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, June 27, 2013

War News for Thursday, June 30, 2013


Two czechs woman kidnaped


Reported security incidents:
#1: Authorities say Taliban fighters ambushed a national police patrol in western Afghanistan, killing a commander and four of his men. Herat province police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said Thursday that Taliban fighters were believed to have been killed in the overnight attack, but that it was too dark to find any bodies.

#2: On the other side of the country in Ghazni province, deputy police commander Assadullah Ensafi said police ambushed a group of Taliban fighters and killed five, including a leader believed to have been responsible for making roadside bombs and organizing suicide attacks in the area.

#3: A potential suicide bomber was reportedly killed when the detonator, he was carrying, went off before hitting the major target, SSP Saddar said, Geo News reported. SSP Saddar said the person killed in Kachlak blast was suicide bomber, adding he was killed when his detonator went off prematurely.
#4: At least one person was killed and six others injured when a blast went off near Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Thursday morning, reported local media Dunya. According to the report, the blast took place at about 10:20 a. m. local time in Kuchlak, a town lying some 20 km to the northwest of Quetta, capital of Balochistan Province.

Posted by whisker at 5:21 AM

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