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, January 24, 2013

War News for Thursday, January 24, 2013

The DoD is reporting the death of Sgt. Mark H. Schoonhoven who died at at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas on Sunday, January 20th. He was wounded from an IED blast in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, January 15th.


Pentagon to remove ban on women in combat


Reported security incidents
#1: Two policemen were killed and two civilians were injured as a roadside bomb struck police van in Nimroz province 790 km southwest of Kabul on Thursday, a local official said. “A mine planted by militants on a road in Mahajirabad area outside Nimroz provincial capital Zaranj, struck a police vehicle at 01:30 p.m. local time today killing two policemen aboard the vehicle and injuring two passersby, both women,” Abdul Hai Khudri the deputy to Zaranj’s governor told Xinhua.

#2: According to local authorities in eastern Paktika province of Afghanistan, a pilot less International Security Assistance Force aircraft crashed in this province. The officials further added the incident took place in Jani Khel district due to unknown reasons.

#3: At least 14 Taliban insurgents including three foreigners have been killed and 21 other insurgents wounded in a US airstrike in eastern Nuristan province, Afghan local officials said. The airstrike happened in the Dahan Baz Gul area of Nuristan's Kamdish district when Taliban insurgents were at a gathering, provincial police chief Ghulaam Mullah said, adding that the strike was carried out by drone.


News: Sergeant Mark Schoonhoven -- Sergeant Mark Schoonhoven succumbed from injuries suffered a month ago when a roadside bomb exploded in Kabul

News: Kpt. Krzysztof Woźniak

Posted by whisker at 4:27 AM

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