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 22, 2010

War News for Monday, November 22, 2010

MNF-Iraq (OIF) is reporting the death of a United States Forces – Iraq Soldier during physical training at Joint Base Balad, Iraq on Friday, November 19th.

MNF-Iraq (OIF) is reporting the death of a United States Forces – Iraq Soldier from a small arms fire attack in an undisclosed location in northern Iraq on Sunday, November 21st.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, November 20th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, November 22nd.


NATO: Kabul Not That Dangerous For Kids

N Waziristan operation delayed by six months

Taliban reject timeline, seek immediate pullout

Between Firefights, Jokes, Sweat, Tales and Tedium


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A civilian was injured when a roadside bomb exploded on a main highway in northern Baghdad's Kazimiya district.

#2: Three Iraqi civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast in west Baghdad’s Amiriya district early on Monday, according to a security source. “An explosive charge blew off in Amal al-Shaabi Street of west Baghdad’s Amiriya distinct early today (Monday),” he said, adding that the blast had injured three civilians and caused damage to several cars and shops close to the venue of the blast.

#3: Seven person, including two policemen, have been injured when an explosive charge blew off against a police patrol in central Baghdad’s Karrada district early on Monday, a security source said. “An explosive charge blew off early on Monday against a police patrol, close to al-Muhajir Hotel in central Baghdad’s Karrada district, wounding two policemen and five civilians, and caused severe damage to one of the patrol’s vehicles,” he added, without giving further details.


Diyala Prv:
#1: The first explosion occurred when a bomb attached to a cart pushed by an old man went off in the area of Jabinat in central Baqouba. The blast killed the man and ripped through a nearby store.

#2: Another bomb blast targeted a civilian vehicle in the area of al-Hashimiyat in Baqouba's northern district of al-Khalis, killing one of the passengers -- a child, and critically injuring his parents.


Mosul:
#1: A news anchor for the al-Mosuliya television station was killed on Sunday at his residence in the North of the capital of the country's northern province of Nineveh. Gunmen broke into the house of Mazen Mirdan in Mosul's Siddiq neighborhood and shot him to death before escaping to an unknown destination, Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.

#2: Two Christian brothers have been killed when armed men opened fire on them in western Mosul on Monday, a Ninewa police source said. “A group of armed men opened fire on two Christian brothers, working in the Industrial area of west Mosul’s Igab district, killing them on the spot,” the source added.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An officer with lt. Brigadier rank in west Iraq’s Anbar Passport office had been killed in an explosive charge blast in his car west of Ramadi, the center of the Province, an Anbar police source said on Monday. “An explosive charge blew off under the car of Lt. Brigadier, Abdul-Karim Hamid, one of the officers of Anbar’s Passport Department, when he drove his car west of Ramadi, and he died in hospital due to the injuries caused by the attack,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that his car was seriously damaged as well.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Four Afghan civilians were killed and two injured in a roadside bombing in a remote village in the south-eastern province of Paktia Monday, NATO said. A statement from the military alliance said international forces transported the injured to a hospital in Zurmat district, but did not give further details.

#2: Two civilians were also injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-filled vest in Mohamand Dara district in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

#3: Separately, unknown gunmen killed a labourer in Sanzari village in the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday, the governor's office said. The statement said the man, who worked for a government-funded project, was dragged out of the house and killed in front of his children.

#4: Three civilians and a senior police officer died in Afghanistan on Sunday, as foreign forces and officials said more than 20 Taliban militants were killed in air strikes and fighting, mainly in the restive south. The three were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Kandahar province that NATO commanders said showed the insurgents' "complete disregard for the lives of innocent Afghan civilians." Small arms fire and a rocket attack later killed the police chief of Musa Khel district.

#5: Taliban insurgents ambushed and killed a senior police officer in eastern Afghanistan, provincial officials said on Sunday. Chief of police for Musa Khil district in restive Khost province Akbar Jan, was killed in an ambush by insurgents, provincial police chief Abdul Hakim Esaaqzai said.

#6: Three German soldiers were injured on Monday when their convoy was bombed in the northern province of Kunduz, a police official said. The attack occurred in the provincial capital, also called Kunduz, Abdul Rahman Aqtaash, the deputy provincial police chief, said. 'Three German soldiers were injured in the attack and one of the vehicles in the convoy was destroyed,' Aqtaash said. A German military official in the province also confirmed the attack.

#7: Four suspected U.S. missiles slammed into a house in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing six people in an area near the Afghan border teeming with local and foreign militants, intelligence officials said. The strike, carried out by at least one unmanned aircraft, was part of the Obama administration's intensified campaign to use drones to target militants who regularly stage cross-border attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan. The house destroyed in the strike was located in Khaddi village in North Waziristan, part of the semiautonomous tribal region in Pakistan that is almost entirely controlled by militants, said the intelligence officials. The dead included three militants and three local tribesmen who were harboring them, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

#8: A Finnish soldier was injured in a mortar attack on a permanent outpost in Ali Zayid on Sunday afternoon. The attack came two days after two other Finnish soldiers were injured in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on their vehicle in nearby Temorak. One of three shells fired at the base hit the target, injuring a Finnish soldier, who sustained shrapnel injuries in his leg and his side. He was evacuated by helicopter to the German military hospital at Mazar-i-Sharif, where about ten fragments of shrapnel were removed.

#9: A homemade bomb killed three civilians and wounded four others in the Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province on Sunday, ISAF said.

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