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, May 25, 2011

War News for Wednesday, May 25, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 24th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 25th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A car bomb in a parked vehicle targeting the convoy of an Iraqi army major general wounded five people in Baghdad's northern district of Qahira, an Interior Ministry source said. The major general escaped unhurt.


Diyala Prv:
#1: An employee of the Oil Derivatives Directorate in Iraq’s Diala Province has been killed by unknown gunmen northeast of its center city of Baaquba, a Diala security source said on Wednesday. “A group of armed men opened fire on an employee in Diala’s Oil Derivates Directorate in Khanaqin township, 155 km to the northeast of Baaquba, killing him on the spot, whilst the attackers escaped to an unknown destination,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Babel Prv:
#1: A US hummer was burnt today by the explosion of bomb directed against American military convoy, security sources said. The source added to Aswat al-Iraq that the US forces detained a nearby person and handed over to the Iraqi police. No other details were given on human casualties.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen in a passing car opened fire on a policeman, wounding him, in central Kirkuk, which is 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb killed a police colonel and wounded two of his bodyguards in a southern part of Kirkuk, police said.

#3: Police found the body of a man with bullet wounds to the head in central Kirkuk late on Tuesday, police said.

#4: The Director of west Kirkuk’s Dibbis township, Lt. Brigadier, Hussein Ni’ama Hawas, has been killed in an explosive charge blast on Wednesday, while on his way for work, along with two of his guards injured, a Kirkuk security source said. “An explosive charge, planted on the roadside close to al-Nida’a Bridge in Kirkuk, blew off on Wednesday morning, killing the Police Director of Dibbis township, 45 km to the west of Kirkuk, while on his way for work, and wounding two of his guards,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Two building workers have been injured in an attack by unknown gunmen in northern Iraq’s city of Mosul on Tuesday, a Ninewa security source said. “Two building workers were injured early today (Tuesday), when a group of unknown armed men opened fire on them in Mosul’s al-Quds district,” the security source added. He said the armed men “broke through a house, where the two men were working, opened fire on them and escaped to an unknown destination.”



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Taliban insurgents ambushed and killed eight Afghan security guards and abducted another two in the Bakwa district of western Farah province on Tuesday, provincial police chief Sayed Mohammad Sharindel said.

#2: Taliban fighters captured a government building on Wednesday in a mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan, seizing control of half of the remote district and leaving at least three police officers dead, officials said. The assault took place in Duab district of Nuristan province, where government forces have been battling insurgents off and on for weeks near the border with Pakistan. The provincial governor, Jamaludin Badar, told The Associated Press that the Taliban overran the district compound using heavy weaponry like mortars and rocket-propelled grenades against the lightly armed Afghan police. No Afghan military or NATO forces patrol Nuristan, where intense fighting continued on Wednesday. Eight Taliban fighters have been killed in the last several days of fighting there, Badar said. He said the Taliban now controlled the western part of Duab district.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Clifford E. Beattie

DoD: Pfc. Ramon Mora Jr.