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, August 29, 2012

War News for Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The DoD is reporting the death of Staff Sgt. Jessica M. Wing who died from a non-combat related incident in Kuwait City on Monday, August 27th. She was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 28th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Five Afghan army soldiers were killed on Wednesday in an insurgent roadside bombing and suicide attack in an eastern Afghanistan militant hotbed. The soldiers were attacked late yesterday in Kunar province by a suicide bomber on foot after a smaller explosion caused by a roadside bombing, a tactic that Afghan insurgents use often, the officials said. "First there was an improvised roadside bombing that hit an army convoy," Mohammad Amin Tokhi, the Kunar provincial deputy governor, told . "Some of the soldiers got out of their vehicles to check it out. A suicide bomber ran at them and detonated. Five of our soldiers were martyred and another was wounded." The incident took place in Manogai district.

#2: Heavily-armed Taliban militants attacked a check post in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt killing at least nine soldiers and losing 10 of their own men, security officials said today. Fighting erupted in South Waziristan tribal region after militants attacked the check post at Farhang Baba area, the officials were quoted as saying by TV news channels. Nine soldiers were killed and several others injured in the attack. The security forces launched a counter-attack and killed 10 militants, a security official said. Eight more militants were injured in the clashes. The security forces launched a search operation in the region after repulsing the attack.

#3: Two people were killed and a further 10 injured when a bomb exploded on railway tracks in southern Pakistan early on Wednesday. The explosion, which caused two of the train’s cars to derail, occurred in the town of Thul at around 2:00am, police official Murtaza Mirani said.

#4: A Nevada Army National Guard Chinook helicopter was destroyed in a non-hostile incident after the crew attempted to land it in eastern Afghanistan, but no one on board was significantly injured, Guard officials in Carson City said Tuesday.

#5: Fresh clashes in Pakistan's north-western tribal areas along the Afghan border on Tuesday left three soldiers and 11 militants dead, security officials said. The latest fighting occurred as part of a Pakistan Army operation to repel Taliban militants who had crossed over from Kunar province in Afghanistan earlier on Friday and occupied the village of Batwar in the Bajaur tribal district. Officials said several soldiers were also missing in the clashes. The fighting has so far left 50 dead, including 31 militants, three soldiers and two members of a government-backed peace committee. "During the ongoing clashes in the Batwar border area of Bajaur, 11 militants were killed while several were injured," a senior security official based in Peshawar told AFP.

#6: Afghan police and army, backed by the NATO-led coalition forces, have killed 10 Taliban insurgents and detained 17 others in different provinces in the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP), Afghan Army and NATO-led coalition forces launched nine joint cleanup operations in Kunar, Kunduz, Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Logar, Paktia, Helmand and Nimroz provinces, killing 10 armed Taliban insurgents and detaining 17 others over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#7: According to local authorities in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, at least four Afghan civilians belonging to the same family were killed following a roadside bomb blast in this province. The officials further added the incident took place late Tuesday night at the second district of eastern Ghazni city, killing four civilians and injuring another one.


DoD: Pfc. Patricia L. Horne

DoD: Sgt. Christopher J. Birdwell

DoD: Spc. Mabry J. Anders

DoD: Staff Sgt. Jessica M. Wing

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