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


Friday, February 4, 2011

War News for Friday, February 04, 2011

Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three civilians and one policeman were injured on Thursday in a bomb blast in central Baghdad, according to a security source. “An improvised explosive device exploded near a police vehicle patrol in al-Qutn intersection in al-Waziriya region, central Baghdad, injuring three civilians and one policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A charred mutilated body found in a garbage can in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, was of a young man in his 20s while a second body was found in an abandoned house in al-Kadhemiya area, north of Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: “In the Baghdad area of al-Aadhamiya, bomb squad experts dismantled an IED near a secondary school without incident,” he added.


Kut:
#1: An improvised explosive device (IED) went off near a U.S. convoy in the city of al-Kut on Thursday but no information about possible casualties or losses was available, a local police source said. “The explosive charge blast targeted a U.S. convoy at the entrance of al-Hai district, (40 km) south of Kut, but no one spoke of casualties or losses,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The U.S. forces cordoned off the scene after the blast,” he added.

#2: A school student was kidnapped on Friday in north of Kut while was heading for his teacher’s house, according to a police source. “Unknown gunmen kidnapped Jaafar Saaeed, 18, in al-Nuaamaniya district, while heading to his teacher’s house,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diwaniya:
#1: Iraqi police opened fire on Thursday to disperse hundreds of angry residents protesting against shortages of power, water and other services near the southern city of Diwaniya, wounding three, officials said. The crowd of about 1,000 tried to force its way into a local council building in the al-Hamza district south of the Diwaniya provincial capital, demanding improved food rations and more power and water. "The protesters threw stones at police. Police opened fire at them, wounding three," said Raad al-Zaidi, an adviser to Diwaniya Governor Salem Hussein. Protesters set tires ablaze, hurled stones and tried to storm the local police station, witnesses said.



Tuz Khurmato:
#1: A police chief in northern Iraq says the 8-year-old son of a local anti-terrorism chief was killed in a food market by gunmen aiming for his father. Tuz Khormato police chief Col. Hussein Rasheed said Friday that the target of the shooting was the chief of the city's anti-terrorism security squads. The father and two of his other children were wounded in the Thursday night shooting. The gunmen fled.

Separately, the chief of an anti-terrorism squad was shot and killed Thursday night in central Tuz Khormato, a town north of Baghdad. The official, Captain Abbass Nuri, driving in his car with his family when gunmen attacked occurred, police said. Two of his children were killed and his father was critically wounded.


Tikrit:
#1: A sticky bomb exploded on Friday morning on the vehicle of an intelligence officer in central Tikrit, without injuring him, a security source said. “A bomb, stuck to the vehicle of Colonel Ali Saleh, an intelligence officer of brigade 14, went off on Friday (Feb. 4), near the Tikrit educational hospital,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast left no casualties,” he added.

#2: A bomb planted in front of the home of a police captain whose brother is a member of parliament seriously wounded the officer's 13-year-old son, in central Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Up to eight people were killed and 19 others injured Thursday evening in three bomb attacks, including a suicide bombing, in central Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, police source told Xinhua. The attack took place at about local time 7:15 p.m. (1615 GMT), when a sticky bomb attached to a civilian car parked on a main road in central Ramadi detonated, the source from the provincial operations command said on condition of anonymity. Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a crowd of policemen and civilians who were attracted to gather to look at the site of the first blast, killing six and wounding 15 others, the source said. Among the victims of the second blast, three policemen were killed and three others wounded, the source said.

#2: Later, another roadside bomb went off near police vehicles outside the hospital of Ramadi where the victims of the earlier blasts were being evacuated by the police vehicles, destroying a police vehicle and killing two policemen aboard and wounding four others, the source added.

#3: Two brothers were wounded on Friday by unknown gunmen in southern Falluja, a security source said. “Unknown gunmen stormed the house of Professor Khamis Daham, specialized in the Islamic sciences, in al-Bu Hawaa region, central al-Aameriya district, southern Falluja and opened fire on the family inside it, injuring two of his sons,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The gunmen blew the house up after the attack,” he added.

#4: “Another armed group planted bombs around the house of a policeman and detonated it, but without leaving casualties,” the same source said.

#5: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded five policemen and four civilians in the town of Ramadi, police said.

#6: Gunmen using silenced weapons killed a police officer at a security checkpoint in southern Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two people were killed and at least one was injured in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand on Friday when US-led foreign soldiers opened fire at a bus carrying civilians, a Press TV correspondent reported. NATO has issued a statement saying the incident took place when a foreign patrol was attacked, but failed to confirm which side has killed the people.

#2: In another incident, a bomb aimed at killing police forces, exploded near the market in Kandahar and killed one civilian and wounded three others including a woman and two children.

Officials and witnesses say a car bomb has exploded outside a house owned by the police chief in the southern province of Kandahar. It's the second attack on him this week. Interior ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary says two women were wounded in Friday's blast. Dr. Irsan Khan of Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar says four people were wounded. Conflicting numbers of casualties are common in the immediate aftermath of explosions. The police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid was inside the house but wasn't hurt by the blast.

#3: Local sources told Press TV that a policeman was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kandahar early Friday morning.

#4: In another bomb blast in the northern province of Kunduz in Afghanistan on Friday, at least six civilians were killed and several others were injured.

#5: At least 20,000 people have fled fierce fighting between troops and militants in the Pakistani tribal region of Mohmand, officials and witnesses say. Many of the displaced are sheltering in temporary camps, the authorities say. Troops have been using helicopter gunships and heavy weapons to pound suspected militant positions for a week, according to residents. Pakistani officials say the army has sustained an unspecified number of casualties and that more than 70 insurgents have been killed in the fighting so far.

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