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


Thursday, November 8, 2012

War News for Thursday, November 08, 2012


U.S. Wounded In Iraq, Afghanistan Includes More Than 1,500 Amputees


Reported security incidents
#1: Three more Australian soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan after their armoured truck hit a roadside bomb. The military says the incident happened on Tuesday when the soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Task Group, were moving between bases in the Oruzgan province.

#2: In one of the attacks, 10 civilians, including a child and four men, died as their vehicle struck a land mine in southern Helmand province. Seven other people in the group — which was heading to a wedding — were wounded in the blast, said Ismail Khan Hotak of the provincial security coordination center.
#3: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up amid a police patrol in the southern city of Kandahar, killing the three policemen and wounding two, said Ahmad Jawed Faisal, a provincial governor spokesman.

#4: And five troops died when their convoy hit a land mine in eastern Laghman province, according to Sarhadi Zewak, also a governor spokesman.

#5: Also Thursday, two boys were killed by a roadside bomb in Zabul province in southern Afghanistan. Deputy provincial chief Ghulam Gilani Farahi said the device had probably been planted by insurgents targeting police officers patrolling the area.

#6: The death toll increased to four following a suicide car bomb attack on the paramilitary Rangers headquarters in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Thursday, said a spokesman of Rangers. The dead included three members of Rangers and the suicide bomber, the spokesman said, adding that 19 people were also wounded in the blast. According to police and local media reports, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden truck into the headquarters in North Nazimabad district of Karachi at about 6:55 a.m. local time. The injured people included at least eight policemen, police said.

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