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


Monday, March 21, 2011

War News forMonday, March 21, 2011

The Washington Post is reporting the death of an American soldier from an IED blast in an unreported location in southern Iraq presumably on Monday, March 21st.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, March 20th.


Reported security incidents

#1: A high-ranking oil official has been shot dead in an attack in Baghdad, Iraqi media reported on Monday. Hussein Jamal Abdullah, Director-General of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO), was killed by an unknown group of gunmen near the Baghdad People's Stadium on Sunday, Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.

#2: A colonel in the Interior Ministry was also killed in a separate attack near the Moussa al-Kadhim Mosque in northern Baghdad. The colonel's name was not reported.

Gunmen in a speeding car on Sunday killed an Interior Ministry colonel, Ali Jabar, when they fired on his car in eastern Baghdad, police said.

#3: A roadside bomb placed at the gate of a night club at Abu Nowas Street, in Karrada, caused massive damages to the club on Monday morning. No casualties were reported.

#4: Gunmen in a speeding car on Sunday wounded an Interior Ministry colonel, Emad Chyad, when they shot at his car in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#5: Gunmen in a speeding car wounded a police lieutenant, Ali Ramiz, when they shot at his car in the Talbiya area of eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#6: A bomb attach to a vehicle on Sunday killed one civilian and wounded three in the Baghdad's southwestern district of Bayaa, an Interior Ministry source said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A bomb attached to an Iraqi military vehicle killed one soldier and wounded two in the Karma area, near Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Militants killed four men for allegedly providing the United States with information used in a recent drone attack that Pakistan claims killed many innocent civilians, Pakistani intelligence officials said Monday. Authorities found the bullet-riddled bodies of three Pakistanis and one Afghan in the North Waziristan tribal area with notes outlining their alleged role in the March 17 drone strike, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

#2: Two suspected suicide bombers riding on a motor bike were killed near the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan when the suicide vest of one of them exploded accidentally, police said.

MoD: Private Daniel Prior

DoD: Cpl. Donald R. Mickler Jr.

DoD: Pfc. Rudy A. Acosta

Posted by whisker at 3:37 AM

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