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


Saturday, October 16, 2010

War News for Saturday, October 16, 2010

U.S. military report says 77,000 Iraqis killed in more than 4 years

New War Rumors: U.S. Plans To Seize Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal


Reported security incidents

Balad:
#1: Hours later, a family of four was wounded by a sticky bomb attached to the car they were riding in, police said. The incident occured in Balad, about 100 kilometers north of Baghdad.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Two Iraqi police officers were killed and two others were wounded early Saturday when gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in Anbar province, authorities said. The attack happened in the the town of Anna, about 260 kilometers west of Baghdad.

#2: Two gunmen and two policemen were killed in an armed attack on a police station in west of Anbar, a security source said Friday. “Unknown gunmen attacked a police station in Haditha district, west of Anbar, during which two gunmen and two policemen were killed and two others were wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The attackers used light weapons in their-15-minute attack,” he added.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two suspected US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border have claimed 10 lives, security officials said Saturday. Unmanned drone aircraft fired six missiles into two suspected militant hideouts in Meer Ali area of North Waziristan tribal district, a known hotbed of fighters allegedly linked to Taliban and Al Qaeda. "A drone fired four missiles at around midnight Friday at a compound which Taliban were using as their centre," said an intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Six people died, and three more were injured," he said. Hours earlier, another missile strike targeted a vehicle and killed four alleged militants.

#2: A roadside bomb has killed at least 9 civilians and wounded four others in southern province of Zabul in Afghanistan, a senior police official says. The people lost their lives after their bus hit an improvised explosive device near the city of Qalat on Friday, Ghulam Jelani Farahi, the deputy police chief of the province, told Press TV. "Three women are among the victims," Farahi said.

#3: Two civilians were killed and seven were wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb on Friday in Deh Rawood district of southern Uruzgan province, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.


DoD: Pfc. Jordan M. Byrd

DoD: Lance Cpl. Irvin M. Ceniceros

DoD: Lance Cpl. Alec E. Catherwood

DoD: Sgt. Eric C. Newman

DoD: Sgt. Carlos A. Benitez

DoD: Spc. Rafael Martinez Jr.

DoD: Pfc. Tramaine J. Billingsley

DoD: Lance Cpl. Joseph C. Lopez

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