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


Monday, October 15, 2012

War News for Monday, October15, 2012

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. Thomas R. Macpherson died from a small arms fire attack in the Andar District, Ghanzi province, Afghanistan on Friday, October 12th.

The DoD is reporting another new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. 1st Class Ryan J. Savard died from small arms fire in the Khanabad District, Kunduz province Afghanistan on Saturday, October 13th.

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Cmdr. Joel Del Mundo Tiu died from non-combat related injuries in an undisclosed place and date. he was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan officials said on Monday that a NATO air strike killed three children while it was targeting Taliban insurgents planting mines on a road in southern Afghanistan. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed an air strike in Helmand province's Nawa district on Sunday, saying that three insurgents died and it was investigating reports that children were also killed.
 
#2: Seven UN employees were injured when the helicopter carrying them made an emergency landing in the central province of Bamyan, officials said on Monday. The MI-8, with six foreign and 14 Afghan employees of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), made the emergency landing in the Sar Qul area of Yakawlang district. UNAMA spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai told Pajhwok Afghan News the emergency landing took place on Sunday night due to a technical fault, injuring two foreign and five Afghan employees of the UN mission. “We saw the helicopter crashing into a tree and falling in a potato field,” said a resident of the village, Hafizullah.

#3: At least six militants were killed and one Pakistan Army soldier sustained injuries in a clash in Upper Orakzai Agency, officials said on Sunday. Security officials said the militants attacked a patrol party in the Barlas area of Mamozai in the wee hours, injuring a soldier. He was taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Thal for treatment. The officials said that six militants were killed and four others injured in the retaliatory fire by the security forces. The forces launched a massive search operation in Ghundai, Mula Pattay and Koranchki villages and seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition concealed in caves in the areas.

#4: More than 300 militants attacked a small police checkpost in northwest Pakistan, killing seven people, including a senior police official, authorities said. The attack Sunday night in the Matani area outside Peshawar injured 12 others, Dawn reported. Police and a local paramilitary force personnel engaged the heavily armed attackers in a 3-hour gunfight, the report said. Two other policemen and four members of the paramilitary force were killed, Dawn said.

#4: Three civilians were killed Monday morning in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Afghanistan's eastern province of Wardak, the provincial government confirmed.

 
DoD: Sgt. Thomas R. Macpherson

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Ryan J. Savard

DoD: Cmdr. Joel Del Mundo Tiu

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