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, February 6, 2012

War News for Monday, February 06, 2012

Iraq-Turkey oil exports resume after blast

In Afghan War, Officer Becomes a Whistle-Blower


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb in southern Afghanistan has killed a child and injured three others, a government spokesman said Monday. The bomb was hidden in a motorbike parked near a market in Dehrawod district of Uruzgan province, Farid Ayel said. 'Bomb went off last night, killing a underage girl and injuring three other boys,' Ayel said, adding that the intended target was apparently foreign troops.

#2: The government in Islamabad says a military convoy struck a roadside bomb in northwestern Pakistan on February 5, killing one soldier. Another 12 Pakistani soldiers were injured when militants opened fire on the convoy after the explosion in the Kurram tribal area. Khan said the convoy had been dispatched to provide reinforcements to the Sheendand area of Kurram, where militants had set up a hideout. It was not immediately clear whether any miitants were killed or wounded in the clash.

#3: Afghan and foreign forces killed six insurgents and detained 19 in Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Daikundi and Khost provinces over the past 24 hours, the interior ministry said in a statement.

#4: A homemade bomb exploded next to a Pakistani military vehicle in the Alizai area of the northwestern Kurram tribal region, near the Afghanistan border, killing a soldier and wounding ten others, security officials said.


DoD: Brig. Gen. Terence J. Hildner

Posted by whisker at 3:38 AM

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