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, July 20, 2014

News of the Day for Sunday, July 20, 2014

Roadside bomb in Nimroz kills 3 civilians, injures 3 more.

NATO drone attack said to kill 12 Taliban in Herat province.

A NATO airstrike in Pul-e-Alam, Logar,  kills 16 militants.

Vote audit briefly suspended due to a dispute between the candidates  but it appears to have resumed.

A 10 year old girl who was raped by a Mullah faces honor killing. Yes folks, this is really how traditional Afghan society works. According to Khaama,

According to reports, the family of the young rape victim is under the pressure by village elders, who are insisting to kill the girl because “she had brought shame to them.”

The girl was reportedly protected in a women’s shelter in Kunduz province but was returned to her family on Tuesday. According to an official indictment, the rape was so brutal and had nearly died because treatment as delayed. She had suffered a break in the wall between the vagina and rectum, the New York Times reported.

In the meantime, the 45-year-old Mullah has claimed that the girl had promised to marry him and rejected that she is 10-year-old. The mullah has claimed that the girl was 17-year-old, but the mother of the victim has said she was only 10-year-old. Hospital records indicate the child weighed just 40 pounds and had yet to start menstruating.

The full account from the New York Times is here. Additional details are, believe it or not, even more appalling.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, the 12th Century marches on as Christians flee Mosul under threat of a special "tax" or forced conversion. Seven explosions in Shiite districts of Baghdad on Saturday killed 24 people, with the Islamic State claiming responsibility for at least 4 of them. An all female armed brigade enforces strict laws on women in Raqqa, including full coverage in public and male chaperonage. More than 1 million refugees have entered Kurdistan. Kurdish National Security Director Masrour Barzani says the Iraqi army cannot defeat IS and that western powers will need to intervene. He also says that the peshmerga will need heavy arms to confront the equipment stolen by IS from the Iraqi army, should the IS eventually try to attack Kurdistan. (For now, the expanded borders of Kurdistan are secure, as IS chooses to confront the weak Baghdad state.)



3 comments:

Dancewater said...

I remember 11 years ago, when this blog got started (under another name), one of the Iraqis posted in the comments said we were headed into another Dark Ages.

Really sad what humans do to one another.

Ankur said...

Nice,
Thanks for your greatful informations, working in, ASIAN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE.
URDUTAHZEEB.
Try to post best informations like this always

Iraq: Shia paying high price for America's missed chance

Cervantes said...

Thanks Ankur. For anyone who is interested, Asian Affairs is a magazine aimed at British of Asian ethnicity. Unfortunately I don't think many people here can read the Urdu version.