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 28, 2011

War News for Tuesday, June 28, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, June 27th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, June 28th.


Tulsa soldier killed in grenade explosion in Iraq

Falmouth native killed while on patrol in Iraq

Second Blackwater guard sentenced in Afghan shooting


Reported security incidents

Diyala Prv:
#1: The Mayor of northeast Iraq’s Baaquba city, Abdullah al-Hayali and one of his bodyguards have been injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in his car, while on his way for work, a security source said on Tuesday. “The Mayor of Baaquba, Abdullah al-Hayali and one of his bodyguards have been injured when an IED blew off under his car that was passing through central Baaquba, on his way for work,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: An element of the pro-government Sahwa (Awakening) Forces has been killed and a civilian was injured in an explosive charge blast close to his house in northwest Baghdad’s Abu-Ghuraib district on Tuesday, a security source reported. “A Sahwa (Awakening) Forces element has been killed in an explosive charge blast close to his house in Abu-Ghuraib district, northwest of Baghdad,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Unidentified militants torched two NATO containers in Mastung, some 40 kilometres away from provincial capital on Monday. According to a local levies official, an oil tanker carrying fuel for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan was going to Kandahar from Karachi when unidentified armed men ridding a motorbike opened fire on it in Dasht area of Mastung. Resultantly, the driver was critically injured and assailants set the oil tanker on fire.

Unknown armed men set ablaze two more Nato oil tankers and injured one driver on Monday in separate incidents in Mastung district, Balochistan. According to the police, Afghanistan-bound oil tanker carrying fuel for Nato forces was on way from Karachi when armed men intercepted and opened fire on it at Ghanja Dhori outskirts of Mastung. Meanwhile, another Nato oil tanker was also on its way when armed men riding motorcycle intercepted and sprayed bullets on it at Dasht area some 25-km from Quetta.As a result, both oil tankers caught fire while one of driver sustained bullets injuries.The injured was rushed to the hospital for medical aid.

#2: Missile strikes from two US drones killed at least 21 suspected militants in Pakistan's South Waziristan on Monday, Pakistani officials said, part of an intensified US assault in the tribal belt this month. In the first strike, a missile hit a moving vehicle in Ghalmandi Panga village on the Afghan border, killing eight militants. A few hours later, another drone fired three missiles into a militant training center in Mantoi town, about 30 km north of South Waziristan's main town of Wana.

#3: Gunmen yesterday killed a senior Pakistani Taliban commander who helped train and deploy the group’s suicide bombers. Shakirullah Shakir was riding on a motorcycle near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, when gunmen riding in a car with tinted windows shot him, the officials said.

#4: A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and two other militants during a nighttime operation in Kunduz district of Kunduz province.

#5: At least five insurgents were killed during a combined Afghan and coalition security operation in Khash Rod district of Nimroz province targeting a mid-level Taliban leader, the coalition said in a statement.


DoD: Sgt. Marlon E. Myrie

DoD: Gunnery Sgt. Ralph E. Pate Jr.

DoD: Tech. Sgt. Daniel L. Douville

Posted by whisker at 3:50 AM

2 comments:

Cervantes said...

Citing fear of reprisals and political interference in his investigation of the largest financial scandal in the country, the governor of Afghanistan’s Central Bank announced his resignation Monday while in the United States, saying that he no longer felt safe in Afghanistan. . . .

Mr. Fitrat’s resignation is the latest chapter in the 18 months since the bank’s troubles began to become public, but it is one that threatens to lay bare the extent of the Afghan government’s efforts to cover up the fraud. If, as Mr. Fitrat’s resignation letter implies, the government has made an effort to block investigations into the bank and to avoid the prosecution of shareholders, it would tarnish the Afghan government as well as its NATO allies, who have said little publicly about the debacle. . . .

June 28, 2011 at 8:22 AM
Tao Dao Man said...

I have linked this over to my blog.
Hope you do not mind.

I put this up yesterday.
Please read the comments.


http://realityzone-realityzone.blogspot.com/2011/06/two-more-us-troops-slain-in-iraq-11.html

The work you do here is very important, please keep it up.

June 28, 2011 at 3:38 PM

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