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


Thursday, August 25, 2011

War News for Thursdayy, August 25, 2011



Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb exploded in front of the house of Abdul Rahman Abu Raghif, a member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, wounding six people including two of his sons, in the Zaafaraniya district of southeastern Baghdad, police and hospital sources said. Abu Raghif was not hurt.

#2: A roadside bomb went off near a car carrying an off-duty policeman, wounding him in Baghdad's west-central Mansour district.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a man in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded a mother and her daughter in western Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police checkpoint, killing three policemen and wounding five others, in a village east of Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, a police source said.

#2: An Iraqi soldier has been killed and two others were injured in an explosive charge blast in the city of Falluja in west Iraq’s Anbar Province on Thursday, a police source reported. “An explosive charge blew off against an Iraqi Army patrol north of Falluja city on Thursday, killing one soldier and wounding two others, and causing damage to a patrol car, the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least three Afghan civilians were killed and ten others were wounded in militants' missile attack in eastern Paktia province on Wednesday, President's Office said in a statement. The incident happened on Wednesday afternoon in a bazaar in Zurmat city of Paktia province when a missile landed in the area, the Office said.

#2: A roadside mine wounded five policemen in Marjah district of southern Helmand province on Thursday, Marjah district governor Abdul Mutalib said.

#4: A roadside mine killed two policemen and wounded three more in Chamtal district of northern Balkh province on Wednesday, police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said.


DoD: 1st Lt. Timothy J. Steele


Posted by whisker at 4:02 AM

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