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, March 19, 2011

War News for Saturday, March 19, 2011

The MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED attack in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, March 18th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a shooting incident from an Afghani security guard in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan presumably on Saturday, March 19th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, March 19th.


Houston Marine sergeant killed in training flight

Pak air force at higher alert after US drone attacks: report


Reported security incidents

Jurf al sakhar:
#1: Gunmen stormed a house on Friday and killed two brothers belonging to the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia in Jurf al-Sakhar in western Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Baiji:
#1: A roadside bomb killed three shepherds in Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad on Friday, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi lawyer has been killed by unknown gunmen in northern Iraq's oil rich city of Kirkuk on Friday, a Kirkuk Police director said on Saturday. "A group of unknown gunmen opened fire on a lawyer, called Mohammed Khalaf al-Azzawi, in front of his house south of Kirkuk, killing him on the spot, Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Eight Taliban insurgents were killed Friday night in Afghanistan's Badghis province, some 555 km northwest of capital city Kabul as NATO-led troops and Afghan forces pounded militants' hideouts, an official said Saturday. "Based on intelligence reports, a unit of Afghan and international forces raided militants hideout in Bala Murghab district late Friday night as a result eight insurgents were killed," spokesman for provincial administration, Sharafdin Majidi told Xinhua. According to the official, no casualties on combined forces and civilians were reported during the raid.


DoD: Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Meis

Posted by whisker at 3:32 AM

1 comments:

Dancewater said...

Today, on the 8th anniversary of the illegal and immoral war of aggression on Iraq, and the occupation and destruction of Iraq, the US government decided to start up another illegal and immoral war of aggression on Libya.

Change we can believe in!

March 19, 2011 at 5:48 PM

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