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


Saturday, October 20, 2012

War News for Saturday, October 20, 2012


Reported security incidents
#1: In the latest insider attack, a man in police uniform sprayed bullets on policemen in a police checkpoint in Khost province 150 km southeast of Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, killing three policemen on the spot, a local official revealed. “In a tragic incident, a police constable opened fire and killed three colleagues in a checkpoint in Zazai Maidan district at 03:00 a.m. local time today,” the district police chief Azizullah told Xinhua.

#2: “A police constable who had link with the Taliban militants and worked as chef in a police checkpoint in Gereshk district of Helmand province opened fire on their colleague late Friday night leaving six colleagues dead and fled away to join Taliban,” police spokesman in the province Ahmad Farid Farhang told Xinhua. Following the gun shots, a group of Taliban rebels who were waiting nearby entered the checkpoint and sprayed bullets killing four others on the spot and made their good escape,” the statement added.

#3: A warehouse was gutted as a result of a rocket strike on the US military base in the Bagram district of central Parwan province, officials said on Saturday. A couple of rockets, fired by militants late on Friday night, triggered the blaze in a store in the Panj Qala area near the main military base, the Bagram police chief, Col. Zamaray Nasiri, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

#4: Afghan police during series of operations against Taliban militants across the country have killed six armed fighters and captured eight others over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a press release here on Saturday. The operations, according to the press release, carried out in Helmand, Sar-e-Pul, Kunduz, Ghazni and Kandahar provinces, during which a number of arms and ammunitions including six AK-47 assault rifles have also been seized.

#5: At least three security personnel were killed and 11 others injured as a roadside planted bomb hit a paramilitary force convoy in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta on Friday afternoon, reported local media Samaa. According to local media reports, the blast took place at about 5:20 p.m. local time when a bomb fixed on a bicycle parked on the Sariab Road of the city was detonated through a remote control device while a convoy of Frontier Corps (FC), a paramilitary force in Pakistan, was passing by. The convoy comprised two vehicles and they were on their routine patrol in the city when the blast occurred, said local media.

#6: According to local authorities in eastern Khost province of Afghanistan, at least 3 Afghan security forces including 2 border protection police forces and 1 Afghan national police officer were killed following clashes among themselsves in this province. Zazai Maidan district chief Mohammad Younis confirmed the report and said the incident took place late Friday evening however he said there were no further reports regarding the clashes.

#7: A heavy explosion rocked southern Helmand province of Afghanistan on Saturday. According the reports the incident took place near the provincial governor’s office at Lashkargah city in the center of southern Helmand province. The incident took place after explosives device planted on a bicycle went off.

Posted by whisker at 5:17 AM

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