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


Thursday, March 22, 2012

War News for Thursday, March 22, 2012

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED blast in the Mirmandab region of Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Wednesday, March 21st.

Local News LJWorld is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier Sgt. Jamie Jarboe in a hospital in Topeka, Kansas on Wednesday, March 21st. He was left paralyzed from a sniper, small arms fire/gunshot wounds attack in an unknown location in Afghanistan on April, 2011.


Dramatic footage shows U.S. Apache helicopter crashing in Afghanistan

Turkish troops kill seven PKK militants in clash - Five Turkish police killed in clashes a day earlier


Reported security incidents
#1: At least five militants were killed in a clash between security forces and militants in north western tribal region on Wednesday, official sources said. The military operation took place in Jogi, area of Kurram Agency located in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan along Afghanistan border. The afternoon clashes also left two security personnel and eight militants injured.

#2: Afghan authorities say three civilians were killed and 15 others were wounded when a rocket exploded in a bazaar in the eastern part of the country. Gen. Zirawer Zahid, the police chief in Ghazni province, said insurgents who fired the rocket Wednesday were targeting the police headquarters, but it fell in a market area of Muqur district instead.

#3: According to a statement issued by the Afghan interior ministry, at least 3 armed militants were killed and injured and 10 others were detained across the country during the past 24 hours. The source further added, the militants were killed, injured and detained following joint military operations conducted by Afghan police, Afghan army, Afghan intelligence and international coalition security forces. The operations were conducted at eastern Nangarhar, southern Uruzagn, eastern Ghazni and western Herat provinces of Afghanistan, the officials added.

Posted by whisker at 4:24 AM

1 comments:

whisker said...

Something happened to yesterdays post and it never got published, and in the meanwhile I may have messed up Tuesdays post too. There wasn’t much going on, but I apologize for the mix-up.
whisker

March 22, 2012 at 4:27 AM

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