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


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

War News for Wednesday, August 24, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, August 24th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Meanwhile, in Baghdad, three people were wounded Wednesday morning when a roadside bomb struck against an Iraqi army patrol in Allawi, in the west of the capital, an interior ministry official said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: In the worst attack, four people were killed and seven wounded when insurgents detonated bombs at the homes of three town criers whose job was to awaken people for the Ramazan pre-dawn meal, at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT) in the town of al-Hudaid, west of provincial capital Baquba, according to an Iraqi army colonel in Diyala’s security command centre. “Among the dead were a woman and a child, and two women and a child were among the wounded,” the colonel said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that rescue workers were still searching the rubble of the houses, and warned the toll could rise. Firas al-Dulaimi, a doctor at Baquba general hospital, also said four people had died and seven were injured.

#2: In the centre of Baquba, meanwhile, an anti-Qaeda militiaman was gunned down at around 8:00 am (0500 GMT) by insurgents equipped with silenced pistols, according to the colonel.

#3: Also in Baquba, a roadside bomb targeting police Lieutenant Colonel Hamid al-Karkhi left the officer and his driver wounded, the army colonel said.


Mosul:
#1: A cop was killed and his father injured in a sticky bomb blast south of Mosul, security sources said today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the cop, working in oil installations protection unit, was killed by the sticky bomb which was attached to his private car.




Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A local government official has been assassinated in southern Afghanistan — the third official killed in Helmand province in a week, officials said Wednesday. The governor's office in Helmand said two gunmen on a motorcycle fired at a member of the Nawa district council Tuesday evening in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital. The councilman was rushed to a hospital but died of his wounds.

#2: Afghan police backed by the army and NATO-led troops have eliminated over a dozen anti-government militants and captured nearly three dozen others, the Interior Ministry of Afghanistan said in a press release issued here on Wednesday. "Afghan National Police with the assistance of the Afghan army and Coalition forces have killed 14 armed insurgents and captured 35 others during 16 joint and independent operations across the country over the past 24 hours," the statement asserted. Three more insurgents sustained injuries, it said. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on the troops. These operations had been carried out in Parwan, Kandahar, Helmand, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Khost, Ghazni, Paktiya and Herat provinces during which a large number of light and heavy weapons had also been sized, according to the statement.

#3: Suspected militants killed an Afghan refugee in Pakistan's North Waziristan region in the northwest on suspicion of being a spy for the United States, local intelligence officials said. The bullet-riddled body of the man was found by the road in the in Datta Kheil area on Tuesday night. An ATM card from an Afghan bank and a hand-written note, stating that he was caught spying for the United States, were found beside the body.