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


Thursday, October 9, 2014

War News for Thursday, October 9, 2014


Two Pakistani journalists killed, taking murder tally this year to 13

Suicide car bomb kills 12 soldiers in SE Yemen


Reported security incidents
#1: Two suspected U.S. drone strikes killed at least five militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region where the military has been fighting insurgents since June, Pakistani intelligence officials said Thursday. The latest drone strikes came just hours apart. In the first strike, two drone-fired missiles hit a moving vehicle in the village of Datta Khel in North Waziristan late on Wednesday night, killing at least two militants, the official said. Two more missiles flattened a militant compound and killed three militants in the same region early on Thursday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

#2: Afghan forces backed by helicopters have killed 70 militants over the past three days in Ajristan district of the southern Ghazni province, provincial police chief Zarawar Zahid said Thursday

Posted by whisker at 4:26 AM

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