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 21, 2011

War News for Tuesday, June 21, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, June 20th.

NATO is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed area in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, June 20th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: In Baghdad, a bomb attached to a minibus killed the driver while the bus was traveling Tuesday in the capital's western Harithiya neighbourhood, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi said. It was not immediately known what was the motive was behind the attack.

#2: A roadside bomb killed an Iraqi solider and wounded five people, including three soldiers, in Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#3: Armed men in a speeding car using silenced weapons killed an Iraqi army brigadier while he was inside his car in Baghdad's northern Shaab district late on Monday, an Interior Ministry source said.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry’s officer, with a lt-brigadier rank, has been assassinated by unknown gunmen in northeast Baghdad late Monday night, a security source said on Tuesday. “A group of armed men have assassinated Lt-Brigadier, Khudhier Chakhiour Kadhim, of Iraq’s Interior Ministry, when they opened fire on him from guns fixed with silencers, while driving his car in northeast Baghdad’s al-Shaab district on Monday night,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#4: “Two booby-trapped cars blew off against an alcohol-selling shop central Baghdad’s Karrada district and the second, also in Karrada, causing material damage, but no human casualties,” he added.

#5: Two armed men have been killed and three others arrested, when they tried to launch rockets in Baghdad, a Baghdad Operations Command announced on Tuesday. “The security forces have killed 2 armed men and arrested 3 others, when they tried to launch rockets,” the security source told the semi-official al-Iraqiya TV Channel, giving no further details.


Diwaniya:
#1: Suicide bombers detonated two explosives-laden vehicles early Tuesday near a government compound by a southern Iraqi governor's home, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens, Iraqi officials said. Diwaniyah Gov. Salim Hussien Alwan said he was leaving his house when a suicide bomber rammed into a police checkpoint outside his house. Minutes later, another suicide bomber attacked a compound housing the governor's office and other governmental buildings, according to a police officer and two medical officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to journalists. At least 37 people were wounded in the attacks which occurred at about 7:30 a.m. when security forces were changing shifts, the officials said.


Shomaly:
#1: An explosive charge was blown up against a U.S. Army patrol in southern Iraq’s Babel province on Tuesday, a Babel police source said. “An explosive charge blew off against a U.S. Army patrol, while passing through al-Shomaly township, 40 km to the south of Hilla, the center of southern Iraq’s Babel Province on Tuesday,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said the American troops have cordoned the venue of the blast, shooting fire in the air, whilst losses were not known.


Mussayab:
#1: Five people were killed and nine others wounded when a bomb left in a restaurant went off in Mussayab, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Three people were killed and seven others were wounded, including a police chief, in a bomb explosion in a town in south of Baghdad on Tuesday, a local police source told Xinhua. A bomb hidden outside a popular coffee shop in the town of al- Mussyab, some 50 km south of Baghdad, went off and killed three people and wounded seven others, the source said on condition of anonymity. Lieutenant Colonel Salman al-Kharji, police chief of the nearby town of Jbala, was among the wounded as he was inside the coffee shop, the source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A rocket fell on the building of the Province’s Council of northern Iraq’s oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Monday, causing some material damage, Kirkuk’s Koria Police Director said. “A rocket fell on a building under construction, inside Kirkuk Province’s Council headquarters, causing material damage, but no human casualties,” Lt-Brigadier, Taha Abdul-Rahman told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Two booby-trapped cars, parked in Ramadi, the center of west Iraq’s Anbar Province, were blow up by anti-explosive experts of Anbar Operations Command, causing no casualties, an Anbar security source reported on Tuesday. “A joint Iraqi Army and police force have discovered 2 booby-trapped cars, parked in central Ramadi’s al-Ziyout Street, blew them up, after failing to dismantle them,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that the place, where the two booby-trapped cars were parked, usually witnesses the movement of security patrols and motorcades of officials in central Ramadi, confirming that the explosion did not cause any human or material losses.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Authorities say a suicide bombing targeting a governor in northern Afghanistan has killed two people, including a 14-year-old girl. The bomber detonated a suicide vest Tuesday morning outside the office of Parwan provincial Gov. Abdul Basir Salangi as his car passed. Salangi was not injured in the attack. The Interior Ministry said two died in the attack and two were wounded. Dr. Abdul Khalil Farhangi of the provincial hospital says a 14-year-old girl walking by at the time of the attack was killed.

#2: Two rockets fell near the base for South Korean aid workers and troops in Afghanistan Monday, the South Korean foreign ministry said. No casualties or property damage was reported after the rockets landed near the base in Charikar at 9:56 p.m. local time, a ministry spokesman said.

#3: A suicide bomber in a vehicle blew himself up Monday night outside the house of a member of a pro-government peace body and killed four people in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan, according to police and local media reports. The attack at Matni town, some 20 kilometers from Peshawar, also injured five more people and destroyed several buildings in the area. Samaa TV reported that chief of the anti-Taliban peace militia, Ijaz Bacha, was killed in the attack. Police sources said that the bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the guest house of the head of the peace committee, who was sitting with several members of the committee.


GE/MOD: private Gia Goguadze

DoD: Spc. Marcos A. Cintron

DoD: Spc. Scott D. Smith

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Alvin A. Boatwright

DoD: Sgt. Edward F. Dixon III

DoD: Sgt. Alan L. Snyder

DoD: Spc. Tyler R. Kreinz

DoD: Pfc. Brian J. Backus

DoD: Pfc. Josue Ibarra

Fr/MoD: Le 1re classe Florian MORILLON du

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Obama body count is huge. WHat the hell he want?! Obama is far more dangerous than W. Bush, he is very well articulated and its amazing how he can speak one thing and do exactly the oposite thing.

Jorge