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


Thursday, June 16, 2011

War News for Thursday, June 16, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, June 15th.


Tax on NATO containers (Where's the nut-ball tea party idiots complaining on this tax?)


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “Two civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast on the main road passing through west Baghdad’s al-Alawi district, that also caused damage to a number of shops,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: He said that “an explosives expert in Baghdad’s Saqr Division had succeeded to dismantle another explosive charge, planted on the road passing through northeast Baghdad’s Andalus Square.”


Mussayab:
#1: Babel security police sources said today that a civilian was killed and 6 injured in a bomb blast inside a grocery store to the north of Hilla town. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb was planted in the grocery shop, in Mussaib town, 30 km north of Hilla town.


Suwiera:
#1: An armed man has been killed while trying to plant an explosive charge, targeted against the Deputy Chairman of the Support Council of Suweira township of southern Iraq’s Wassit Province, a Wassit security source said on Thursday. “An explosive charge blew off on Thursday against an armed man, who tried to plant it in front of the house of the Deputy Chairman of the Support Council of Sewiera, Adnan al-Juheishy, 135 km to the north of Kut, killing the armed man on the spot,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Basra:
#1: U.S. army helicopter opened fire on suspected insurgents after they fired rockets on Basra airport in southern Iraq, killing a suspect and wounding two, the U.S. military said on Thursday. The incident took place early on Wednesday morning when a U.S. military base stationed in the airport came under barrage of seven 107 mm rockets, a military statement said.

A Basra security source had stated for Aswat al-Iraq on Wednesday that a civilian had been killed and three others injured by U.S. forces fire that targeted them after an attack by 7 Katusha rockets on their base in Basra Airport.


Mosul:
#1: A member of north Iraq Mosul City’s Judicial Council has escaped an assassination attempt in eastern Mosul on Thursday, a Ninewa security source reported. “Member of Mosul’s Judicial Council, Zuheir Hazim al-Jiboury, has escaped an assassination attempt on Thursday morning, when an explosive charge blew off close to his house in the Officers district, east of Mosul,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the explosive charge blew off when Jiboury’s car approached it, wounding him in the leg,” he said, adding that his condition was “stable.”



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: More than 200 militants crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan early Thursday and attacked a border village with rockets, mortars and machine guns, killing five people in the second such raid in two weeks, a government official said. The Pakistani military responded to the attack in the Bajur tribal region from a nearby base, and fighting was still ongoing as of midmorning, said Sajid Khan, a senior government official in the area. The dead included three women and two men from the village in the Manozangal area, and many others were wounded, he said.

#2: A roadside bomb destroyed a tractor in southern Afghanistan, killing four civilians, a senior police official said Thursday, DPA reported. The blast occurred late Wednesday in Marof, a district in Kandahar, acting police chief, General Abdul Razaq told reporters Thursday. "A tractor carrying load and civilians drove on a roadside bomb last night. As a result, three women and a man were killed and four others including three women were wounded," Razaq said.

#3: Also, Afghan forces in Kandahar's Zhari and Arghandab districts killed 11 Taliban fighters Thursday morning, including two Taliban commanders, the police chief said. Another Taliban fighter was injured in the operation, he said.

#4: At least 15 people were killed as suspected US drones fired missiles in South Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday. A resident said two missiles apparently hit a sprawling compound belonging to Mullah Nazir’s group — one of the most influential militant groups involved in fighting US-led forces across the border in Afghanistan — in Wana, the main town in the region. Two missiles targeted a vehicle used by militants in the same area.

DoD: Staff Sgt. Nicholas P. Bellard

DoD: Sgt. Glenn M. Sewell

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jeremy A. Katzenberger

DoD: Pfc. Eric D. Soufrine

Posted by whisker at 4:04 AM

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