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, February 8, 2012

War News for Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Pakistan holds border talks after deadly US attack

U.S. evaluating size of Baghdad embassy, officials say


Reported security incidents
#1: U.S. drone-fired missiles hit a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing nine people, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The attack occurred in Spalga village in the North Waziristan tribal area, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The dead included some domestic Taliban militants, said the officials. The area where the strike occurred is dominated by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a prominent militant commander focused on fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan.

#2: Militants set off a homemade bomb next to a police patrol in the village of Chinari in the northwestern Mohmand tribal region near the Afghanistan border, killing two policemen and wounding another, local government officials said.

#3: A homemade bomb exploded outside a bank in the southwestern city of Quetta, wounding one person, police officials said.

#4: Unidentified armed men threw a grenade at a local political group's office in the Lyari area of the southern city of Karachi, killing two people and wounding four, police officials said.

#5: A homemade bomb exploded in the Nasirabad area of the southwestern province of Baluchistan, wounding four people, including a paramilitary soldier, security officials said.

#6: Three armed insurgents have been killed and 13 others detained during joint Afghan and NATO-led coalition operations in five provinces, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan army, NDS or Afghan intelligence agency and Coalition Forces launched five joint operations in Helmand, Kandahar, Khost, Logar and Kapisa provinces over the past 24 hours,"the ministry said in a statement. "As a result of these operations, three armed insurgents were killed and 13 others were arrested by the ANP,"it said.

#7: A training plane of Pakistan Air Force crashed in Pashin district of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Wednesday, reported local Urdu TV channel Geo.

2 comments:

Dancewater said...

Life and war in Afghanistan Photos

Dancewater said...

CIA going to stay

The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in December has moved the CIA’s emphasis there toward more traditional espionage — monitoring developments in the increasingly antagonistic government, seeking to suppress al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the country and countering the influence of Iran.

In Afghanistan, the CIA is expected to have a more aggressively operational role. U.S. officials said the agency’s paramilitary capabilities are seen as tools for keeping the Taliban off balance, protecting the government in Kabul and preserving access to Afghan airstrips that enable armed CIA drones to hunt al-Qaeda remnants in Pakistan.

+++++++++
What those drones do in Pakistan is kill innocent people. And Iraq should continue to kick out mercenaries and CIA stooges.