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


Monday, December 30, 2013

War News for Monday, December 30, 2013


Afghanistan frees 650 inmates from Bagram prison


Reported security incidents
#1: Three persons were killed including a woman and her two children and two other injured as a bomb planted in a Hujra in Charsadda district on Monday, local police said. Some unknown terrorists destroyed the Hujra of a local resident, Alamgir, with planted explosives. According to Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) initial investigation revealed that explosives were planted inside the house.

#2: A health worker supervising a polio vaccination campaign was fatally shot and two others were wounded on Saturday when gunmen opened fire at a hospital in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.

#3: Two police officials were killed and another critically injured in firing by unidentified gunmen in Rawalpindi garrison city on Monday. According to RPO Akhtar Hayat Lalika, the police officials were deployed for security at Imambargah in Dhok Sayedan when four unidentified gunmen on two motorbikes opened fire on them.
#4: Eight Taliban militants were killed in separate military operations in Afghanistan, the country's Interior Ministry said on Monday.

#5: According to local authorities in western Farah province of Afghanistan, at least two construction workers were killed following a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) explosion.


DoD: Capt. David I. Lyon

MoD: Captain Richard Holloway killed in Afghanistan

Posted by whisker at 3:51 AM

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