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 4, 2014

War News for Saturday, October 4, 2014

The DoD is reporting the death of Maj. Jonathan D. Walker, 44, of Merriam who died from a non-combat related incident at at Camp As Sayliyah in Dohar, Qatar on Wednesday, October 1st. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.


True number of UK troops damaged by war in Iraq and Afghanistan could be 75,000


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb has exploded at a bus station in volatile northwestern Pakistan, killing at least five people. Police said the October 4 attack in the town of Kohat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province also wounded 18.

#2: Eight people, including a three-year-old girl, were wounded in a remote controlled bombing on Quetta’s Spini Road aimed at a police vehicle passing by the area.

#3: Three consecutive blasts were reported at Gomal Zam Dam Road of Tank in an attack on the vehicle of the Aman Committee was attacked today. According to reports, exchange of firing between the Aman Committee members and terrorists also took place soon after the blasts. No causalities were reported while some of the houses were damaged in the blasts.

#4: a bomb blast in a mosque in Laghman province, an Islamic scholar was killed and a prayer wounded yesterday.

#5: As a result of a mine blast a child was killed in Pul-e-Khumri city, Baghlan province last night.

#6: recent clashes between insurgents and Afghan security forces four armed oppositions were killed in eastern Nuristan province. The clashes occurred last night, while a group of armed rebels attacked on two border police checkpoints on the other side of Durand Line.

#7: Nineteen armed insurgents were killed in operation conducted by ANA forces in three provinces of the country.


DoD: Maj. Jonathan D. Walker, 44, of Merriam

Posted by whisker at 5:00 AM

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