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


Thursday, April 11, 2013

War News for Thursday, April 11, 2013


DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation


Reported security incidents
#1: A spokesman for the provincial governor in southern Uruzgan province, Abdullah Himmat, says a bomb killed the police chief of the Chora district and two of his bodyguards while they were on patrol early Thursday.

#2: Ummar Zawaq, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, says a roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded two others in the Marjah district, also on Thursday.

#3: At least 15 militants and one soldier were killed on Thursday when the Pakistani army conducted an operation against the Taliban in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber region.

At least seven militants were killed and several others injured in action by the Pakistan Army after two soldiers were hurt in suspected Taliban ambush on their checkpost in the Dabori area of lawless Orakzai tribal agency bordering Afghanistan, officials said. According to security officials, a group of local militants ambushed an army checkpost in the Dabori area of the tribal agency on Wednesday morning, injuring at least two personnel. Security forces killed seven militants who were trying to escape from the area in vehicles. Three militants were also injured in action, officials said.

Posted by whisker at 4:16 AM

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