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


Saturday, July 16, 2011

War News for Saturday, July 16, 2011

The AP is reporting the death of an American MNF-Iraq (OND) soldier from unreported causes in an undisclosed location in southern Iraq on Friday, July 15th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in western Afghanistan on Friday, July 15th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: One Iraqi civilian was killed and three others were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded Friday afternoon in the southern part of the capital city Baghdad. A source from the Interior Ministry told Xinhua that the incident, which took place in Dora district, also caused damage to a number of shops and buildings near the scene.

#2: A sticky bomb attached to a car of an off-duty policeman wounded him in Baghdad's southeastern Zaafaraniya district, police said.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to a minibus wounded two people in the southern outskirts of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#4: Gunmen in a speeding car using weapons equipped with silencers shot at a police checkpoint and wounded three people, including two policemen, in Baghdad's southeastern Zaafaraniya district, an Interior Ministry source said.


Karbala:
#1: The attacks started on Friday afternoon when two car bombs exploded at a garage near the Shiite shrine in northern part of Karbala, some 110 km southwest of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 15 others, a local police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: Another booby-trapped car detonated late Friday in the town of al-Hindiya, some 30 km east of Karbala, targeting groups of Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy shrine of Karbala, killing six pilgrims and wounding 28 others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#3: On Saturday morning, a motorcycle bomb struck a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Karbala's southern neighborhood of al-Mulhaq, killing a worshipper and wounding 27 others, the source said.


Samarra:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded a soldier in northern Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, an army source said.


Mosul:
#1: A soldier and civilian were injured today in a sticky bomb south of Mosul, security sources in the province said. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the bomb was stuck to a private pick-up belonging to the soldier. The soldier was on his routine leave with another civilian accompanying him.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: An Iraqi civilian has been killed and another injured in an explosive charge blast in west Anbar’s al-Baghdady village on Saturday, an Anbar police source reported. “A civilian has been killed and another was injured in an explosive blast on a roadside in al-Baghdady village on Saturday,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Fourteen people including seven security forces and seven insurgents have been killed during an operation launched Friday in Bala Buluk district, Farah province 695 km west of capital city Kabul, deputy to provincial police chief Mohammad Ghous Malyar said Saturday. "The operation with the involvement of army and police launched in Shiwan village of Bala Buluk district on Friday and so far seven Taliban rebels, six Afghan soldiers and one Afghan police have been killed," Malyar told Xinhua. Twelve Taliban insurgents and two policemen have been wounded in the battle, he added. The operation is still underway and would continue until the area is cleaned up of insurgents, the official further said.

#2: Four Afghan policemen were killed by a roadside bomb in Maidan Wardak province on Friday, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

#3: Four Afghan civilians were killed on Friday during an insurgent attack on a police check point in Ab Baran village in Urozghan province, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

#4: An man died on Friday when a mine he was planting exploded in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

#5: Two insurgents were killed in an Afghan-led security force operation in Chahar Bolak district in Balkh province on Friday, ISAF said in a statement.

DoD: Sgt. Jeremy R. Summers

Posted by whisker at 3:35 AM

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