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, April 9, 2012

War News for Monday, April 09, 2012

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, U.K. on Saturday, April 8th. The soldier was wounded in an IED blast somewhere in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, February 3rd.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, April 6th.


US gives Afghans control in deal on night raids

US-Israel War On Iran: The Myth Of Limited Warfare – OpEd - Here's a very much off topic article - whisker

French election throws Afghan exit into disarray

U.S. policy on Iraq questioned as influence wanes, Maliki consolidates power


Reported security incidents
#1: Military Helicopter gunships attacked terrorist hideouts in a tribal area near the border with Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 14 suspected terrorists, military sources said. Ten suspected terrorists were attacked in the operations in two areas of Orakzai Agency. The casualty figures provided by military could not be independently verified.

#2: Seven Taliban militants have been killed and 11 others detained during military operations in the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Monday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), army and NATO-led coalition forces launched seven joint operations in Kunduz, Faryab, Helmand, Zabul, Wardak, Logar and Paktia provinces, killing seven Taliban insurgents and detaining 11 other armed suspects over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#3: Five people were injured Monday when a bicycle bomb went off in northern Afghan province of Baghlan, a police source said. "A bomb attached to a bicycle was detonated when a vehicle with the National Directorate of Security (NDS) was passing by a road in Nahrin District's bazaar at about 11:45 a.m. local time," police chief of the district Noor Gul told Xinhua. The injured include four civilians and a security member of NDS or intelligence agency, the police chief said.


DoD: Spc. Antonio C. Burnside

Posted by whisker at 3:02 AM

1 comments:

Dancewater said...

Thank you for all the posts you have done over the years, whisker.

April 9, 2012 at 11:03 PM

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