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


Saturday, December 4, 2010

War News for Saturday, December 04, 2010

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, December 3rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in a non-hostile related incident in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, December 4th.


Yemen Sets Terms of a War on Al Qaeda

A resurgent Syria alarms U.S., Israel


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Militants blew up a car bomb in front of a house used by Iranians as a rest stop in the Kadhamiya district of Baghdad, as well as explosives planted in an adjacent house, an Interior Ministry source said. The explosions killed five people, wounded 18 and severely damaged the two houses, the source said.

#2: In Baghdad's northern Shula district, a car bomb exploded near a bus carrying Iranians, killing two people and wounding 28, the source said.

#3: A third car bomb blast struck a market in Baghdad's southwestern Bayaa district, killing six people and wounding 41 others, the ministry source said.

#4: A roadside IED on al-Amal al-Shaabi street, al-Amiriya, western Baghdad, went off near an Iraqi army patrol, leaving three soldiers wounded and damaging their vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: “An IED attached to the vehicle of a lawyer went off near a civil defense center in al-Amiriya, leaving him wounded and his vehicle damaged,” he said.

#6: The source added that another roadside IED blast on street 60, al-Dora, southern Baghdad, left two civilians wounded and several nearby stores damaged.

#7: “An IED planted on a roadside in al-Karrada, central Baghdad, went off near a federal police patrol, leaving four personnel wounded and causing damage to their vehicle,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: “Gunmen had shot dead a cleaning worker in Bab al-Jadeed area, central Mosul. They were arrested and remanded under investigative custody,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Policemen on Friday (Dec. 3) had found the body of a cleaning worker from the Mosul Municipality in a waste dump in al-Farouq al-Qadeem area, central Mosul.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Seven Afghan demining experts have been released, two days after kidnappers ambushed them near the Pakistan border, the border police commander for eastern Afghanistan said Saturday. The deminers were released Friday after local elders helped in negotiations with the kidnappers, Gen. Aminullah Amerkhail said. Two of them had been beaten, he said. The seven were the last to be released of a team of 16 Afghans seized Wednesday near the Pakistan border. The others were released several hours after the attack near the Torkham border crossing in Nangarhar province


DoD: Cpl. Chad S. Wade

Posted by whisker at 3:51 AM

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