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, November 8, 2010

War News for Monday, November 08, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 6th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 6th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 7th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, October 7th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, October 8th.


Missing votes found in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two policemen and a civilian local resident were wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) in southwestern Baghdad city on Sunday, according to a security source. “An IED went off near a police patrol in al-Rai area, al-I’lam neighborhood, southwestern Baghdad, leaving two policemen and a civilian wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Two Katyusha rockets landed in central Baghdad’s heavily-fortified green zone while a security force defused several rockets ready for firing in Baghdad on Sunday, a security source said. “No information were available about possible casualties or damage after the two Katyushas landed in the GZ,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: At least four persons, including two policemen, have been wounded in an explosive charge blast in central Baghdad on Monday, a security source said. “An explosive charge blew up against a police patrol passing through central Baghdad’s Karrada district, wounding four persons including two policemen and causing damage to the patrol’s car, and several other civilian cars,” he said, adding that the wounded persons were driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.

#4: Meanwhile, another security source told Aswat al-Iraq News Agency that “a mortar shell fell close to Al-Sadeer Hotel in Baghdad’s Abu-Nawas Street, but losses were not known till the time of this report on Monday morning.


Karbala:
#1: The first explosion killed at least 10 and left 38 injured in Karbala. "It was a car bomb. There were Iranian pilgrims in the area. They were targeted," he said of the explosion which killed at least 10 and left 38 injured.


Najaf:
#1: Hours later, at least three people were killed and 10 others wounded when a car bomb exploded near buses transporting Iranian pilgrims in Najaf, a health official said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Afghan and NATO forces targeted suspected insurgent strongholds in a joint operation in southern Kandahar province, killing 15 and capturing 13, an Afghan official said Monday. The 14-hour operation on Sunday began before dawn and lasted until early evening in Arghistan and Maruf districts, provincial spokesman Zelmai Ayubi said.

#2: In a separate incident in the south, a rocket exploded in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, killing one civilian and wounding four, said Kamaluddin Khan, the provincial deputy police chief.

A bomb blast rocked Lashkar Gah the capital of Helmand province in south Afghanistan Monday, leaving one person dead and wounding four others, all civilians, spokesman for provincial administration Daud Ahmadi said. "The insurgents planted a mine next to a shop in a market and detonated it by remote control at 01:00 a.m. local time as a result one civilian was killed and four others sustained injuries," Ahmadi told Xinhua.

#3-4: A pair of American drone strikes killed 14 suspected militants Sunday in northwestern Pakistan, local intelligence officials said, in the latest attacks against al-Qaida and Taliban militants seeking sanctuary in the region. The missiles struck an hour apart in North Waziristan — the area that has seen the overwhelming majority of drone strikes over the past two months. The rugged region is home to hundreds of Pakistani and foreign militants, many belonging to or allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban.

#3: In the first strike, one American missile slammed into a house and another hit a vehicle in the town of Ghulam Khan just north of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, the two officials said. Nine insurgents were killed.

#4: An hour later, another pair of missiles struck a vehicle in the nearby town of Datta Khel, killing five suspected militants, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media. They said all five killed were foreigners.

#5: Militants publicly executed three tribesmen in the North Waziristan tribal region on Sunday after accusing them of spying for the United States, officials said. The men, blindfolded with hands tied behind their backs, were lined up near a gas station in the lawless tribal area near the Afghan border, local official Nasir Khan said. “A man wearing a black mask shot them dead one by one,” he said – adding that the militants, before killing the trio, asked local people to “come and witness the fate of US spies”.

#6: Explosives hidden in a handcart went off in an area of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand on Monday, killing one civilian and wounding four others, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.

#7: At least 10 insurgents were estimated killed by Afghan forces and troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the southern province of Helmand, ISAF said in a statement. The operation, aimed at disrupting Taliiban safe havens in the Kajaki district, started on Saturday and ended on Monday.


DoD: Spc. Blake D. Whipple

DoD: Sgt. Michael F. Paranzino

DoD: Lance Cpl. Brandon W. Pearson

DoD: Lance Cpl. Matthew J. Broehm

DoD: Pfc. Shane M. Reifert

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