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


Saturday, May 26, 2012

War News for Saturday, May 26, 2012

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan J. Wilson died in Manama, Bahrain on Sunday, May 20th. from a complications associated with a medical condition. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

2 NATO soldiers killed in southern and eastern Afghanistan - In a separate statement on Friday ISAF announced, “An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan today.”

After Guantánamo, Starting Anew, in Quiet Anger



Reported security incidents
#1:  An American drone fired two missiles at a bakery in northwest Pakistan Saturday and killed four suspected militants, officials said, as the U.S. pushed on with its drone campaign despite Pakistani demands to stop. This was the third such strike in the country in less than a week. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the latest attack took place in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region. The officials said the victims were buying goods from a bakery when the missiles hit. Residents were still removing the debris, officials said. All of the dead were foreigners, but the officials did not have any information on their identities or nationalities.

#2: A total of 13 Taliban militants have been killed and 15 other suspects arrested during military raids within the past 24 hours, the Afghan Interior Ministry said Saturday. "Afghan police, army and NATO-led coalition force launched seven joint cleanup operations in Laghman, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni and Farah provinces, killing 13 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 15 others over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#3: In a separate development, five Taliban were killed and four policemen and two soldiers with the NATO-led forces were injured when the joint forces launched an operation in Populzai area of Nahri Sarraj district in the southern Helmand province on Friday, provincial police spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang told Xinhua on Saturday.


DoD: Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan J. Wilson

Posted by whisker at 3:13 AM

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)