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, October 10, 2012

War News for Wednesday, October 10, 2012


US losing IED war in Afghanistan
 
U.S. Military Is Sent to Jordan to Help With Crisis in Syria
 
NATO to confirm follow-on mission in Afghanistan today

Reported security incidents
#1: At least five gunmen have been killed in a US-drone attack in the Pakistani tribal region close to the Pakistani borders with Afghanistan. Pakistani Intelligence officials revealed that a number of rockets hit a complex in northern Waziristan in a pre-dawn drone attack. The identity of the deceased gunmen is still unknown.
 
#2: Afghan officials say an explosion in the country's south has killed six local policemen. Mohammad Ibrahim, the police chief in Nad Ali district of Helmand province, says the blast on Wednesday morning occurred when the policemen's vehicle ran over a roadside bomb. The victims were members of the Afghan Local Police, a village defense unit that is overseen by the Interior Ministry.

#3: Also in the south, a member of Afghanistan's top religious council was assassinated on Tuesday in Tarin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province. Provincial police spokesman Fareed Ayal says a gunman shot and killed Abdul Samad as he was driving his car.

#4: Armed motorcyclists opened fire on anti-terrorist police in Herat city, leaving a cop dead while a policeman and two civilians injured,3the Herat security in-charge Abdul Hamid Hamidi told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) .

#5: Meanwhile, the fourth border zone commander Sher Ahmad Maldani told the AIP an IED struck a police van in Tor Ghondai area of Rabat-i-Sangi district. Two cops were killed as a result, he added.

#6: Four militants were killed during a joint operation by Afghan and ISAF personnel in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials said on Tuesday. The insurgents were killed as a result of a ground and air operation at 2am in the Anbarkhana area of Batikot district, the town's administrative head, Mirza Hamidullah, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

#7: Two unidentified bodies were recovered form Dawoodzai in the outskirt here on Wednesday, FP News desk reported. Police said that the bodies were found beside the road at Gul Bela in the jurisdiction of police station Dawoodzai. Both the persons were gunned down, while the bodies have torture marks as well.

#8: Afghan police, backed by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces, have eliminated 15 Taliban militants in five provinces within the past 24 hours, the country' s Ministry of Interior Affairs said Wednesday. "Afghan National Police (ANP) in collaboration with army and coalition forces carried out seven cleanup operations in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Paktika, Paktia and Helmand provinces, killing 15 armed Taliban militants and detaining five other armed suspects over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement providing the daily operational updates.

Posted by whisker at 3:49 AM

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