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, April 15, 2011

War News for Friday, April 15, 2011

UN confirms 34 killed at Iranian exile camp in Baghdad

CIA will not halt operations in Pakistan: Official

Radioactive Japanese cars seized in Russia's Far East (off topic)


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi Army officer was wounded in a bombing that targeted a military patrol, western Baghdad, a security source told Alsumaria. A policeman was wounded in a bombing that targeted a police patrol in Al Mikanik District, Dora region.

#2: The body of a woman with gunshot wounds in the head and the chest was found in Al Sheala region. Another body of a man with gunshot wounds was found in Al Hurriya region, northwestern Baghdad.


Diyala Prv:
#1: One soldier was killed and another one was wounded by a sniper fire on Friday in the city of Baaquba, a security source said. “A sniper opened fire on a military control tower on the road between Diala and Kirkuk in al-Aadim district in Khales, northern Baaquba, killing a soldier from the 5th division of the Iraqi army and injuring another one,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two persons were wounded in a blast that targeted their vehicle in Kirkuk on Thursday, according to a source from the city’s Joint Coordination Center (JCC). “An improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeted a civilian vehicle in southern Kirkuk, injuring two, one of them working for the National Security Center in the city and the other is an employee at a cotton ginning plant, and damaging their car,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Meanwhile, unidentified persons hurled a hand-grenade on the house of the assistant director of the public notary in al-Shurja area, northern Kirkuk, causing damage to the building, the source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Forty Afghan would-be policemen who were kidnapped by the Taliban last month were freed unharmed Friday, officials said. The men were abducted in the troubled eastern province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan, while travelling back from neighbouring Nuristan, where they had unsuccessfully sought work with the Afghan Local Police (ALP). A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, added: "Our eastern shura (local council) agreed to free them after assurances by local elders that they will not work for the police."

#2: Bomb blast rocked Afghan Kandahar town on Friday killing provincial police chief, an official said. "A terrorist dressed in police uniform strapped explosive device in his boy blew himself up inside police department leaving the police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid dead," the official told Xinhua, but declined to give his name saying authorized official would brief media after investigation


DoD: Spc. Donald L. Nichols

Posted by whisker at 3:31 AM

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