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 26, 2011

War News for Saturday, March 26, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, March 26th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi soldier has been killed and seven other persons, including security elements, have been wounded in different violation acts in Baghdad on Saturday, according to Iraqi security sources. “A group of unknown gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi Army patrol in west Baghdad’s Hurriya district, killing a soldier and wounding another soldier and a civilian, whilst the gunmen flew away to an unknown destination,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A bomb attached to the car of a university professor killed him and wounded three others, including his wife, when it went off in al-Nisour Square in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: doctor survived a life attempt on Friday in Diala, while an army force seized a weapons depot in the province, a security source said. “A sticky bomb went off on Friday (March 25) on the main road in Jalawlaa, Khanaqin, northeast of Baaquba, targeting the vehicle of a doctor in Jalawlaa hospital, seriously injuring him,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “A civilian has been injured in an explosion of an IED, stuck to a truck, loaded with gas tubes, that blew off in Baaquba, the center of Diala Province on Saturday,” Lt. Brigadier Jassim al-Rube’i told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Diwaniya:
#1: Six missiles landed on a U.S. base and a headquarters of the Iraqi army’s 8th Division in the city of al-Diwaniya on Friday but there was no word of casualties or losses, an Iraqi military source said. “Three rockets landed on Camp Echo of U.S. forces, (3 km) west of Diwaniya, while three others hit the headquarters of Iraq’s 8th Division, (4 km) west of Diwaniya, but no casualties or losses were reported,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen shot dead an off-duty Iraqi army lieutenant near his house in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Western forces have accidentally killed civilians in an air attack in the Afghan province of Helmand, after mistaking them for Taliban fighters. Nato said it ordered the attack on Friday, after hearing that a Taliban leader and several of his subordinates were travelling in two vehicles. Troops later found an unspecified number of dead and wounded civilians at the scene in Naw Zad district.

#2: Two civilians were killed when their motorcycle was hit by a roadside bomb in Shamalzai district of southern Zabul province on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

#3: One child was killed and four civilians were wounded when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives in Spin Boldak district of southern Kandahar province on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.


MoD: Major Matthew James Collins

MoD: Lance Sergeant Mark Terence Burgan

Posted by whisker at 4:41 AM

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