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, October 5, 2012

War News for Friday, October 05, 2012


Reported security incidents
#1: Two trucks carrying supplies for the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan have been set on fire in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, Press TV reports. The containers were forcefully stopped on Friday at Mastung district near Quetta and set ablaze, an official from Baluchistan government said. The two vehicles were carrying NATO supplies from the Pakistani port city of Karachi to neighboring Afghanistan, the official added.

#2: Five local police and 20 Taliban were killed after a clash in Sarhowza district of Paktika province last night, police said Thursday. A large number of Taliban attacked check posts of Afghan National Police and local police in Marzako area of Sarhowza district forcing the security forces to retaliate fire, provincial police chief Daulat Khan Zadran, told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). He said the clash lasted for several hours which left five local police dead and four ANP police wounded, adding 20 bodies of Taliban fighters were also lying at the site of the clash.

#3: Meanwhile, Governor of Ghor province survived a bomb attack in the provincial capital today, police said Thursday. An explosive rigged motorcycle detonated soon after Governor Said Anwar Rahmati embarked on his vehicle after attending a function at Said Allauddin Ghori High School in Chaghcharan, capital of Ghor province, General Sayed Hussain Safavi, provincial security chief told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). He said the governor escaped unhurt but his vehicle was damaged in the blast. Sources, meanwhile, told AIP that one person was also injured in the bomb explosion.

#4: Eight missiles were fired on the Bagram Airbase, a major military centre of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), in the central province of Parwan on Friday, officials said. The missiles landed in the Khanjarkhel area, two kilometres east of the base, the district police chief, Col. Zamaray Nasiri, told Pajhwok Afghan News.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Daniel T. Metcalfe

DoD: Sgt. Camella M. Steedley

Posted by whisker at 3:15 AM

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