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, January 4, 2012

War News for Wednesday, January 04, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham U.K. on Monday, January 2nd. The soldier was originally wounded from an IED blast somewhere in Afghanistan sometime in June 2010.


Mass grave found in Afghan army compound

NATO vehicles being moved to Karachi

NATO to pull $30bn worth of gear from Afghanistan

Two Britons with 'dozens of AK-47s' detained in Kabul

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, January 4, Jan 3rd.


Reported security incidents
#1: update Three bomb blasts in southern Afghanistan have killed at least 11 people and wounded many more. Afghan officials say all three attacks -- two by suicide bombers -- occurred in Kandahar city on January 3.

On Tuesday evening a suicide bomber detonated a tricycle in downtown Kandahar, killing four civilians and three policeman and injuring over a dozen, the police chief for the province General Abdul Raziq said. Earlier in the day, another suicide bomber set off an explosive-laden motorbike in the city centre, killing four children and one policeman, Raziq said. Sixteen others, including policemen and civilians, were injured. That attack was aimed at a mobile police post, he said. The latest blast, which no one has so far claimed responsibility for, happened just minutes after a smaller explosion, likely caused by an improvised explosive device, Raziq added.

#2: Eleven militants were killed on Wednesday when Pakistani gunship helicopters attacked their hideouts in the Jogi area of the northwestern Kurram tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, security officials said. The death toll could not be independently verified, and militants often dispute official accounts.

#3: Meanwhile, seven suspected militants were killed and one wounded on Wednesday as two banned groups clashed together in Khyber Agency, DawnNews reported. According to government sources, the incident took place in the Nari Baba area of district Landi Kotal. Twelve militants have been killed so far during the week as a result of infighting between the two rival groups.

#4: A remote-controlled bomb exploded in the Landi Kotal area of the northwestern Khyber tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, killing four people, including three policemen, and wounding six, security officials said.

#5: One Afghan civilian was killed and five wounded, including a policeman, in an explosion in the western city of Herat, the Ministry of the Interior said. The Ministry said police were investigating the blast in the Darwaza-E-Kabul area of the city.


DoD: Petty Officer 1st Class Chad R. Regelin

Posted by whisker at 3:47 AM

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)