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, September 12, 2012

War News for Wednesday, September 12, 2012


Taliban raised $400 mln in 2011 from donations, extortion: UN

Back to the "Body Count:" The Lack of Reliable Data on the Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan

In pictures: Rebuilding Afghanistan's air force

United Nations halts operations in eastern Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: A Yankton man was injured early this week when the helicopter he was in was attacked with a rocket in Afghanistan.

#2: A Korean unit stationed at Bagram air base in Afghanistan was hit in an artillery attack overnight on Monday (local time). According to the Defense Ministry on Tuesday, no casualties have been reported, but there was some minor damage to the unit's UH-60 helicopter. The first four rounds of shelling occurred at around 11:58 p.m. on Monday, and the second round was struck at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. The Defense Ministry said there have been a total of 21 artillery attacks on the U.S. air base this year.

Posted by whisker at 3:54 AM

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

you said it was tuesday september 12 when it's actually wednesday

September 12, 2012 at 4:47 PM

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