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


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

War News for Tuesday, September 11, 2012


Reported security incidents
#1: Three members of the Afghan National Security Forces have been killed after a helicopter was hit by munitions fired into Bagram Airfield, a NATO official said Tuesday. Four rounds landed in the airfield on Monday around 10 p.m., said Lt. Col Hagen Messer, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). One of the rounds struck an ISAF helicopter, killing the three Afghan troops and wounding two ISAF service members, Messer said. ISAF is not yet able to confirm the type of the rounds or whether they were rockets or mortars, said Messer.

#2: At least five people were killed and eight others injured Tuesday afternoon in an explosion in a meeting of tribal elders in western Afghan province of Herat, a provincial official said.

#3: A suicide bomb blast rocked western Herat province of Afghanistan on Tuesday. The incident took place in Keshk-e-Kohna district. A spokesman for the Afghan police forces Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said a local police commander was killed following the blast. Mr. Ahmadi further added the incident took place in Keshk-e-Kohna district market after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives while the local police commander Arbab Abdul Hakim was visiting the market.


MoD: Sergeant Lee Paul Davidson

Posted by whisker at 3:04 AM

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