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, November 7, 2011

War News for Monday, November 07, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgents attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, November 5th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgents attack in an undisclosed location in western Afghanistan on Sunday, November 6th.


Multiple missteps led to drone killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents

Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed one soldier late on Sunday in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Police say the governor of Iraq's largest Sunni province has escaped an assassination attempt on a highway in a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad. Iraqi police say the governor of Anbar province, Qasim al-Fahadawi, escaped unhurt Monday morning after a roadside bomb hit his motorcade as it headed to Baghdad. A provincial media official says three bodyguards were wounded in the attack.

A roadside bomb targeting the convoy of Anbar Governor Qassim Mohammed wounded three of his security guards in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, army and police sources said. An army source said two Iraqi soldiers at a nearby check point were killed in the incident.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A roadside bomb ripped through a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan, killing a district police chief and two of his bodyguards, authorities said on Monday. The blast happened late Sunday as the group drove from Lashkar Gah, the capital of troubled Helmand province, to Garmser district. "Mohammad Saifullah, the police chief of Garmser district in Helmand province, was killed along with two bodyguards when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle last night," said Helmand police chief Mohammad Hakim Angar.

#2: Elsewhere in Baghlan province Monday, six police officers were wounded when a suicide car bomber blew himself up when targeting the house of a local elder involved in efforts to make peace with the Taliban in the area. The attack in Puli Khumri also involved a second raider who exchanged fire with police after the blast but later escaped, Baghlan police chief Asadullah Shirzad said.

#3: A former local government official and his bodyguard were killed when their vehicle was attacked by a suicide bomber in the northwestern town of Swabi, police said. Three other people were wounded.

#4: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a vehicle as it passed through a market in the South Waziristan border region, killing three passengers, including the brother of a pro-government tribal leader, security officials said. One of the attackers was also killed in the shoot-out.

#5: One soldier and two bystanders were killed when militants ambushed a convoy of paramilitary forces in the northwestern Khyber border region, security officials said.

1 comments:

Cervantes said...

I wouldn't want to be Qasim al-Fahadawi, that's for sure. I think somebody tries to kill him every week or so. He lost a leg in an assassination attempt in 2009, BTW. Well, somebody has to be governor of Anbar.