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, December 13, 2013

War News for Friday, December 13, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: At least four soldiers were killed and five wounded when a military convoy struck a roadside bomb in Pakistan’s tribal areas on Thursday, security officials said. The convoy was passing through Spinwam village some 45 kilometers east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, which is a hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda linked militants on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

#2: Police say gunmen have killed two police officers assigned to protect a team of polio workers in northwest Pakistan. Local police officer Khalid Iqbal says the two officers were attacked on Friday as they headed to the town of Swabi on a motorcycle to protect the polio workers. Swabi lies 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.


DoD: Lance Cpl. Matthew R. Rodriguez

Posted by whisker at 2:45 AM

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