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


Wednesday, November 30, 2011

War News for Wednesday, November 30, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, November 30th.


US preparing to vacate Shamsi airbase

13,000 U.S. Troops Remain in Iraq As Drawdown Continues


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A senior official in the oil ministry was seriously wounded when men armed with silenced weapons opened fire on his car in Baghdad's west-central district of Mansour, police and hospital sources said.


Samarra:
#1: Two women were among five people killed in an attack on the home of a Muslim cleric in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, police said Wednesday, pointing the finger at loyalists of Al Qaeda. ‘Five people, two of them women, were killed around 10 pm (1900 GMT) on Tuesday,’ a Samarra police commander said. ‘Armed men attacked the home of Shaikh Khalid Al Naisani, killing him, his wife, their 17-year-old son and two other people who were at his house,’ the commander said.


Kirkuk:
#1: One of the cadres of northern Iraq's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has been killed in a sticking bomb that blew up under his car south of the city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, a Kirkuk Province's Police source reported. "An explosive charge, stuck under a car, belonging to a PUK cadre in Kirkuk, blew off in Kirkuk's Military district on Wednesday, killing him on the spot and causing severe damage for his car," the Police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, giving no further details.


Mosul:
#1: At least four people were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: The source told Aswat al-Iraq that a cop was killed and two injured in bomb blast against their patrol, 70 km south of Mosul city.

#3: On the other hand, an Iraqi soldier was wounded when he was shot, west of Mosul.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Officials in the ministry of interior affairs of Afghanistan following a statement on Wednesday said, at least three Taliban militants were killed following a joint military operations by Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force across the country during the past 24 hours. The statement further added, the operations were conducted in southern Kandahar, Eastern Khost and Western Herat province by Afghan and coalition forces. The officials also said, at least 3 Taliban militants were killed and three others were injured while 14 militants were detained by Afghan and coalition forces during the operations.

#2: A bomb blast that ripped through a funeral prayer of a local tribesman in South Waziristan Agency bordering Afghanistan killed two and wounded another three, said official sources. A large number of tribesmen were offering the funeral prayer of a local tribesman on Shakai road in the agency when a remote-controlled bomb exploded with a big bang, killing two and injuring three others.

#3: A would-be suicide bomber was killed near Kuchlak, in the suburbs of Quetta, on Tuesday when an explosive that he was carrying detonated prematurely. “The bomber had hired a cab and wanted to go to Chaman (a bordering town with Afghanistan) with the intention of targeting someone, but the explosives he had fixed to his body prematurely went off,” SP Malik Arshid told reporters, while confirming that the man was a suicide bomber.

#4: Five people, including two policemen, were killed and 17 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police patrol in the northwestern city of Bannu, police said. Bannu is close to North Waziristan, a major sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants on the Afghan border.

Posted by whisker at 3:31 AM

1 comments:

Dancewater said...

the aftereffects of the US war of aggression on Iraq:


Of the current problems in Fallujah, the most alarming is a mounting public health crisis. In the years since the invasion, doctors in Fallujah have reported drastic increases in the number of premature births, infant mortality, and birth defects—babies born without skulls, missing organs, or with stumps for arms and legs. Fallujah General Hospital reported that, out of 170 babies born in September 2009, 24 percent died within the first seven days, of which 75 percent were deformed — as compared to August 2002, when there were 530 babies born, only six deaths, and one deformity. As the years go by, the problem seems to be getting worse, and doctors are increasingly warning women not to have children.


The Under-Examined Story of Fallujah

November 30, 2011 at 9:37 PM

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