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


Tuesday, August 5, 2014

War News for Tuesday, August 5th, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: Multiple Western soldiers were killed Tuesday after a shooting at a military academy near Afghanistan's capital, officials said. A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed "fatalities' after "a shooting incident involving ISAF and Afghan troops," but could not confirm the number of victims or their nationalities. The shooting happened at Camp Qargha, which is located west of Kabul, the ISAF spokesman said.

The UK's Ministry of Defence is investigating reports of an Afghan soldier opening fire at a British-run military academy near Kabul. The BBC's Afghanistan correspondent David Loyn said he understands that an argument took place late morning or lunchtime between Afghans and an armed Afghan soldier, who opened fire.

At least four foreign soldiers were reportedly killed when an Afghan soldier fired on them in a military center in Kabul on Tuesday, a source said.

#2: A NATO helicopter strike targeting missile-launching Taliban militants killed four civilians in western Afghanistan, an Afghan official said on Tuesday. NATO said they were investigating the attack. The attack in western Herat province on Monday night in the province’s Shindan district, said Raouf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial chief of police. He said Taliban militants launched a missile at an airport nearby, drawing the NATO helicopter’s fire.

#3: A landmine killed the 19-year-old son of Afghanistan's Kosan district's security director, Qadir Khan, in western Herat province early on Monday, local officials said. The mine was placed near the door of Qadir Khan's house and exploded after he and his son, Tariq, were headed to the office, said Juma Gul Rahmani, the district governor.

#4: At least two Pakistani soldiers were killed and several others injured today when unknown gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in southwestern province of Balochistan. The incident occurred in Mastung district when a Balochistan Constabulary vehicle was on a routine patrol in Splanji area and suddenly came under attack from nearby mountains, the Dawn reported. "Several personnel were injured in the attack," a security official said.

#5: At least 30 suspected militants were killed and six of hideouts destroyed in fresh air strikes carried out by fighter jets in Datta Khel, Marsikhel, and Kamsham areas of North Waziristan tribal region, the ISPR sources said.

#6: About 33 Taliban militants were killed while 15 others injured during military operations across Afghanistan since early Monday, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

At least five Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred in fresh spate of violence during the past 24 hours.

#7: One Afghan civilian was killed along with two of his sons in a drive-by shooting in Guzara District of western Herat province on Monday, the latest in a string of targeted killings, a source said. "Abdul Shokor Robadmirza and two of his sons were killed after two men riding a motorcycle spree bullets on them at the gate of their house at around 6:00 p.m. (local time) in Guzara District," the district governor Nisar Ahmad Popal told Xinhua. 


DoD: Staff Sgt. Girard D. Gass Jr.

2 comments:

Cervantes said...

Latest on the insider shooting is one U.S. dead, 15 NATO wounded including about 12 U.S.

Also, more fog of war in Iraq. Peshmerga apparently still hold the Mosul dam but IS got close. They've moved in reinforcements.

GERAL SOSBEE said...

USA intentions are gaged in the way the fbi/cia conduct affairs, foreign & domestic:

Collapse of USA:


http://nationoftraitors.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/the-responsibility-for-the-collapse-of-the-usa/





Meaning of fbi efforts to silence me:



http://www.indymedia.org.nz/articles/3006



twenty years of my work:



http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2014/08/427764.shtml?discuss





Unworthy:



http://www.indymedia.org.au/2012/11/07/united-states-unworthy-to-defend#comment-23629


Police State:



http://www.midiaindependente.org/en/red/2013/07/522210.shtml



NWO:


http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2014/07/427691.shtml





Eugenics (New Orleans Indy Media bans this report):



http://austin.indymedia.org/article/2014/07/09/modern-eugenics-0