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


Friday, June 22, 2012

War News for Friday, June 22, 2012



3 S.C. Guard soldiers killed, 5 injured in Afghanistan suicide bombing


Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/06/22/2326162/3-sc-guard-soldiers-killed-5-injured.html#storylink=cpy


Reported security incidents
#1: Two New Zealanders were among a team of Red Cross staff caught up in a failed bombing attempt in Afghanistan. The New Zealand Red Cross said two of its members were shaken but unharmed when an explosive on a motorcycle failed to detonate properly outside a hospital in Kandahar yesterday. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said staff were arriving at the hospital to begin their shift when "a small explosive went off in the grounds of the Mirwais Hospital".

#2: Taliban militants attacked a hotel near Kabul on Friday and seized dozens of hostages, sparking a fierce gunbattle with Afghan and NATO troops that left at least 26 people dead, authorities said. The militants killed 15 civilians, a police officer and three security guards during the 11-hour standoff, Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi said. In return, authorities killed all seven militants, he said. Earlier, the police chief had said that there were five militants.

#3-4: At least four people were killed and 42 others injured in two separate blasts that hit Pakistan almost simultaneously on Thursday evening. Sources in Peshawar, the largest city in northwest Pakistan, told Xinhua over phone that at least three people including two children were killed and 24 others injured when a blast hit near a shrine in the Hazar Khawani area of the city at about 6:30 p.m. local time. The bomb, which contained an estimated 10 to 12 kg of explosives, were fixed in a donkey cart parking nearby the shrine, said bomb disposal squad officials. Almost at the same time, another blast took place near a mosque in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta, leaving at least one killed and 18 others wounded, said Hashim Gillzai, Deputy Commission of Quetta, adding that the bomb was fixed on a bicycle parking near a mosque in the Ghosabad area of the city.


News: Civ. Tom Boyle

DoD: 1st Lt. Ryan D. Rawl

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Matthew B. Thomas

DoD: Spc. John D. Meador II

Posted by whisker at 3:41 AM

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