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


Sunday, January 6, 2013

News of the Day for Sunday, January 6, 2013

Two suicide bombers attack District Development Council in Spin Boldak, Kandahar province. Four civilians are killed and 15 injured. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claims responsibility, says 9 were killed.

Pakistan will release 3,000 trucks stranded at the Afghan border as a dispute over border control policies.

Khaama's Sayed Jawad reports that 133 children die every day in Afghanistan, mostly because of diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated drinking water. "Lack of access to clean drinking water and sanitation is a chronic problem not only in rural areas, but also in most of the Afghan cities which are developing — unplanned — at a rapid rate. Even in the Afghan capital, Kabul, barely 25 percent of people, according to some reports, have direct access to potable water." In addition, there is only one health worker for every 7,000 people. (U.S. taxpayers have spent more than $600 billion to shoot people and blow stuff up in Afghanistan. That could have paid for a whole lot of water supply and sewage treatment.)

U.S. drone attack reported to have killed 12 people on the border between North and South Waziristan. The target is reported to have been Pakistani Taliban leader Imran Punjabi.

President Karzai meets with a delegation of U.S. Senators  in advance of his trip to Washington, D.C. tomorrow. He tells them U.S. forces should withdraw to their bases. (Inasmuch as he is the president of Afghanistan I would have thought that would be up to him. Evidently not.)

Eighty seven prisoners arrested by U.S. forces are released from Afghan custody in a gesture of reconciliation. However, some object that they will rejoin the insurgency.






12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!!!! Is this website run by a bunch of liberals ,Or what? ' shoot people and blow stuff up' definitely sounds like a libtard to me!! Just because you don't support the war and where the tax payers money goes doesn't mean you need to spread your diseased opinion. I would be more than happy for our troops to come home, my husband being one of those but unfortunately our 'leaders',if you can call them that, still feel the need to train, aid the enemy!

Anonymous said...

Fuck afghanies!!!

Dancewater said...

And in Iraq:

5 killed in Diyala province.

3 killed in explosions in Hilla.

US History: Covert actions in Chile

Dancewater said...

Surprise! People don’t like being occupied! Who could have guessed?

How Afghan soldier turns into an enemyof the US military

Dancewater said...

White House wins fight to keep drone killings secret.

Link here

Dancewater said...

Rule for having a disagreement on the internet:

If you have no facts, resort to insults.

Dancewater said...

Thereby admitting you totally lost the argument.

Dancewater said...

A History of America's Death Squads

Dancewater said...

This is from last month. It is a rally of rebels in Syria - the ones the Obama administration has been supporting. Our US tax dollars at work!

Link here

Anonymous said...

Bush got us into this mess, we had no business Iraq. Should have taken care of business in Afghanistan and got the hell out. Leave the Afghanis to manage their lives and their country. It is overrun with corruption and terrorized by the Taliban, and that suits them just fine. Bring our troops and our aid home. We have enough to fix here.

Dancewater said...

we sure do.

Cervantes said...

That's pretty funny. What do you think the military does, other than shoot people and blow stuff up? That's what it's for! Why do you think they have guns and bombs? To build sewage treatment plants? If I'm a libtard, then what is the conservative definition of what the military does -- the one that doesn't include shooting people and blowing stuff up?

Sheesh.