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, November 26, 2014

War News for Wednesday, November 26, 2014


Command Sgt. Maj. killed in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: A US drone strike killed at least eight suspected militants in Pakistan`s restive tribal belt on Wednesday, security officials said. The unmanned aircraft hit a compound in Kund Sar village, 60 kilometres (40 miles) south of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region which borders Afghanistan

#2: Gunmen opened fire on a team of polio vaccinators in Pakistan's restive southwest on Wednesday, killing four of them and forcing authorities to halt an immunisation drive, officials said. The incident happened on the eastern outskirts of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province.

#3: "Up to 35 militants were killed and 11 others injured during military operations and clashes in three provinces over the past 24 hours,"the ministry's spokesman General Zahir Azimi said in his twitter account. Three Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing attack over the same period, Azimi said.

#4: A roadside bomb struck a military vehicle in Uruzgan province, southern Afghanistan, on Wednesday, killing an Afghan soldier and injuring another, a local official said.

#5: At least three Taliban insurgents were killed following a drone strike by NATO-led coalition forces in eastern Laghman province.


DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Michael A. Cathcart

Posted by whisker at 3:46 AM

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