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


Saturday, March 22, 2014

War News for Saturday, March 22, 2014


Two Canadians among nine killed in Afghan attack  --  Karim Thomas, Roshan Thomas

2 Bangladeshis among Taliban attack casualties --   Dr AK Abdul Momen,

Serena Hotel: Pakistani injured, not killed, in Kabul attack  --  Syed Muhammad Ahmed Sharjeel Zaidi

Indian among nine killed in Kabul hotel attack

Colleagues mourn Afghan journalist killed in Taliban attack in Kabul hotel --  Afghan journalist Sardar Ahmad


Iraq Hit by Wave of Bombings and Attacks  --  Thirty-seven people were killed on Friday in a wave of bombings and attacks across Iraq, and eight soldiers were kidnapped, security officials said.


Reported security incidents
#1: A senior official at the Kandahar governor’s office, Dr. Parvez Najib, succumbed to his injuries late on Friday night, the provincial government said on Saturday. Najib was seriously wounded in a bomb blast at the Shah Wali shrine in Khakrez district earlier in the day, when local officials were on the way to attend a flag-hoisting ceremony there.

#2: At least five miltants were killed and eight arrested in a shootout in Pakistan’s Balochistan province Saturday, a security official said. The shootout took place during a search operation carried out by security forces in the Pidrak area of Turbat in the Kech district of Balochistan, the security official told Dawn online.

Posted by whisker at 4:50 AM

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