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


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

War News for Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. Master Sgt. Jamal H. Bowers died from a non-combat related incident at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti on Friday, March 18th. he was supporting OEF.


Afghans to Take Over Security in 7 Areas, Mostly Peaceful, by July


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “A police major was killed today by gunmen, who used guns with silencers, near al-Douri restaurant in Palestine street, eastern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “A police captain was killed in Sadr city in a similar incident in eastern Baghdad,” he added. (by gunmen, who used guns with silencers)

#3: “Two persons were wounded when gunmen opened fire on their car in al-Hussieniya region, northeastern Baghdad,” he noted.

#4: An Iraqi civilian has been killed in a blast of an improvised explosive device (IED), that was planted in his car in Baghdad on Wednesday, a Baghdad security source said. “An IED, planted in a car of a civilian in west Baghdad’s Amiriya district, blew off on Wednesday, instantly killing him,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Amarra:
#1: An armed man had been killed due to serious burns he sustained when he tried to fire a Katusha rocket on a military airport on southern Iraq’s Amara city on Tuesday, a security source said. “The General al-Sadr Hospital had received an armed man, suffering from serious burns when he tried to launch a Katusha rocket on al-Buteira Military Airport, 10 kms to the north of Amara on Tuesday,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: An Iraqi army soldier was wounded on Tuesday by a hand grenade explosion in western Mosul, a security source said. "The grenade was thrown on an army vehicle patrol in al-Islah al-Zeraai neighborhood, western Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the attacker escaped to an unknown place, while the wounded was carried to a nearby hospital for treatment.

#2: Two policemen were wounded on Tuesday as two mortar shells hit a police station in western Mosul, according to a security source. "Two mortar shells hit a police station in al-Najar neighborhood, injuring two policemen," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: One civilian was wounded on Tuesday in a bomb explosion in east of Mosul, according to a security source. “The bomb exploded in Baasheqa district, east of Mosul, injuring a civilian, who was carried to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that he is in a stable condition.

#4: A child was wounded on Tuesday in a bomb explosion in west of Mosul, a security source said. “The child was wounded in an explosion in al-Mahlabiya district, west of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, pointing out that the child was playing near his house when the explosion occurred.

#5: Gunmen wounded two off-duty policemen inside their vehicle in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#6: Gunmen in a car killed an off-duty policeman near his house in southwestern Mosul late on Tuesday, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A man riding his donkey cart was killed and two passers-by were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.

#2: Suspected militants targeted a police vehicle with a remote-controlled bomb in the northwestern town of Hangu, wounding six policemen, official Mir Chaman Khan said


DoD: Master Sgt. Jamal H. Bowers

DoD: Cpl. Brandon S. Hocking

2 comments:

Dancewater said...

U.S. Bombs Libya, Helps... Jihadists?!
Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, March 21, 2011


America is now at war to protect a Libyan province that's been an epicenter of anti-American jihad.

In recent years, at mosques throughout eastern Libya, radical imams have been "urging worshippers to support jihad in Iraq and elsewhere," according to WikiLeaked cables. More troubling: The city of Derna, east of Benghazi, was a "wellspring" of suicide bombers that targeted U.S. troops in Iraq.

By imposing a no-fly zone over Eastern Libya, the U.S. and its coalition partners have effectively embraced the breakaway republic of Cyrenaica. As you can see on the map [at link], Libya is a mashup of three historically distinct provinces. As recently as the 1940s, Cyrenaica was an independent emirate, with its capital in Benghazi.

The emnity between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania runs deep. The Emir of Cyrenaica awkwardly cobbled together modern Libya and ruled as its monarch. This is the same king that Qaddafi deposed in his coup of 1969. And the Qaddafi regime has seen the former king's homeland as a threat ever since, as this Wikileaked cable from our Tripoli embassy explains: "Eastern Libya had suffered ... from a lack of investment and government resources, part of a campaign by the al-Qadhafi regime to keep the area poor and, theoretically, less likely to develop as a viable alternative locus of power to Tripoli."

Another cable reports that the disrespect is mutual: "Residents of eastern Libya ... view the al-Qadhafa clan [Qaddafi's tribe] as uneducated, uncouth interlopers from an inconsequential part of the country who have "stolen" the right to rule in Libya."

That's the background. Flash forward to 2008: A West Point analysis of a cache of al Qaeda records discovered that nearly 20 percent of foreign fighters in Iraq were Libyans, and that on a per-capita basis Libya nearly doubled Saudi Arabia as the top source of foreign fighters.

The word "fighter" here is misleading. For the most part, Libyans didn't go to Iraq to fight; they went to blow themselves up - along with American G.I.'s. (Among those whose "work" was detailed in the al Qaeda records, 85 percent of the Libyans were listed as suicide bombers.) Overwhelmingly, these militants came "from cities in North-East Libya, an area long known for Jihadi - linked militancy."
[...]
A surprisingly readable cable titled "Die Hard in Derna" makes clear that the city "takes great pride" in having sent so many of its sons to kill American soldiers in Iraq, quoting one resident as saying: "It's jihad - it's our duty, and you're talking about people who don't have much else to be proud of."

Dancewater said...

sure glad we are rich and can afford all these wars and occupations.....