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, May 23, 2013

War News for Thursday, May 23, 2013


Drone strike kills American citizen

Afghanistan’s Karzai Says ‘No Circumstances’ Allow Him to Seek Another Term


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb planted in a rickshaw tore through a vehicle used by security forces in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 12 people, police said. The remotely detonated bomb containing around 100 kilos (220 pounds) of explosives targeted a truck carrying members of a government paramilitary force on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of restive Baluchistan province. "At least 12 people have been killed, 11 of them were security personnel," senior police official Fayyaz Sumbal told AFP.

Posted by whisker at 4:21 AM

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