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


Monday, October 6, 2014

War News for Monday, October 6, 2014


US-Led Air Strikes Leave 65 Civilians Dead in Iraq's Anbar


Reported security incidents
#1: A U.S. drone strike on Sunday killed at least five militants in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. The attack happened in the Kundghar area of Shawal district, in the South Waziristan tribal region which is considered a stronghold of Taliban militants.

#2: At least three people were killed and two others injured in a firing incident in the Khuzdar area of Balochistan on Monday morning. Levies officials told Dawn that armed men opened fire at a pickup van and killed three people in the Zehri area of Khuzdar.

#3: Two civilians sustained injuries as a bomb blast hit police van in the northern Kunduz provincial capital the Kunduz city 250 km north of Kabul on Monday, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said.

Posted by whisker at 5:36 AM

3 comments:

annata said...

you sure that Fars link is trustworthy enough for publishing on the Ramadi "collateral damage"?

October 6, 2014 at 7:44 AM
Cervantes said...

I generally don't link to Fars, without corroboration, except to illustrate Iranian government positions.

October 6, 2014 at 12:32 PM
Dancewater said...

we do know for sure that the number of Iraqi civilians killed in the latest air bombings is NOT ZERO.

October 8, 2014 at 2:29 PM

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