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


Saturday, October 11, 2014

War News for Saturday, October 11, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: Local officials say a suicide blast has killed a soldier and a policeman, and injured three others in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. Omar Zwak, a provincial government spokesman said a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the entrance of the police headquarters on October 11 in the regional capital, Lashkar Gah.

#2: A US drone strike on Saturday killed four suspected militants and left several others injured on the Pak-Afghan border area near Khyber Agency’s Tirah valley. Official sources said that the drone targeted militant hideouts in the Cancharo Kandoa area on the Afghan side.

#3: A roadside bomb blast killed a member of Aman Lashkar (Peace Committee) in the border area of Kohat on Saturday morning, Geo News reported. According to the sources, miscreants had fixed the remote controlled bomb along the road in the border area of Sipah and when the Anam Lashkar member passed through the area, the bomb went off with a blast.

#4: In two roadside mine explosions, at least 14 civilians killed and wounded in Urozgan province yesterday. The incidents took place, while two roadside mines separately targeted civilians’ vehicles in Chora district, Urozgan province yesterday.

#5: At least three insurgents were killed and eight others wounded following clashes which carried out between Taliban militants and Afghan security forces in Urozgan province. The clashes occurred, while Afghan National Army forces attacked on insurgents’ hideout in Gyzab district, Urozgan province last night.

#6: At least 33 rockets were fired in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan in the latest wave of cross-border shelling from the other side of Durand Line. According to local officials in Kunar, the shelling started late Friday night and continued until Saturday morning.

#7: A senior Taliban leader was killed following a drone strike in western Herat province of Afghanistan, local officials said Saturday.

Posted by whisker at 5:38 AM

2 comments:

Dancewater said...

In the past week, Obama has bombed Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. We are at war with four countries, none of which attacked the USA or threatened us.

It is beyond sick.

Last month, a veteran from the war in Afghanistan, Jacob George, committed suicide. I barely knew him, but a lot of my friends did know him well. I was looking back at his Facebook page over the past couple of years, and one thing that struck me was how much his little niece loved her 'Uncle Possum' and how often her mother commented on this. Poor kid must be devastated that her favorite uncle killed himself at age 32.

And that is what makes me so angry about war.... the suffering of little children. I have tried so hard over the last 13 years to turn this country around, but the people of the USA are determined to stay on this immoral, evil course that will only devastate little children.

And the suffering of American children is a very tiny fraction of the suffering of foreign children.

Some day, there will be a reckoning. We will pay for this evil that we have visited on the world.

October 11, 2014 at 6:13 PM
Sonya Pina said...

It is the commander in chief that is committed this evil on the world. I agree with you whole heartily. Our president has depleted our defences and has cut everything but his vacations. I have my fiancee still in Afghanistan fighting a useless war he has been deployed for 19 months . Please keep up reporting .

October 16, 2014 at 5:09 AM

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