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


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

War News for Wednesday, May 08, 2013


NATO investigating allegations of misconduct by its soldiers in southern Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Fifteen persons were injured when an explosion occurred in the main market area of Hangu while casualties are also feared, FP News desk reported. According to police, a blast occurred in the main market area of Hangu where 15 persons have been injured while casualties are also expected.

Two people were killed and 23 others were wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber crashed his explosives-packed car into a barrier outside a police station in Bannu district. “Two people including one woman and a policeman have been killed in the suicide attack near Domail police station in Bannu,” local police chief Abdul Ghafoor Afridi said.

#2: Three Afghan civilians were killed and five others were wounded Wednesday morning in a roadside bombing in the country's southern province of Helmand, said a provincial government spokesman. "A civilian vehicle was traveling along a road to a local marketplace in Nahri Sarraj district at around 7:30 a.m. local time. The ill-fated vehicle ran over a roadside bombing, leaving the casualties," spokesman Omar Zhwak told Xinhua.

Posted by whisker at 4:24 AM

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