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


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

War News for Tuesday, February 11, 2014

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF contracted-civilians from a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, February 10th.
 
NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from direct fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, February 10th.


Civilian contractor from Winlock killed in explosion in Afghanistan -- Mike Hughes

Afghanistan orders mass vaccinations after polio case

Anti-drone activist kidnapped in Pakistan -- According to CNN, Akbar said that 20 men, some of them dressed in police uniforms, kidnapped Khan.

U.S. Debates Drone Strike on American Terrorism Suspect in Pakistan


Reported security incidents
#1: A policeman was killed and another was injured when a polio immunisation team was attacked in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Dera Ismail Khan district on Tuesday. The two policemen were assigned to provide security to the vaccination team working in D I Khan's Purwa tehsil.

#2: The security forces in North Waziristan conducted an operation in retaliation to the Monday killings of six personnel and killed one terrorist and arrested four on Tuesday.

#3: A Pakistani employee of the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar was shot and killed Monday while traveling home from work, the latest in a string of targeted assassinations in that area, local officials said. Najeeb Khan, a local police official, said the consulate employee was walking home in the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when gunmen opened fire on him as he approached his house. The man, identified as Faisal Saeed, was killed and the gunmen fled, Khan said.

#4: At least nine people were killed and over 20 others were injured on Tuesday when multiple blasts ripped through a cinema in Peshawar, SAMAA reported. Eyewitnesses said the blast were of low intensity and occurred inside Shama cinema located close to ANP’s Bacha Khan center and Radio Pakistan’s local office.

#5: At least 5 Taliban militants were killed and 18 others were detained during military operations by Afghan national security forces.

Posted by whisker at 3:45 AM

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