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


Friday, February 15, 2013

War News for Friday, February 15, 2013


Hundreds of UK drones 'missing' in Iraq and Afghanistan

Main Hurdle in Afghan Withdrawal: Getting the Gear Out


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide attacker attempted to target the convoy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti near College Chowk here. The suicide bomber detonated himself near the convoy of the chief minister who was travelling to a rally in Mardan. Chief Minister Hoti remained unhurt in the attack, and there was no loss of life reported.

#2: A police official was killed in an attack on a police party engaged in an overnight search operation to track down the saboteurs holed up in an area of the city. According to SHO Pir Wadhai Police Station, police conducted a search operation on a tip-off regarding the presence of suspected people in the city area of Kararyan. During the operation, some unidentified miscreants ambushed on the police personnel which ensued in an exchange of gunfire. The attack by the miscreants claimed life of an ASI and another policeman was injured. In retaliation by the police, two alleged assailants were killed.

#3: A bomb blast rocked Sarkano town in the eastern Kunar province on Friday, casualties feared, a local official said.

#4: A roadside bomb went off in Sarkano town of Kunar province with Assadabad as its capital 185 km east of Kabul on Friday, killing two people and injuring another, a local official said. "A roadside bomb organized by anti-government militants exploded in Sarkano district at 01:15 p.m. local time today, leaving two persons dead and wounding another," the official told Xinhua but declined to be identified, saying authorized officials would brief the media after investigation. In the meantime, a doctor in Assadabad hospital confirmed that two dead bodies including a local police constable and an injured one had been taken to hospital from Sarkano district on Friday.

Posted by whisker at 4:03 AM

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