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, June 21, 2014

War News for Saturday, June 21, 2014

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, June 20th. A military dog also was killed in the blast. News reports that the three killed are U.S. Marines.


Marine from NH Killed by Roadside Bomb in Afghanistan -- Lance Cpl. Brandon Garabrant

Afghan protesters allege fraud after landslide decision in presidential election

More than 400 US military drones lost in crashes

Bomb blast at Islamabad shrine injures 40

Sunni militants seize Iraq crossing on Syria border, kill 30 Iraqi troops

Dick Cheney's amazing chutzpah on Iraq

Iraq Insurgents Reaping Wealth as They Advance


Reported security incidents
#1: A suicide car bombing in Kabul aimed at a senior government official killed one civilian and wounded three others on Saturday but did not harm its apparent target, Afghan security officials said. Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle alongside the armoured car of Mohammed Masoom Stanikzai, a senior official in the High Peace Council, a government body tasked with peace talks with the Taliban insurgency. The two men are not related. 
 
#2: Helicopter gunships pounded militant targets in Pakistan's northwest on Saturday, killing up to 30 rebels, as the number of civilians fleeing an expected ground offensive passed 200,000. 
 
#3: An Afghan provincial governor on Friday escaped an ambush attack in northern Balkh province in which two of his bodyguards were killed, the authorities said. "Gunmen wearing police uniform fired on General Juma Khan Hamdard's motorcade, leaving two bodyguards killed and three guards wounded on outskirts of provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif city late Friday morning," a security source told Xinhua.
 
#4: At least 19 Taliban militants were killed following military operations by Afghan national security forces in the past 24 hours.
 
#5: At least two people were killed and three others were injured following clashes between Paktia governor guards and policemen in Kabul-Mazar highway on Friday.

Posted by whisker at 5:39 AM

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