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, November 4, 2010

War News for Thursday, November 04, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, October 4th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Five people were wounded Thursday in a sticky bomb explosion in southeastern Baghdad, according to a security source. “A bomb, attached to a civilian car carrying three anti-terrorism soldiers, went off near al-Rasoul bridge, which links between al-Zaafaraniya and Jisr Diala regions, wounding the three elements and two passing civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Basra:
#1: An explosive charge blew up targeting a U.S. Army patrol in southern Iraq’s Basra city on Wednesday, without causing any casualties, a Basra Province’s security source said. “A U.S. patrol was attacked by an explosive charge, planted on a road close to the Basra Car Shows, 8 km to the south of the city,” the security source said, adding that the blast did not cause any human casualties or material damage.


Shurqat:
#1: Three policemen were killed and six others were wounded by an improvised explosive device blast in north of Tikrit, a source from Salah al-Din Operations Command said on Thursday. “The bomb exploded near a police vehicle patrol in al-Salman village in al-Shurqat district., north of Tikrit, killing three cops and injuring six, including a captain,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A woman was wounded Wednesday by a hand grenade in western Mosul, according to a security source. “One woman was wounded Wednesday afternoon (Nov.3) when a gunman threw a hand grenade on a police checkpoint in Dakat Berka region, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the attacker fled to an unknown area.

#2: Armed men on foot killed a 17-year-old boy in front of his house in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An Iraqi government official and his driver were killed on Thursday in a bomb attack in the province of al-Anbar, some 120 kilometres west of Baghdad, security sources said. Siyad Izerij, Director of the town of Kubeisa in the province of al-Anbar, was killed by three roadside bombs targeting his car as he was on his way to work. Izerij's driver was also killed in the attack, security sources said.

The Director of Kubeisa town, in west Iraq’s Anbar Province, has been killed in west Iraq’s town of Heat, in a cluster bomb blast in his car on Thursday, according to a security source. “Siyad Izerij has been killed and one of his guards was wounded in a cluster bomb blast in his car during his tour in Heat town, 60 kms to the south of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province,” the source said, adding that the police have imposed a partial curfew on the area of the incident.

#2: Two Iraqi policemen have been injured in a double attack by unknown armed men on a police checkpoint south of Falluja city in west Iraq’s Anbar Province on Thursday, a security source said. “A group of armed men attacked a checkpoint at Al-Hussey area, close to Amiriyat al-Falluja township, wounding two policemen,” he added.

#3: “An improvised explosive device went off Thursday (Nov. 4) targeting an army vehicle patrol in al-Muaalameen neighborhood, central Heit, injuring two soldiers and damaging their vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: “The second blast occurred by a local-made bomb, which contains C4 and TNT,” he added, noting that the bomb exploded near a police vehicle patrol in al-Jamaaiya neighborhood, central Heit, wounding two cops.

#5: A bomb attached to a motorcycle wounded two firemen when it exploded near their fire engine in Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

#6: A roadside bomb wounded two civilians when it went off near a restaurant in Ramadi, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: In Kandahar, where the insurgency is concentrated, the province's deputy director for education, Ahmadullah, was shot dead near his home Thursday by armed men on a motorbike, his boss Najibullah Ahmadi told AFP. He said that Ahmadullah had been walking home with his young daughter from a bakery. The girl, whose age was not immediately known, “is not hurt, she's OK,” Ahmadi, the provincial education director, said.

#2: In eastern Ghazni province, an increasingly hot insurgency spot, officials said the bodies of four police officers seized by militants during an attack earlier this week had been found. The dead were among 19 police officers who went missing on Monday following a Taliban attack on the province's remote Khogyani district, said Delawar Zahid, the provincial police chief. Contrary to earlier official denials, he said the Taliban had briefly taken the district, but that it was reclaimed by pro-government forces after a long fight. “Four officers have been killed,” he said, adding that one had been released and 14 were still missing.

#3: Five civilians, two of them children, were killed Wednesday in a firefight between between insurgents and foreign soldiers in southern Afghanistan, NATO said. The exchange of small arms fire broke out when insurgents attacked “shuras”, or traditional meetings, being held by NATO representatives and civilians in Nad Ali district, in Helmand province, a statement from the alliance said. “Coalition forces positively identified the insurgent's position and returned fire with small arms and indirect fire,” said the statement by NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). “Insurgents returned indirect fire, striking a compound resulting in five Afghan civilians killed and nine wounded, according to initial reports. Two of the killed and six of the wounded were children.”ISAF said coalition forces immediately began providing medical care to the wounded civilians when the insurgents opened fire on the air medical team evacuating the casualties.

#4: American drones launched three missile strikes against suspected militant targets in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 13 people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

#5: Troops have killed 10 Taliban fighters and injured 15 others in northern Kunduz province over the past three days, provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Syedkhili said on Thursday.


DoD: 1st Lt. James R. Zimmerman

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