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, December 27, 2012

War News for Thursday, December 27, 2012


Reported security incidents
#1: Four Afghan policemen were killed and two wounded on Thursday in an insurgent attack assisted by an insider loyal to the Taliban, officials said. Attackers stormed the police post at Trin Kot, a remote district in the southern province of Uruzgan, before dawn and killed the officers as they slept, police spokesman Farid Ahmad Aiel told AFP. One policeman who fled with the insurgents was believed to be a Taliban infiltrator who aided the attack, Aiel said. One gunman was wounded during fighting and later arrested, he added.


DoD: Sgt. Enrique Mondragon

Posted by whisker at 4:39 AM

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