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, July 4, 2014

War News for Friday, July 04, 2014


Polio team beaten up in Khairpur

Journalist’s home bombed in Pakistan

Journalist seriously injured in knife attack in Herat province


Reported security incidents
#1: update Taliban insurgents fired rockets into Kabul airport on Thursday, destroying the Afghan president's parked helicopter and damaging three other choppers, officials said, in an attack that underlined security fears in the capital.

#2: At least seven people were killed in a US airstrike in eastern Afghanistan. The attack, which took place in Logar Province, also injured three people.

#3: Two people were killed while three others were injured in reportedly a suicide bombing on Friday in Karachi’s area of Saddar, a private news channel reported. According to details, a suicide bomber struck a mosque in Saddar’s Preedy street and killed two people. Three others were injured.

#4: At least two internally displaced persons (IDPs) were killed Friday when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a refugee registration camp in a government school in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The incident occurred in Bannu district and the victims were from North Waziristan, Dawn online reported.

#5: Afghan security forces killed 90 militants during clashes in restive southern Helmand province, authorities said Friday. "On Thursday, Afghan police and army launched an operation after an intelligence tip off showed dozens of Taliban insurgents took position in Babajee locality of provincial capital Lashkar Gah, killing 20 Taliban insurgents and capturing seven others along with weapons and motorcycles," the provincial police chief, Major General Abdul Qaum Baqizoi, told Xinhua.

#6: A suicide bomber targeted a vehicle convoy of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Kandahar province. According to local government officials, the incident took place early Friday in Zherai district.  said only a vehicle of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was damaged following the attack.

#7: At least two civilians were killed and nine others were injured following an explosion in northern Mazar-e-Sharif city of Afghanistan. Security officials in northern Balkh province said the incident took place around 7:30 pm local time close to Mazar-e-Sharif shrine. The officials further added that two civilians were killed and nien others were injured following the blast.

Posted by whisker at 4:39 AM

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