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, January 13, 2011

War News for Thursday, December 13, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 12th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 12th.


U.S. VP in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi leaders

Canadian casualties drop in Afghanistan - Just 86 soldiers were wounded in action in 2010 and 14 were killed, the Canadian Forces said. Another 331 suffered non-battle injuries.

Germany extends troops’ Afghan mandate

More dirty fish found in USAID


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One of the explosions occurred in western Baghdad near a mosque where the interfaith group officials were meeting. Two people were wounded in that attack.

#2: Another explosion killed one civilian and wounded four others outside a Shiite mosque in central Baghdad.

#3: One more blast hit outside a Sunni mosque in northeastern Baghdad, wounding three people.
#4: Another explosion was near a Sunni Shrine in central Baghdad, and killed one civilian and wounded five others.


Irbil:
#1: Kurdistan’s Asayesh forces seized on Wednesday a big weapons depot in Arbil, Asayesh said in a statement.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: TRIBAL rebels blew up a gas pipeline in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan, cutting supplies to several areas in cold weather, officials said. The pre-dawn blast today damaged the main pipe bringing gas from Jafarabad district to the provincial capital Quetta and five other districts, Sui Southern Gas Company spokesman Inayatullah Ismail said.

#2: A bomb in a marketplace in eastern Afghanistan killed a child on Thursday in part of the persistent violence across the country despite crackdowns on insurgent leaders, an official said. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for Nangarhar province, said the blast occurred outside a music cassette shop in Jalalabad, the provincial capital 125 kilometers (77 miles) east of Kabul. Other civilians were injured, but were not taken to the hospital, he said.

#3: Eighteen people were killed and 15 wounded when a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-laden car into a police station in northwest Pakistan Wednesday, officials said. The bomber's car struck Miryan police station on the outskirts of the town of Bannu and badly damaged a nearby mosque. District police chief Mohammad Iftikhar told AFP most of those wounded were police officers and paramilitary personnel.

#4: A roadside bomb targeting police in northwest Pakistan killed one officer and wounded five others Thursday, close to the scene of a deadly suicide attack on security forces a day earlier. The officers were hit in their car while on patrol in the garrison town of Bannu, southwest of Peshawar city. One policeman has died and five others were wounded. It was a remote-controlled bomb," district police chief Mohammad Iftikhar told AFP by telephone.

1 comments:

Dancewater said...

Afghan girl raped, killed by US troops

The daughter of an Afghan politician has reportedly died of her injuries after being raped by American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan's southwestern province of Farah.


US forces aboard five Toyota Hiace vans transferred the teenage girl along with several other Afghan women and girls to a military base in the province. They then sexually assaulted them, Afghan sources, who requested anonymity, told Iran Newspaper on Network on Wednesday.

Medical reports indicate that a young girl died as a result of severe bleeding that was caused by tears in her genitals from violent sexual penetration.

Two other victims were admitted to a nearby hospital and are currently receiving treatment for serious injuries they suffered following multiple rapes.