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, May 10, 2012

War News for Thursday, May 10, 2012

Afghan Refugee Children Perish in Harsh Winter


Reported security incidents
#1: A wounded Huntsville solider is on his way home from Afghanistan and you can show your support for him this week. Sgt. Colin Erwin is with the 203rd MP Alabama Army National Guard. He was working as a contractor supporting the Army when the gym he was in took a direct hit from mortar fire. Sgt. Erwin's mother said her son suffered injuries to the torso and right leg.

#2: A double bomb attack has injured nine people in Pakistan's northwestern town of Akora Khattak. Officials said police and journalists were among the injured in the twin blasts on May 9 at the tomb of a Pashtun nationalist leader, Ajmal Khattak. Officials said that after a first bomb went off, a second explosion hit police and journalists who had gone to the scene. Officials said five policemen and four local journalists were among the wounded.
#3: Three policemen and four militants were killed Thursday morning when militants launched an attack on police checkpoints in YahyaKhil district of eastern Paktika province, a provincial police source said. "Four militants armed with suicide vests and weapons stormed police checkpoints around the Yahyakhil administrative district office building at about 8 a.m. local time Thursday and the attackers intended to target the compound," provincial police chief Daulat Khan told Xinhua. He said all attackers were killed as police repelled the attack and no government employees or civilians were injured during the fight near the compound.

#4: At least four policemen were injured when a blast hit their vehicle in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Thursday morning, reported local Urdu TV channel Dunya.

At least one policeman was killed and three others were injured when a bomb hit their vehicle in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Thursday morning, reported local Urdu TV channel Dunya. The attack took place at about 10:00 a.m. local time when a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle patrolling on the Qambrani Road of Quetta, capital city of Balochistan province in southwest Pakistan, injuring four policemen on the spot, local media reported.


DoD: Sgt. Jacob M. Schwallie

DoD:  Spc. Chase S. Marta

DoD: Pfc. Dustin D. Gross

Posted by whisker at 3:47 AM

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