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, January 31, 2011

War News for Monday, January 31, 2011

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, January 29th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, January 31th.


Guard soldier who served in Afghanistan dies - Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Jason T. Pool

Afghan police look for 15 female Chechen militants


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Iraqi officials say gunmen have killed an electricity ministry employee, and seven people have been wounded in a string of attacks in Baghdad. Police and hospital officials say the gunmen intercepted the electricity ministry engineer's car in western Baghdad.

#2-5: Officials say four bombs also wounded seven other people in the capital on Monday, including two bodyguards protecting an education ministry adviser. The others wounded were a senior police officer, a Justice Ministry employee and three civilians.

#3: "An explosive charge blew off under a car belonging to a Justice Ministry official in southeast Baghdad's Za'afaraniya district, seriously wounding him and causing damage to his car," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq.

#4: "An explosive charge blew of on Monday, wounding a Traffic Police officer, with a maj.general rank, accompanied by a woman, who was also injured, while coming out of their house in southern Baghdad's Abu-Tayara district on Monday," the security source said, adding that the blast had caused damage to his house and car.

#5: In another incident, the security source said that another "explosive charge blew off close to the Collage of Education in central Baghdad's Waziriya district, wounding three civilians.

#6: He said that "another explosive charge, stuck in a civilian car on Mohammed al-Qassim's Highway in Baghdad, blew off wounding its driver and causing damage to his car."

#7: Four Iraqi civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast in central Baghdad on Monday, a security source said. "An explosive charge blew off on Monday morning close to central Baghdad's People's Stadium, wounding four civilians," the security source added, giving no further details.

#8: Gunmen using silenced weapons opened fire on a car in Baghdad's southwestern Amil district on Sunday, killing one employee of a private security company and wounding another, an Interior Ministry source said.

#9: A sticky bomb attached to a car seriously wounded a cleric when it went off in western Baghdad on Sunday, an Interior Ministry source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Four people died in a suicide attack in Peshawar when a bomber walked in front of a marked police van and blew himself up, according to Pakistani government official Muhammad Siraj. Of them, one was a senior police official and three were police officers. Sixteen people were also injured in the attack, Siraj said. The casualties included police and civilians.

#2: A fourth police personnel was killed hours later when a bomb hit another police vehicle while on patrol in Peshawar, according to Shafi Ullah Kahn, a senior Pakistani police official. The second attack wounded three other officers.

#3-4: In the country's southwest, militants on motorcyles attacked and burned three oil tankers taking fuel to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Sunday night, a Pakistani police official said. The attack took place 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Quetta in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, according to Noor Ul Haq. Sunday night's attack came hours after another group of militants on motorcycles torched two NATO supply trucks traveling through Baluchistan province that were also on the way to Afghanistan.