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


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

War News for Wednesday, August 6th, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: update --  A U.S. general was killed and more than a dozen people were wounded on Tuesday, including a German general, in the latest insider attack by a man believed to be an Afghan soldier, U.S., German and Afghan officials said.

#2: In eastern Paktia province, an Afghan police guard exchanged fire with NATO troops near the governor’s office, provincial police said. The guard was killed in the gunfight.

#3: A third “insider attack” happened late Tuesday in the Uruzgan provincial capital of Tirin Kot, where an Afghan police officer killed seven of his colleagues at a checkpoint, then stole their weapons and fled in a police car, provincial spokesman Doost Mohammad Nayab said. A doctor at a local hospital told The Associated Press it appeared the police officer drugged his colleagues before the shooting.

#4: At least seven suspected militants have been killed in the latest U.S. drone strike in Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal belt. The latest strike took place in Lawara Mandi village in the federally-administered North Waziristan tribal agency, where the Pakistani military began Operation Zarb-e-Azb against militants in mid-June. This is the fifth drone strike since June 12. “A drone fired two missiles at a compound in Lawara Mandi and at least seven militants were killed,” said a senior security official in the region, adding that the dead included local and foreign militants, including Uzbeks and Haqqani network members.

#5: Two unidentified men opened fire on three members of the Sikh community in Peshawar on Wednesday, killing one and injuring the others, a private news channel reported. According to the report, attackers opened fire on the men around 10am in Shabab Market of Hashtnagri area of Peshawar.

#6: In continuation of operation which was launched recently by Afghan security forces in Helmand province, 35 armed oppositions were killed. Ministry of National Defense press office with sending a written letter stated BNA, the operation conducted under the name of Oqab (Eagle) few days ago in relevant areas of Sangeen district of the province, in which 35 Taliban militants lost their lives, 30 others wounded and several others arrested in the district.


DoD: Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene

Posted by whisker at 6:26 AM

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