provincial spokesperson, Abdul Hai Khatibi, told TOLOnews reporter. While the two soldiers were busy shopping in Cheghcheran, provincial capital, they came under attack, Mr Khatibi said. A shopkeeper was also hurt in the incident and one of the wounded soldiers is said to be in severe condition.


DoD: Senior Airman Michael J. Buras

DoD: Lt. (SEAL) Brendan J. Looney

DoD: Senior Chief Petty Officer David B. McLendon

DoD: Petty Officer 2nd Class (SEAL) Adam

DoD: Petty Officer 3rd Class (SEAL) Denis C. Miranda

DoD: Maj. Robert F. Baldwin

DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Matthew G. Wagstaff

DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Jonah D. McClellan

DoD: Staff Sgt. Joshua D. Powell

DoD: Sgt. Marvin R. Calhoun Jr.

3 comments:

Cervantes said...

Based on the personnel who were killed, that chopper evidently crashed on the way to some sort of high value commando raid, or to station personnel for same. It reminds us that a big chunk of the war in Afghanistan, probably most of it, is completely hidden from view. We really don't know what's going on, who exactly they are trying to kill, or how, or why.

Cervantes said...

National Security Archive gets the goods on Bush admin war crimes.

"Among other insights, the materials posted today by the National Security Archive shed light on the intense focus on Iraq by high-level Bush administration officials long before the attacks of 9/11, and Washington’s confidence in perception management as a successful strategy for overcoming public and allied resistance to its plans.

This compilation further shows:

* The preliminary strategy Rumsfeld imparted to Franks while directing him to develop a new war plan for Iraq
* Secretary of State Powell’s awareness, three days into a new administration, that Iraq “regime change” would be a principal focus of the Bush presidency
* Administration determination to exploit the perceived propaganda value of intercepted aluminum tubes – falsely identified as nuclear related – before completion of even a preliminary determination of their end use
* The difficulty of winning European support for attacking Iraq (except that of British Prime Minister Tony Blair) without real evidence that Baghdad was implicated in 9/11
* The State Department’s analytical unit observing that a decision by Tony Blair to join a U.S. war on Iraq “could bring a radicalization of British Muslims, the great majority of whom opposed the September 11 attacks but are increasingly restive about what they see as an anti-Islamic campaign”
* Pentagon interest in the perception of an Iraq invasion as a “just war” and State Department insights into the improbability of that outcome"

Where's the Wiz when you need him?

The Wiz said...

Admit it, you miss me when I am away....