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, October 3, 2011

War News for Monday, October 03, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death unreported by the military. First Sgt. Billy J. Siercks died in Landstuhl, Germany on Wednesday, September 28th. He was wounded from an indirect fire attack/mortar attack in Logar province Afghanistan on Tuesday, September 27th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, October 1st.


NATO expresses concern over '10,000 lost missiles' in Libya

US using Pak as scapegoat for Afghan failure: Mush Here’s a different take which you don’t get from the American news – whisker.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead an Iraqi intelligence officer in Baghdad's western Amiriya district on Sunday, an Interior Ministry source said.


Diwaniya:
#1: Gunmen stormed the house of Imad al-Bidiri, a tribal leader, killing him and one of his guards in Diwaniya, 150 km (95 miles) south of Baghdad late on Sunday, a local police source said.

Al Nibaie:
#1: At least six people were killed in two back-to-back roadside bomb blasts near the Iraqi capital Baghdad late Sunday, Xinhua reported. Two members of the Sunni paramilitary group "the Awakening Council" were killed when their car detonated a roadside bomb in Al-Nibaie area, some 50 km north of Baghdad. A second roadside bomb exploded minutes later when another vehicle carrying militiamen rushed to the scene. It killed four other people, said a police official requesting anonymity.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen stormed the house of a former Iraqi armed forces pilot and killed him in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad late on Sunday, a local police source said.

#2: Gunmen stormed a restaurant and shot dead a Christian man in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad on Sunday, a local police source said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Insurgents disguised as police officers burst into a police station in western Iraq Monday, opened fire and blew up an explosives vest before taking a number of people hostage, including the town's mayor, Iraqi officials said. The Iraqi Army was surrounding the police station in the town of al-Baghdadi, some 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Baghdad in Anbar province, said the deputy provincial governor, Dhari Arkan. It was not immediately clear how many people were being held inside the station, or whether the attackers had made any demands.

A group of gunmen stormed a police headquarters in western Iraq on Monday and took at least 15 people hostages including police officers. Initially a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the front gate of the compound, which also houses the town's provincial council, leaving several people killed and injured, a police source told dpa.




Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least two people have been killed and 16 more wounded during an explosion in southern Afghanistan, Press TV reports. The incident took place on Monday when an explosive-laden motorbike was detonated in the city of Kandahar, 450 km south of capital city Kabul. Reports say the blast was aimed at killing Minister for Tribal and Frontiers Affairs Assadullah Khalid and that he has survived the attack.

#2: Shortly afterwards in a different part of the city, a suicide bomber wearing army uniform struck inside an army garrison. "It was a suicide attack that killed one guard and the attacker, two army soldiers were wounded," said General Abdul Hamid, commander of the army unit whose garrison was struck.

#2: Afghan and NATO-led coalition troops killed multiple insurgents during an operation in Dzadran district, eastern Paktia province, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement. It did not say how many militants were killed.

#3: Afghan and NATO-led troops killed 11 insurgents during operations in six provinces of Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday

#4: Militants opened fire on paramilitary soldiers deployed along a road in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. One soldier was killed and several wounded, a government official said.


DoD: Spc. James A. Butz

DoD: Petty Officer 1st Class (SEAL) Caleb A. Nelson

DoD: First Sgt. Billy J. Siercks

Posted by whisker at 3:41 AM

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