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, January 17, 2014

War News for Friday, January 17, 2014

The military is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, January 16th.


1 killed in Black Hawk 'hard landing' at Hunter Army Airfield


Reported security incidents
#1: At least three passengers were killed and 17 others sustained serious injuries after a bomb planted on the track went off when Khushhal Khan Khattak Express was near Kotla Hassan Shah Friday morning.

#2: At least eight people were killed and wounded 55 others following a deadly blast in Pakistan Peshawar city on Thursday evening. Local police security said that the blast took place in an Islamic preaching centre seminary, killed eight people and wounded nearly 55 others.

#3: A bomb detonated by armed militants rocked Murawar district of the eastern Kunar province 185km east of Kabul on Friday, killing one person and injuring two others, provincial police chief Habibullah Sayedkhili said. "The armed Taliban hurled a hand grenade to target local police vehicle in a bazaar in Murawar town today but the attack claimed the life of a civilian and injured two others including a woman and a child," Sayedkhili told Xinhua.

#4: Four militants were killed and six others wounded in an army operation in the western Afghan province of Herat, said an army source on Thursday.


DoD: Sgt. Daniel T. Lee

DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Andrew L. McAdams

DoD: Sgt. Drew M. Scobie

Posted by whisker at 4:26 AM

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