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


Saturday, February 4, 2012

War News for Saturday, February 04, 2012

Record civilian death toll in Afghan war last year: UN

Mullah Omar sent letter to Obama to end war

Turkey bombs three PKK targets in northern Iraq

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Feb. 4

American brigadier general dies in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: At least four people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the office of a property dealer in Peshawar, the capital city of northwest Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Friday night. Federal Minister Bashir Bilaur told media that a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the office of a property dealer, Astana Gul, at Ring Road area of Peshawar. There were four people inside the building when the blast took place. Following the explosion, the office building was razed to the ground. Later talking to media, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Information Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told media that the target of the blast -- Astana Gul is the leader of a banned outfit of militants, however he was not present inside the building at the time of blast.

#2: The first incident took place in Cholan area 5 kilo meters east of Khost city on Friday night when a land mine hit an Afghan National Army soldiers while they were patrolling in the area. ANA press office in the 1st ANA brigade 203rd corp says one ANA soldier was killed and two other were wounded when a remote control bomb detonated on their soldier’s foot patrol.

3 comments:

Dancewater said...

Iraqi cleric urges politicians to solve crisis

Dancewater said...

Iraqi president's tribe calls for VP handover

President Jalal Talabani's tribe has called for Iraq's fugitive vice president to be handed over to the Baghdad government to face trial, a member of the tribe said on Saturday.

Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, has been charged with running a death squad and has taken shelter since December in Talabani's native Kurdistan, an autonomous region in northern Iraq.

The region's government has so far declined to turn him over.

On Friday, 120 members of the Talabani tribe met in Sulaimaniyah province and "agreed to call on officials in Baghdad and Kurdistan to hand Hashemi over to justice," Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahid Talabani told journalists by telephone.

Abdul Aziz said a delegation from the tribe met with Hashemi's bodyguards who had confessed to killing his brother, Judge Najim Talabani, and recounted how they carried out the 2010 assassination.

Dancewater said...

Cold weather kills children in Afghanistan refugee camps

The following children froze to death in Kabul over the past three weeks after their families had fled war zones in Afghanistan for refugee camps here:

¶ Mirwais, son of Hayatullah Haideri. He was 1 ½ years old and had just started to learn how to walk, holding unsteadily to the poles of the family tent before flopping onto the frozen ridges of the muddy floor.

¶ Abdul Hadi, son of Abdul Ghani. He was not even a year old and was already trying to stand, although his father said that during those last few days he seemed more shaky than normal.

¶ Naghma and Nazia, the twin daughters of Musa Jan. They were only 3 months old and just starting to roll over.

¶ Ismail, the son of Juma Gul. “He was never warm in his entire life,” Mr. Gul said. “Not once.”

It was a short life, 30 days long.

These children are among at least 22 who have died in the past month, a time of unseasonably fierce cold and snowstorms. The latest two victims died on Thursday.

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MORE INNOCENT BLOOD ON THE HANDS OF AMERICANS, NOT THAT THEY GIVE A SHIT.