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


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

War News for Wednesday, November 03, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, October 2nd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 3rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, October 3rd.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Insurgents unleashed attacks across Baghdad on Tuesday night, setting off more than a dozen coordinated bombs. At least 63 people were killed and about 285 were wounded, and the local police said they were under orders to enforce an emergency curfew — the first such measure in years.

Eleven car bombs rocked Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghad yester-day killing at least 63 people amid growing concern that Sunni militants are taking advantage of a persistent power vacuum seven months after an inconclusive general election. “Sixty-three people were killed and 285 wounded in 11 car bombings. All of the explosions happened at the same time,” an Interior Ministry official said.

The blasts occurred in Sadr City in front of al-Nasr police station, in al-Eishreen street in al-Bayaa, in the jewelry market in al-Jihad neighborhood, Sabah al-Khayat square in Ur neighborhood in al-Shaab region, Abu Dashier in al-Dour region, near al-Ameer restaurant in al-Husseiniya region, near a bank in al-Kariyaat, near Shiite Qamar Bani Hashem mosque in Jakouk region, near a restaurant in al-Shuaala region, al-Rahmaniya, al-Kamaliya, al-Ameen al-Thaniya region in Baghdad al-Jadieda, al-Arouba square in al-Kadhimiya and near al-Nedaa mosque in al-Wazieriya,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: The biggest were in the northern Kadhimiyah and eastern Husseiniyah districts. The first killed six people and wounded 26. The second killed four and wounded 34, a ministry official said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Unknown gunmen shot and killed a trader from Baghdad in Kirkuk on Tuesday, a source from the joint coordination center said. “Four gunmen opened fire on a trader at 1:15pm on Tuesday (Nov. 2) in al-Shourga region near Omar bin al-Khattab mosque in northern Kirkuk, killing him on the spot,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The trader was passing Kirkuk on his way to Arbil,” he added.

#2: A police force found at 12:30 pm an explosive charge near al-Shaheriya village in al-Riyadh district, southwest of Kirkuk,” the same source said, noting that the force defused it without damage.

#3: Police found the body of a man, in his 20s, who had been suffocated and torched in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Four soldiers and three policemen were wounded in two separate explosions in central and eastern Mosul on Tuesday, a military source said. “A roadside bomb went off Tuesday evening (Nov. 2) targeting an army vehicle patrol in Adan neighborhood, eastern Mosul, injuring four soldiers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “An explosive charge was detonated near a police patrol in al-Kourniesh street, central Mosul, wounding three cops,” the source added.

#2: A roadside bomb targeting an on-foot police patrol went off and wounded three policemen in central Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An off-duty policeman was killed when a roadside bomb exploded in front of his house in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: TWO Australian special forces soldiers were slightly wounded in Afghanistan last week after the vehicles they were travelling in struck improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in two separate incidents. One of the soldiers suffered a lower back injury and the other suffered a minor ankle injury on Thursday, October 28. Both soldiers were conducting operations with the Provincial Response Company (PRC) in Northern Kandahar, a Defence spokesman said on Wednesday.

#2: Three Afghan policemen were killed in the southern province of Helmand on Tuesday when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in Nawa district, Mohammad Ismail, the deputy provincial police chief, said Wednesday. Five more police forces were injured in the blast, he said.

#3: Despite assuring Pakistan of stopping further intrusions into its territory, NATO aircraft once again breached the country's airspace close to the Afghan border. According to the Daily Times, NATO helicopters violated Pakistan's border limits in the areas of Burkha and Kharlacha of the Kurram Agency. The helicopters entered about 600 meters inside Pakistani airspace, and after flying in the area for 10 minutes they returned back to Spin Boldak area in Afghanistan to their airbase.

#4: A suicide bombing attack on a military checkpoint in Khost province east of Afghanistan occurred on Wednesday, casualties feared, an official said.

#5: Five insurgents were killed while trying to plant a roadside bomb in Maidan Wardak province, west of Kabul, a provincial official said.

#6: Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said the number of Taliban insurgents killed in an operation in southern Helmand province at the weekend had risen to 30. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) earlier said more than 15 insurgents had been killed. The Taliban have described the reported losses as propaganda.

#7: The governor of Syed Karam district in Paktia province sustained injuries and his bodyguard was killed as a roadside bomb struck their vehicle Wednesday, police said. "Agha Gul the Governor of Syed Karam district was on the way to provincial capital Gerdez today when his car ran over a mine as a result he sustained injuries and his bodyguard was killed," a senior police officer Ghulam Dastgir Khan told Xinhua.


MoD: Sapper William Blanchard

DoD: Spc. Jonathan M. Curtis

DoD: Pfc. Andrew N. Meari

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh, what a bloody evil mess the US has created in Iraq....

Cervantes said...

It seems Iraqis are once again looking into the abyss.

Anonymous said...

"The revelation came in Mr Bush's memoirs, Decision Points, in which he wrote of errors during the Iraq campaign, and the failure to find WMDs there, despite intelligence reports suggesting otherwise.

"No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do," he wrote."

It is, of course, a lie to suggest that intelligence sources suggested otherwise. I figured it all out, at home, by myself, with a six year old computer and a dial-up internet connection. Millions more did the same.

But I think it is interesting that Bush has a sickening feeling when he thinks about Iraq. I get a sickening feeling too. However, if I had caused this much violence and murder and destruction of another country that never hurt my own country, I would be doing more than feeling sick. I would commit suicide immediately.

Bush, being a coward and with little morality, will not do that.

Dancewater said...

caption from a photo:

Iraqi princess Dr. Nessrine the granddaughter of the Iraqi king Faisal I ben-al-Sharif Hussein al-Hashimi, right, holds an Iraqi flag as she lights a candle for the victims who were killed Sunday when gunmen stormed a church in Baghdad during mass and took the entire congregation hostage, during a vigil at the Martyrs square in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday Nov. 2, 2010. The attack, claimed by an al-Qaida-linked organization, was the deadliest recorded against Iraq's Christians since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion unleashed a wave of violence against them.
(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

*****

I did not know that Iraq had a princess. Loads of new photos on my blog, Faces of Grief. Really difficult to see so much suffering of the Iraqi people, thanks to US evil people, like Bush and thewiz.