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


Sunday, May 4, 2014

News of the Day for Sunday, May 4, 2014

Government has confirmed 300 dead in landslide at Aab Barik, given up looking for 2100. An additional 700 families have been displaced. The linked article from the Daily Mail has many photographs and more details. Flooding and landslides are common in Afghanistan in spring, but the scale of this disaster is possibly unprecedented.

A sticky bomb attached to an army jeep injures 2 civilian bystanders in Kunduz. According to Wakht, a civilian was killed.

Ten militants are said to be killed by a roadisde bomb in Chul Dokhtaran, Kandahar, which the Interior Ministry says they planted themselves.

Insurgents are also killed by their own bomb in Pul-e-Alam, Logar.

A Pakstani "seurity official" is killed in Bajaur by fire from Afghanistan. It is not known who is responsible.

Militants in Faryab kill an intelligence official who they abducted on Saturday.

A reader associated with the Coalition Memorial Project sends this link  to the Canadian government web site honoring the fallen from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Coalition Memorial archive features information about some specific fallen troops including individuals who war killed after they made it home.

 




Posted by Cervantes at 5:13 AM

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