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 13, 2013

War News for Saturday, April 13, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: Militants blew up the election office of an independent candidate in North Waziristan tribal agency on Saturday, adding to security fears ahead of historic national polls next month. No one was hurt in the bombing in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.

#2: A civilian helicopter was damaged on Saturday morning when militants fired three rockets at the Jalalabad airport in the eastern province of Nangarhar, an official and ISAF said. The helicopter was damaged at around 5am when the three rockets landed inside the airfield of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), an Afghan guard of the airbase said on condition of anonymity.

#3: At least eight persons were killed and 10 others injured today when a powerful blast ripped through a minibus on the outskirts of Peshawar city of north-west Pakistan, police and witnesses said. Police officials said a bomb planted inside the minibus exploded as the vehicle was passing through a market in the suburb of Mattani this afternoon.

Posted by whisker at 4:58 AM

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