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, April 9, 2011

War News for Saturday, April 09, 2011

The MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in his home in Livingston, Scotland, U.K. on Thursday, March 31st. He was originally wounded from an IED blast north of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, April 13, 2010.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb wounded two passers-by in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, an Interior Ministry source said.

Three Iraqi civilians have been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast south of Baghdad early on Saturday, a security source said. “An IED blew off in Tu’ma area in southern Baghdad’s Daura district on Saturday morning, wounding three civilians and causing damage to a number of vehicles, he told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, giving no further details.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car wounded a police colonel in the Mansour district of western Baghdad on Friday evening, an Interior Ministry source said.

#3: A civilian man was wounded when a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) went off in northeastern Baghdad, on Friday, a local security source said. “An IED planted on a road in Ur neighborhood, northeastern Baghdad, went off, leaving a civilian man wounded and damaging several nearby vehicles and stores,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: A gunman has been killed, while trying to attack a check point belonging to the pro-government al-Sahwa (awakening) force south of Kirkuk, together with a group of his mates, the Director of Kirkuk’s Police on Saturday. “A group of armed men attacked an al-Sahwa (awakening) force’s checkpoint in southwest Kirkuk’s al-Riyadh township, in a clash that caused the killing one of the attackers,” Brigadier Sarhad Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Qadir said that “a Riyadh Police force clashed with the attackers, killing one of them, whilst the others escaped, leaving behind the body of the dead man, who carried no identities.


Al Anbar OPrv:
#1: A bomb attached to a car killed an off-duty policeman and wounded two others in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad on Friday night, police.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The police chief of Gosfandi district, in northern Sar-e Pul province, was killed by the Taliban while on patrol on Friday, said provincial governor Sayed Anwar Rahmati. One of his officers was also injured in the attack.

#2: Four Taliban militants were killed and another four injured when the NATO-led forces conducted an airstrike against insurgent in Afghanistan's Kapisa province, some 65 km north of the capital city of Kabul, a district administrative chief said on Saturday. "The international forces launched an airstrike against insurgents in Alasay district in the wee hours Saturday, resulting the death of four Taliban insurgents and injuring four others," Alasay district chief, Mullah Mohammad told Xinhua. According to initial information, no civilian casualties has been reported in the air raid attack that took place in Bahdur Khil village, the official added. According to local police sources, a similar attack in neighboring Nijrab district had killed 14 insurgents, including a Taliban deputy shadowy governor for Kapisa province Thursday night.


DoD: Seaman Benjamin D. Rast

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jason A. Rogers

Posted by whisker at 3:21 AM

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