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


Friday, July 12, 2013

War News for Friday, July 12, 2013


Police: Bombings, shootings leave 24 dead across Iraq

DOD Identifies Units for Upcoming Afghanistan Rotation


Reported security incidents
#1: A 15-year-old suicide bomber pushing an explosives-laden refrigerator on a wheelbarrow struck one of the two main border gates between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday, the second attack on the busy crossing in under a week. The device detonated as the boy crossed the gate, killing him and a civilian bystander, according to Akbar Durani, the home secretary of Pakistan's Baluchistan province. Four Pakistani border guards and four Pakistani civilians were injured in the explosion at the crossing, on the main highway linking Afghanistan's city of Kandahar to the Pakistani city of Quetta.

#2: A suicide bomber targeted an Afghan police checkpost on the outskirts of Kabul, killing one person and wounding two others on the first Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, police said. "The bomber was in a passenger Toyota sedan. Police stopped the vehicle and wanted to search everyone. The bomber ran away and blew himself up. As a result of the explosion, one passenger was killed and two others wounded," Salangi said.

#3: Unknown gunmen opened fire in Mingora area of Swat and killed an on-duty policemen, local tv reported Friday. According to police, Constable Aminullah was on duty in Nawa Kali area of Mingora when armed culprits opened fire on him during Sehar time and fled from the scene.
 
#4: The NATO-led coalition says one of its helicopters made a “hard landing” in northern Afghanistan but that there were no injuries. Afghan provincial police chief Assadullah Shirzad says the helicopter made an emergency landing but then flew back to its base on its own.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan says one of its helicopters has gone down in the northern province of Baghlan. ISAF spokesman Will Griffin said the aircraft had a "hard landing," but offered no further details. Abdul Jabar Islami, the head of the province's Borka district, where the incident reportedly took place, told RFE/RL that the helicopter went down overnight in the village of Alaf Baig.

Posted by whisker at 4:25 AM

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