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, April 11, 2012

War News for Wednesday, April 011, 2012

Injured aid worker on road to recovery

Supply route closure impedes Afghan withdrawal

Attacks Attest to Afghan Insurgents’ Spring Offensive


Reported security incidents
#1: Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for Laghman province, said the head of Dawlat Shahi district, died Wednesday when his motorcycle hit a roadside bomb. He was on his way to his office with a school headmaster, who was injured in the explosion, Zewak said.

#2: Separately, the Helmand provincial governor's office said three local Afghan policemen were killed in Musa Qala district on Tuesday when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up near their vehicle. The three were responding to an earlier attack that killed four policemen at the district police headquarters building.

#3: Five Taliban militants have been killed and 18 others detained in different Afghan provinces within the past 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. "Five armed Taliban insurgents killed and 18 other suspects captured during eight cleanup operations launched by police, army and international coalition forces in Kabul, Nangarhar, Baghlan, Helmand, Wardak, and Badakhshan provinces over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

Posted by whisker at 3:05 AM

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