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


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

War News for Tuesday, May 03, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 3rd.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad, a female employee in Baghdad municipality was killed when a sticky bomb attached to her car detonated on a highway in Doura district in southern the capital, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in Doura district, wounding a policeman and two civilians, the source said.

#3: In downtown Baghdad, a civilian was wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in the busy al-Naser Square, the source added.

#4: Two civilians were killed in an armed attack by unknown gunmen in Al Hurriya District, northwestern Baghdad.

#5: In Al Youssifiya region, southern Baghdad, a police source told Alsumarianews that gunmen killed an employee at Housing and Construction Ministry.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In Diyala, an Awakening Council group member was shot dead by gunmen in al-Hashmiyat area in northwest of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a source from Diyala's operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: Separately, gunmen wounded Shakir Mahmoud, an Iraqi army officer, in the town of al-Maqdadiyah, some 40 km northeast of Baquba, the source said.


Kut:
#1: Unknown gunmen killed a civilian in southern Kut on Monday, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen attacked a civilian in al-Falahiya neighborhood, southern Kut, using light weapons, killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A civilian was killed on Monday by gunmen in western Mosul, a security source said. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on a civilian in front of his house in al-Islah al-Zerai neighborhood, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: The Police Director of Nimrud township in northern Iraq’s Ninewa Province, has been killed in an explosive charge blast on Tuesday, a Ninewa police source said.

“Nimrud’s Police Director, Lt. Brigadier, Eid al-Jibouri, has been killed while on his work, in an explosive charge blast against his motorcade in Nimrud township, 40 km to the northeast of Mosul,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that the blast had wounded his driver and four of his bodyguards.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Three US-led alliance troops have been injured in southern Afghanistan after militants destroyed their convoy in an explosion, a report says. The bomb blast took place on Tuesday, a Press TV correspondent report. The nationalities of the soldiers and the exact location of the attack are still unknown.

#2: Also on Tuesday, a NATO air strike in Afghanistan's central Ghazni province left at least ten Afghan security guards dead. The killed men apparently worked for a private security firm in charge of providing security assistance to NATO convoys. NATO has confirmed the airstrike, but says initial reports suggest that the strike targeted militants. However, Ghazni police say no militants were involved in the incident.

Police say that at least five Afghan guards were killed in a NATO air strike along a highway in southern Afghanistan. Police commanders in Ghazni Province said the armed guards were escorting a supply convoy to NATO bases in southern Afghanistan when they were hit.

#3: Afghan and NATO forces have killed at least 25 Taliban militants in north-eastern Afghanistan, a senior official said Tuesday. The NATO-led forces started the ground and air operations in the north-eastern province of Nooristan on Monday, provincial governor Jamaluddin Badr said. 'According to our initial reports, at least 25 militants among whom were foreign fighters were killed in Bargmatal district, which borders Pakistan,' Badr said. The militants had been using the targeted Olagon area in the west of Bargmatal district as a command centre, the governor said.

#4: A Pakistani air force jet fighter crashed Tuesday afternoon in the Kot Shakir area of Jhang district in the country's eastern province of Punjab, reported local English TV Channel Express. The report quoted an official with Pakistan Air Force (PAF) as saying that a Mirage combat aircraft of PAF was on its routine rehearsal flight in the Jhang district of Punjab province when the pilot lost its control over the plane due to some technical problem.

5 comments:

The Wiz said...

Can someone try to rationally explain why there has been no mention here of the killing of UBL?

amagi said...

He was "too small a man" to bear mention.

The Wiz said...

amagi; Have to call BS on that as every known casualty gets listed on this site, even people that are unknown and unnamed.

amagi said...

Be cool, The Wiz... I was quoting TIME magazine, from ten years ago (in response to why he was not named 'person of the year')... to obvious sarcastic effect, I had hoped.

The Wiz said...

This site always posts all the claims of the Taliban which are notorious for their inaccuracies. Accuracy does not seem to be required.

Besides, if UBL's death was faked, that would be awful stupid of the "smartest man ever to be Pres." UBL would just post a video saying he is still alive and the Big O would look even worse than Bush.

No, there are other reasons why there has been no mention of UBL's demise by the admin of this site.