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 31, 2012

War News for Thursday, May 31, 2012

NATO is reporting an additional death of an ISAF soldier, from this release yesterday, from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, May 30th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, May 31th.

U.S. military trainers trickle back into Pakistan

Pakistani military denies U.S. military trainers' back

Reported security incidents
#1: Army Specialist Brett Allan Paige of Manteca is recovering from extensive injuries suffered in Afghanistan. The 2007 Sierra High graduate was wounded May 17 when an improvised explosive device detonated.

#2: A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle full of explosives outside a district police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing five policemen, a government official said. The attack in Kandahar province's Argistan district also wounded six policemen, said Javid Faisal, the provincial governor's spokesman.

#3: In one attack, in Kunduz province's Dashti Archi district, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying the head of the district's anti-terrorism police force, killing him along with a colleague and a police bodyguard, said district chief Shaik Sadaruddin.

Four people including the anti-terror officer of Dasht-e-Archi district in Kunduz province 250 km north of capital Kabul were killed as their vehicle ran over a roadside bomb Thursday, a local official said. "A mine planted by insurgents struck the vehicle of anti- terror chief of Dasht-e-Archi district at around 08:00 a.m. local time today killing four people including the anti-terror chief and three of his bodyguards," district governor Shikh Sadudin told Xinhua.

#4: A grenade tossed at a police checkpoint in Jalalabad city, capital of Nangarhar province, killed two policemen, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdullah Azim Stanikzai.

#5: Afghan national police have killed a dozen anti-government militants throughout the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a press release on Thursday. "In the operations conducted in several provinces including Kabul and Kandahar, 12 insurgents have been killed and four others arrested," the press release added. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on the police

DoD: Sgt. Julian C. Chase

DoD: Lance Cpl. Steven G. Sutton

Posted by whisker at 3:48 AM

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