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


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

War News for Tuesday, May 21, 2013


Torture Victim’s Body Is Found Near U.S. Base, Afghans Say

Police: Bombings in northern Iraq; 14 dead, many wounded


Reported security incidents
#1: At least seven policemen have been killed by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan, officials say. The policemen were travelling in the Chashti Shareef district of Herat province when their vehicle was hit.

#2: Meanwhile, a Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan has killed four police officers. Officials say a large number of Taliban fighters attacked several security checkpoints in Helmand province.

Taliban aims victory after NATO pullout from Afghanistan: Azimi

An Afghan provincial official said Tuesday that four Afghan policemen and 26 militants have been killed in ongoing clashes in the country's southern province of Helmand. "Militants numbered hundreds launched armed attacks against police checkpoints in Pirozo and Kolali areas of Sangin district Monday morning and clashes still going on there till now," the provincial government spokesman Omar Zawak told Xinhua. Up to Tuesday morning, four Afghan National Police (ANP) members and 26 militants died and five cops wounded in the clashes, he said.

#3: Eighteen militants have been killed and 22 others detained in a series of operations in different Afghan provinces within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday. "Up to 18 armed Taliban have been killed and 22 others captured in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Zabul, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Paktiya and Helmand provinces when Afghan National Police (ANP), supported by army and the NATO-led coalition troops, conducted cleanup operations over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

#4: Earlier on Tuesday, 13 Taliban militants were killed in two separate blasts when the IEDs they were placing to target security forces went off prematurely in Gilan district of eastern Ghazni province, said Nazifullah Sultanzay an Afghan army spokesman in eastern region.


DoD (updated release): Pfc. Cody J. Towse

DoD: Sgt. Eugene M Aguon

DoD: Spc. Dwayne W. Flores

Posted by whisker at 4:41 AM

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