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


Saturday, January 19, 2013

War News for Saturday, January 19, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: Two suicide bombers were killed Saturday as their explosive vests went off prematurely in Guzara district in Afghanistan’s western province of Heart, an official said. “Two suicide bombers riding a motorcycle were trying to target the district office building through the main gate but their explosive were detonated prematurely near the compound killing both on the spot,” the administrative chief of the district Nisar Ahmad Popal told Xinhua. He said no member of Afghan security force or civilian was harmed in the blast in the province 640 km west of capital city of Kabul.

#2: Up to six militants have been killed and eight others wounded in an operation carried out by the Afghan forces in the country's western province of Herat, an army spokesman said. "A search operation was conducted by the Afghan National Army ( ANA) commandos in Zirkoah area of Shindand district overnight. As a result of the raid six militants, including a Taliban local leader Mullah Akbar, were killed and eight others wounded," spokesman Nasrullah Nasito Nadiri said.



Posted by whisker at 5:42 AM

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