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


Sunday, November 6, 2011

News of the Day for Sunday, November 6, 2011

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

Three bombs planted in various places in the Shurja market kill 8 people and injure 26, as shoppers buy supplies for Eid al-Adha.

A commercial building burns in a separate incident. (Aswat al-Iraq also reports there were four bombs, not three, in Shorja; but appears to be describing an additional incident here as well.)

An "official" who works in the Green Zone is assassinated late Saturday in east Baghdad. No further information provided.

Also late Saturday, sticky bomb attacks in Sadr City and Ur kill one civilian and injure six.

Bomb attack on the home of a Sahwa leader kills his wife, brother, and another relative. As people rush to the scene, a second explosion injures five people.

Other News of the Day

Al Arabiya reports on the arrest of a woman in Diyala who is alleged to have sent her 9 year old son on a suicide mission.

According to the officer, [her boyfriend] Alwan convinced Obaidi to send nine-year-old Murtada Latif Kadhem to bomb a Shiite mosque in Khales, north of Baghdad, several years ago. Alwan “took her son with her ... by car to the Shiite mosque but, on the way there, she started to cry about her son,” the officer said.

“He put her out of the car, and took the son, who was wearing an explosive belt, to the mosque,” where “he blew himself up.”

Afghanistan Update

Suicide bomb attack on a mosque in Baghlan province kills 7 people, including 2 local police officials, with 18 people going to the hospital. A second would-be attacker is captured before he can detonate his explosives. (Other sources give higher death totals, up to 10.)

An ISAF soldier is killed in southern Afghanistan on Saturday. No further information as of now.

Posted by Cervantes at 4:42 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)