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, June 7, 2011

War News for Tuesday, June 07, 2011

The Australian DoD is reporting the death of an Australian ISAF soldier from small arms fire/gunshot wounds somewhere in northern Helmand province Afghanistan on Monday, June 6th. Here's the ISAF release.


U.S. Braces for Withdrawal Along Iraqi Road


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen firing silenced weapons from a car killed two policemen inside their vehicle in central Baghdad, police said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A motorbike parked in central Baaquba’s Khurasan Street blew up on Tuesday, according to a Diala Security Source. “A motorbike, parked on the roadside close to a number of trade shops, has blown up on Tuesday. There is no information yet about any human or material damage,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

A bicycle’s explosion wounded four civilians, in northern Baaquba, near Al Kawthar intersection.


Hilla:
#1: Police said they found the body of an unidentified man with gunshot wounds to the head in central Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad.


Sulaimaniya Prv:
#1: A bomb, planted under a car in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan city of Sulaimaniya, has blown up, wounding a woman who was in the car, a security source said on Tuesday. “A bomb blew up under a civilian car, parked in Azadi district in Sulaimaniya city on Tuesday, wounding a woman who was in the car when the incident took place,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: The Director in the Iraqi Education Ministry’s Inspector-General’s office escaped an assassination attempt in western Mosul on Monday night, according to a Ninewa security source on Tuesday. “The Director of the Education Ministry’s Inspector-General’s Office escaped an assassination attempt yesterday (Monday), when a group of unknown armed men opened fire on him in west-Mosul’s July 17 district, slightly wounding him,” he said.

Gunmen opened fire using muted weapons on the car of Nineveh education general inspector office Izzat Mustapha. Mustapha was seriously wounded.

#2: A roadside bomb exploded and killed two shepherds late on Monday in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Three civilians were killed and another wounded when a police officer's residence in the northeast of Ramadi city exploded, security sources said today. The source informed Aswat al-Iraq that an unknown group implanted bombs around a police officer's residence and blew it up, which resulted in the deaths of his wife, mother and brother, as well a fourth person being injured.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Police found the beheaded body of a politician in central Afghanistan on Tuesday, three days after he was abducted by suspected Taleban-linked militants, a police commander said. Jawad Zahaak was head of the provincial council in Bamiyan, seen as one of the country’s most peaceful areas and among the first wave of places to transition from Western to Afghan security control from around July. He was kidnapped while travelling in the neighbouring province of Parwan on Saturday and his beheaded body was founded dumped near a main road, Parwan police chief Sher Ahmad Maladani told AFP.

#2: A roadside bomb shocked Sabari district in eastern Khost province on Tuesday, with casualties feared, an official said. "The blast happened in a bazaar at around 10:00 a.m. local time injuring 10 people, including seven civilians," governor of Sabari district Daulat Khan Qayumi told Xinhua.

#3: Gunmen killed 11 people outside Pul-i-Alam, the capital of central Logar province, Logar police chief Rogh Lewani said. Among the dead were five Afghan soldiers and three government employees.


MoD: Lance Corporal Martin Joseph Gill

DoD: Cpl. Paul W. Zanowick II

AU. DoD: Sapper Rowan Jaie Robinson

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