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, February 2, 2013

War News for Saturday, February 02, 2013


U.S. Army suicides at record high

Army Relases December 2012 and Calendar Year 2012 Suicide Information

pictures: Cold weather kills 17 in Afghan resettlement areas


Reported security incidents
#1: Six persons were killed and four others injured when mortar shells fired from Afghanistan’s Paktika province landed in a border village of South Waziristan on Friday evening. Government officials and tribal sources said 16 shells fired from Afghanistan landed in Baghar village near Angoor Adda of South Waziristan tribal region. They said the mortar shells exploded and killed six people.

#2: Militants attacked an isolated army checkpoint in Pakistan's restive northwest on Saturday, with at least 35 people killed in the initial assault, subsequent crossfire and a rocket attack on a house, officials said. A security official said 12 militants and 13 soldiers were killed in the clash. Two bodies had suicide bomb belts on them.

#3: Syed Abdul Rahman Khogyani district chief escaped an explosion in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan early Saturday morning. According to reports a security guard of Mr. Syed Abdul Rahman was killed following the blast and two others were injured.

Posted by whisker at 5:15 AM

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