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


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

War News for Wednesday, March 20, 2013


Local Soldier Wounded in Afghanistan Dies

Britain's troops cease combat operation in Afghanistan

Nato forces say agree to leave key Afghan province near Kabul

Danish troops leave Afghanistan earlier as planned


Reported security incidents
#1: Two police including a senior officer were killed and three others sustained injuries as a roadside bomb struck police van in Shindand district of Herat province with Herat city as its capital 640 km west of Kabul on Tuesday, police said. "A mine planted by militants on a road in Shindand district struck the vehicle of Nasir Ahmad the police chief of Herat-Farah highway today, killing him along with one of his bodyguards and injured three others," police chief of the western region Toryali Abdiak told Xinhua.

Posted by whisker at 4:37 AM

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