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, April 6, 2013

War News for Saturday, April 06, 2013


UNHR chief calls for closure of Guantanamo prison camp


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide bomber targeted a provincial governor's convoy Saturday near a hospital in southern Afghanistan, killing a doctor, officials said. Gov. Mohammad Ashraf Nasery, who escaped the assassination attempt, said a car bomb exploded as his convoy was passing the hospital en route to an event at a nearby school in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province. He said the doctor was killed, and two of his bodyguards and a student from the school were wounded.

#2: Afghan forces backed by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed two militants including a senior Taliban official in eastern Kunar province on Friday, the alliance confirmed on Saturday. "An Afghan and coalition security force killed Darah-ye Pech district's highest-ranking Taliban official, Hajji Matin, and one other insurgent during an operation in Darah-ye Pech district, Kunar province, yesterday," the statement released here said.


DoD: Capt. James Michael Steel

Posted by whisker at 4:27 AM

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