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 20, 2011

War News for Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Royal Marine from 42 Commando killed in Afghanistan


A future for drones: Automated killing


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three officers were killed when gunmen opened fire on a police patrol in a drive-by shooting in north-eastern Baghdad, Iraqi officials said today. A spokesman said the assailants used guns fitted with silencers in the attack in the mostly Shiite Shaab neighbourhood.


Northern Iraq:
#1: Two Turkish military airplanes raid Kurdistan borders today. The bombarding caused fires in neighboring forests and highlands.
The two airplanes carried on raiding for 45 minutes, a media source said, adding that the targeted regions are situated in the Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi triangle and are not inhabited.


Mosul:
#1: An explosive charge blew up in an office of Iraq’s Asia-Cell Telecommunications Company in Mosul city, wounding one of its employees, a Ninewa security source reported on Monday.

#2: Ninewa's deputy police commander nearly escaped death from an assassination attempt, two of his body guards wounded, police sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-iraq that the attempt was by bomb implanted on the route of his convoy, east of Mosul city.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Australian soldier has been seriously wounded in a joint operation with Afghan soldiers which destroyed a large narcotics laboratory. The soldier is now in a medical facility in a stable condition, while a second soldier was also wounded but was able to complete the mission. The Australian Defence Department says the raid in Helmand Province uncovered enough ingredients to make more than $150 million worth of drugs. An Afghan Special Operations Task Group member and interpreter were also wounded and a number of insurgents were killed.

#2: Taliban gunmen stormed a Pakistani checkpoint in the country's lawless tribal belt on Tuesday, killing one soldier and sparking clashes in which up to 20 militants died, officials said. Five soldiers and five civilians were also wounded after the militants attacked the Dabori post manned by paramilitary troops in the tribal district of Orakzai, the officials said. "At least 20 militants have been killed in the pre-dawn clash," a military official said by telephone.

Taliban militants attacked a security checkpost in the northwestern Orakzai tribal region, killing one paramilitary soldier and wounding five, local officials said. In a retaliatory attack, eight militants were killed and 13 wounded.

#3: A policeman was killed and another sustained injuries as a roadside bomb struck their van in Kunduz province, 250 km north of capital city Kabul on Tuesday, police said. "The bomb planted by insurgents on a road in Chardara district went off this morning killing a local police and injuring another," district police chief Ghulam Maihudin told Xinhua.

#4: In the previous attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of police department in Aqcha district of Jauzjan province 390 km north of capital city Kabul Monday evening killing four people including a police and injured nine others including a police and eight civilians.


DoD: Sgt. Garrick L. Eppinger Jr.

DoD: Spc. Chazray C. Clark

Posted by whisker at 3:25 AM

3 comments:

Cervantes said...

Too late for Whisker's post, the assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani. Tell me again what the NATO forces are supposed to be accomplishing in Afghanistan?

September 20, 2011 at 10:43 AM
Dancewater said...

you know those automated drone killers? they are run by computers, and one day, someone will hack into them and then they will fire on Americans.

that is my prediction.

September 20, 2011 at 5:15 PM
Dancewater said...

FALLUJA, Iraq, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Suicide bombers hit a government complex in the capital of Iraq's mainly Sunni Muslim Anbar province on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding at least 15 others, officials said.

Two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests and a third driving a car blew themselves up at the provincial government buildings in central Ramadi, officials said.

Anbar, the vast desert province to the west of Baghdad that saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war, has been the scene of sectarian tensions in recent days after the killing of 22 mainly Shi'ite pilgrims.

Government buildings and security forces have been frequent targets of a still lethal Sunni insurgency trying to destabilise Iraq's nascent democracy.

"Two suicide bombers wearing vests blew themselves up at the government building. The other one was a car bomb on the other side of the complex," said Mohammed Fathi, spokesman for Anbar's governor.

The complex, which houses the provincial council offices and police headquarters, has been a frequent target, including two attacks last December that killed two dozen people.

September 20, 2011 at 5:16 PM

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