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, June 20, 2014

War News for Friday, June 20, 2014


Pak woman lawmaker succumbs to bullet injuries

Iraqi forces rally near Baghdad to repel ISIL militants’ advance

300 U.S. advisers heading for Iraq, but what will they actually do?

Islamist militants bear down on Iraqi forces; seize chemical weapons facility


Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan official says a mortar shell fired by the Taliban struck a home in a volatile eastern province, killing one child and wounding five. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesman for the governor in Nangarhar province said the attack took place on Friday in Momand Dara district.

#2: Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded militant targets in the country’s northwest on Friday, killing up to 20 rebels, as the number of civilians fleeing an expected ground offensive passed 150,000. A senior security official told reporters helicopter gunships targeted militant hideouts in an early morning raid in Kutabkhel area of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, killing up to 20 militants.

#3: Two policemen were killed, and two others injured on Friday as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) blast on a police van in Peshwar. The attack took place in Akazai area of Torghar district.

#4: At least three people were killed and six others injured on Thursday evening in a suicide attack at a house in Pakistan's northwestern metropolitan of Peshawar, local media reported. All the deceased and wounded people were reportedly guests who came to meet the "Peace Committee" chief.

Posted by whisker at 3:40 AM

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