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


Monday, April 22, 2013

War News for Monday, April 22, 2013


Yemen: Drone strike kills 'Qaeda militants'


Reported security incidents
#1: Taliban insurgents have seized eight Turks and an Afghan from a civilian helicopter which made an emergency landing in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. A district administrator in the area says the helicopter owned by an Afghan company landed on Sunday afternoon in strong winds and rain in a village of Logar province, southeast of Kabul and about 30km from the Pakistan border. Hamidullah Hamid said on Monday that the Taliban captured all nine aboard the aircraft and took them from the area.

#2: At least three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were defused by Bomb Disposal Squad personnel at Dardar Abdullah Baba in Badaber’s Sheikhan area on the outskirts of Peshawar. BDS sources told Dawn.com the explosives were fitted with timers and were defused due to the timely intervention of the bomb disposal squad upon receiving information.

#3: Nearly a dozen people were wounded when unidentified suspects hurled an explosive device near a bakery in Kharadar on Sunday night, police said. The police officials added that the incident took place on Younghusband Road in the old city area near Mehran Bakery.

Posted by whisker at 3:52 AM

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