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, September 6, 2011

War News for Tuesday, September 06, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of a U.S. Department of Defense civilian employee in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, September 6th. News reports that an engineer who went missing was found beheaded in Kabul, Afghanistan.


Reported security incidents

Numaniya:
#1: During a security raid police forces found four bombs ready to be detonated, and successfully dismantled them, a police commander said today. General Hussein Abdul Hadi told Aswat al-Iraq that the bombs were found in Numaniya area, 40 km north of Kut, during a search for wanted individuals based on intelligence information.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire at a vehicle carrying prominent neurologist Yeldrim Abbass, killing him and his brother in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source in Kirkuk said.


Mosul:
#1: Police found the body of a former policeman, with gunshot wounds in the head and chest, east of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: The body of a young man who had been shot in the head was found in western Mosul, a local police source said.

#3: A mortar attack wounded a policeman and a civilian in western Mosul, a local police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen killed eight soldiers at a checkpoint in western Iraq before burning their corpses on Tuesday, a police officer said. “Unknown gunmen attacked a checkpoint located between Haditha and Baiji, killing eight” soldiers, a police major said on condition of anonymity. They then “collected their weapons and put the corpses in a vehicle and set it on fire” following the attack early on Tuesday, he added. The attack on the soldiers, who were members of the 7th army division, took place about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Haditha, in Anbar province, the officer said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Afghan military official tells CBS News that the body of a U.S. national was found beheaded on Monday in eastern Kabul, days after a civilian engineer went missing in the capital city. Intelligence sources in Afghanistan told the Reuters news agency the body was that of the missing American civilian, and the international military coalition confirmed that a U.S. engineer had been killed. The slain engineer was identified as James W. "Will" Coker by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for which he worked in Kabul as a construction contractor.

#2: A suicide bomber in a car has attacked a convoy with foreign military advisors in West Afghan province of Herat, RIA Novosti reports. The incident occurred on the motor-road between the cities of Herat and Islam-Kala. The attacked foreigners were not hurt because the explosive device went off earlier than it was planned. Two local citizens have been wounded. The Taliban movement has claimed responsibility for the attack.

#3: An Afghan district governor and three of his guards were killed on Tuesday when their vehicle was blown up in a Taliban roadside bomb in the east of the country, an official said. Asil Khan Khogyani, the governor of Sherzad district in Nangarhar province, was killed along with his guards while driving to work in the troubled region, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the provincial administration spokesman. "Asil Khan was killed in a roadside bomb attack. Three of his guards, one of them also driving the car, were also killed," he added.

#4: An air strike by NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed two insurgents as they were planting a roadside mine in Shah Walikot district of southern Kandahar province on Monday, Zalmai Ayobi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

#5: Afghan security forces, supported by ISAF, killed seven militants in operations in different parts of the country, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#6: A roadside mine killed two employees of a private security company and wounded three in Shindand district of western Herat province on Monday, Abdul Raoof Ahmadi, a police spokesman said.

#7: Insurgents killed two drivers of a private security company and burnt their trucks on Monday in Bakwa district of eastern Farah province, Mohammad Ghaws Malyar, a police officer said. The private company was involved in transportation of fuel supplies for foreign forces.

1 comments:

Dancewater said...

WikiLeaks cables reveal more on the Wolf Brigade and the torture they engaged in - and the role the US played.

Remember when people like Iraq the Model blogger and thewiz thought the Wolf Brigade was a good thing? They are sociopaths to think this way, but we knew that didn't we?