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 18, 2010

War News for Thursday, November 18, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from small arms fire/gunshot wounds in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, November 17th.


NATO details Afghan clash that killed 5 Americans


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their vehicle south of Baghdad city on Thursday, according to a local security source. “An IED attached by unidentified gunmen to a civilian vehicle went off while it was going by the Djisr Diala area, south of Baghdad, leaving two people wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Thirty prisoners escaped from northern Baghdad’s Tasfirat prison, following clashes with the prison guards, a security source in Baghdad said on Thursday. “Clashes erupted on Wednesday night between the guards and prisoners in northern Baghdad’s Tasfirat prison, in which firearms were used, leaving some prisoners wounded and causing chaos that helped 30 prisoners to escape from the prison,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: "Eighteen Taliban insurgents were killed when NATO-led airstrikes attacked on their meeting Wednesday in Nad Ali district in Helmand province," Xinhua quoted Ghulam Farooq Parwani, an official of Afghan National Army, as saying.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Kevin M. Pape

DoD: Staff Sgt. Javier O. Ortiz Rivera

DoD: Spc. Shane H. Ahmed

DoD: Spc. Nathan E. Lillard

DoD: Spc. Scott T. Nagorski

DoD: Spc. Jesse A. Snow

DoD: Pfc. Christian M. Warriner

Posted by whisker at 2:50 AM

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