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, October 31, 2013

War News for Thursday, October 31, 2013




Reported security incidents
#1: A clash between Taleban militants and police claimed the lives of a key Taleban commander and a policeman in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, an official said. Taleban militants commanded by Mullah Nasir raided a police checkpoint in Orgon district before dawn and police retaliated, Xinhua reported.

#2: A powerful bicycle bomb exploded in a crowded car repair market in Quetta at around sunset, killing at least five people and wounding 17.

#3: A US drone strike targeting a militant compound Thursday killed three insurgents in a northwest Pakistan tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. The attack took place near Miranshah, the main town in the troubled North Waziristan tribal district.

#4: Five people including three security personnel and two Taliban fighters were killed as clash flared up in Kohistanat district of Saripul province with Saripul city as its capital on Thursday, police said. "The clash which began in the wee hours of Thursday and lasted for several hours, claimed the lives of three Afghan soldiers and two Taliban rebels,"deputy to provincial police chief, Sakhi Dad Haidari, told Xinhua.

Posted by whisker at 4:53 AM

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