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


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

War News for Wednesday, March 19, 2014


National Guard (In Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of March 11, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: Four women, a child and a man of the same family were killed in an explosion that occurred inside a house in Shawal area of North Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan. Reports said the explosion took place when a mortar shell went off in Shawal, about 55 kilometres west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district.

A militant commander and five family members including a child were killed when a bomb he was tinkering with exploded at his home in northwest Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday.

#2: In a separate incident, an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by unknown miscreants went off in interior Peshawar city, killing one person and injuring two others.

#3: A provincial official says a bomb attached to a bicycle has killed two people in eastern Afghanistan. The official says the bomb was detonated Wednesday by remote control in Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name. Deputy provincial police chief, Col. Asadullah Ensafi, says those killed included a police officer who was a criminal investigation director and a civilian.

#4:  A Rangers search operation for suspected persons is underway in Muslimabad, Orangi Town area. According to sources the search operation was launched following a cracker attack on Tuesday at a religious leaders house in the area.

#5: At least three Taliban militants were blown up while planting improvised explosive device (IED) in separate incidents in southern Helmand and eastern Paktika provinces.

#6: At least 18 Taliban militants were killed and 7 others were injured during military operations by Afghan national police (ANP) forces during the past 24 hours, interior ministry said Wednesday.

Posted by whisker at 4:31 AM

2 comments:

Cervantes said...

Guess what today is? Yep, it's the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. A day completely ignored in infamy.

March 19, 2014 at 6:08 AM
Dancewater said...

yeap, a day where I mostly gave up on the American people......

March 19, 2014 at 7:51 PM

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