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


Monday, August 8, 2011

War News for Monday, August 08, 2011


The French MoD is reporting the deaths of two French ISAF soldiers from small arms fire in the Tagab Valley, Kapisa province, Afghanistan on Sunday, august 7th. Five additional soldiers were wounded in the attack. Here's the ISAF statement.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, August 7th.

NATO is reporting the deaths of thirty ISAF soldiers from a helicopter crash in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, August 6th. One civilian and seven Afghanistan soldiers also died in the crash.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Two explosive charges blew off in west Baghdad’s Amiriya district on Sunday, wounding 16 persons, among them a number of police and Army men, a Baghdad police source reported. “Two explosive charges blew off in Amiriya district’s, al-Amal al-Shaabi street, of west Baghdad, wounding 16 persons, including 8 policemen, 3 Army men and 5 civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A Nato helicopter has crash-landed in eastern Afghanistan, just days after the downing of a Chinook dispatched to bring in reinforcements for elite troops under attack. Nato did not report any casualties in the latest incident and said the cause was under investigation. It said there was no enemy activity in the area at the time. The helicopter was a Chinook flying in Paktia province to pick up special operations troops, but it apparently suffered a mechanical failure and crash-landed. The crew were rescued by troops.

#2: A military vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the South Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border late on Sunday, wounding at least 10 soldiers, local government officials said.

#3: Afghan police killed two suicide bombers before they could detonate their explosives in the eastern province of Khost on Sunday, Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, posted on Twitter. He gave no further details.

#4: At least three policemen were shot dead Sunday evening when unknown gunmen opened fire at a police vehicle patrolling on the street in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta, reported local Urdu TV channel Duniya.


MoD: Marine James Robert Wright

DoD: Sgt. Daniel D. Gurr

DoD: Spc. Jinsu Lee

DoD: Spc. Mark J. Downer

Fr./MoD: Le caporal Kisan Bahadur

Fr./MoD: Le légionnaire de 1re classe Gerhardus JANSEN


Posted by whisker at 3:55 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)