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, March 5, 2012

War News for Monday, March 05, 2012

Afghan camps for Baloch militants shut: Malik

CIA-led force may speed Afghan exit

Pakistan tests fire nuclear capable ballistic missile

Checkpoint attacks kill 23 Iraqi police

Death toll in south Yemen attacks rises to 85

U.S.-Afghanistan Talks Falter Despite Leeway on Detention Facilities

Holder expected to explain rationale for targeting U.S. citizens abroad


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide attack targeting police in northwest Pakistan late Sunday wounded five officers and badly damaged a vehicle, officials said. The bomber struck a police patrol in Dera Ismail Khan town in the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan. "The suicide bomber was on foot. He blew himself up when the police vehicle was patrolling in a street," senior police official Qazi Jamil ur-Rehman told AFP. "Five policemen were wounded, condition of one of them was critical," he said.

#2: Unknown gunmen shot and killed a former local politician in Charsadda district, in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, police officials said. Police officials said the man was a member of the Awami National Party (ANP), the provincial ruling party, which is often targeted by militants who see the ANP as supporting the U.S.-led war against al-Qaeda and The Taliban in Afghanistan.

#3: Provincial governor for eastern Kunar province Syed Fazlullah Wahidi escaped militants attack on Sunday afternoon. The incident took place at Noor Gul district on Jalalabad and Kunar highway. Syed Fazlullah Wahidi said, a number of unknown gunmen opened fire him while he was on his way towards Jalalabad city on Sunday afternoon. He also added, there were no casualties as a result of the incident and the assailant militants managed to flee the area. According to Mr. Wahidi, several bullets hit the vehicle of his bodyguards but his bodyguards and driver did not suffer any casualties.

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