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, November 23, 2012

War News for Friday, November 23, 2012

Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide car bomber killed three people and wounded dozens near a NATO-run training base on Friday, in an attack claimed by the Taliban as revenge for the execution of its militants. Several NATO soldiers were lightly wounded, a spokesman for the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said, without giving further details. A police spokesman said the blast was near "a joint coordination office" for the Afghan army, police and NATO troops in Maidan Shar, the capital of Wardak province, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kabul. The base is close to the provincial governor's office and two of his bodyguards were among the dead, his spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP. Ninety people were wounded, 75 men, 11 women and four children."

#2: Unidentified gunmen shot dead the deputy intelligence chief of Shindand district on Thursday.
The armed motorcyclists gunned down Tajuddin, deputy intelligence chief of Shindand, near the district bazaar, the Shindand police chief Ghulam Sakhi Hussaini told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

#3: In a separate incident, a woman was killed and two minors were injured when their vehicle struck an IED in Sanoghan area of Shindand district today, an official told the AIP. The victims belonged to a cop’s family, he maintained.

#4: Two police constables were killed after militants attacked a police and paramilitary force-manned Speen Qabar checkpost of Badhaber police on Thursday, officials said. They said some 50 militants carrying RPG-7 rockets and medium-range machineguns attacked the post jointly manned by the police and Frontier Constabulary (FC). It is the first time the militants attacked a checkpost during the day. DSP Fazal Mulla told reporters two cops had been killed in the attack. In the surprise ambush, the attackers killed Rehman Wali inside the post while Shamsur Rehman went missing and was later found dead.

Posted by whisker at 3:58 AM

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