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


Tuesday, December 9, 2014

War News for Tuesday, December 9, 2014


Suicide attacks on military base kill 7 in Yemen


Reported security incidents
#1: Militant group Jundullah killed a polio vaccination team member in Pakistan's Faisalabad city Tuesday.

#2: Pakistani security officials said a U.S. drone strike on a Taliban compound in North Waziristan has killed at least four militants, including a wanted senior al-Qaida leader, and wounded two others. The strike took place in the Khar Tangi area of Datta Khel district in the North Waziristan tribal region

#3: Public Relations Officer (PRO) and Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman Balochistan Khan Wasey was injured in a firing incident on Quetta's Double Road area on Tuesday morning, police said. Police sources told Dawn that Khan Wasey was travelling in his car when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle, injuring him seriously.

#4: Local officials of the Haska Mina district of eastern Nangarhar province say 4 civilians who were kidnapped by unknown gunmen 3 days ago have been killed.

#5: The Interior Ministry of Afghanistan says that 15 rebels were killed, 3 wounded and 4 arrested in past 24 hours in clearance operations jointly conducted by Afghan National Police and personnel of the National Directorate of Security.

Posted by whisker at 3:26 AM

3 comments:

anatta said...

wanted to thank Whisker, and Cervantes for all the great reportage.
I can't imagine starting my day here in the USA (Florida)
without seeing "the latest."

You will be sorely missed.

"everything is impermanent"
( Buddhist maxim)
All Blessing to you and the people
you report on.

December 9, 2014 at 6:25 AM
Unknown said...

Do you cover the kajiki dam project

December 9, 2014 at 6:42 PM
Anonymous said...

Will anyone else take over reporting this news after whisker officially leaves the blog? I really keep an eye on this site too to keep me up to date on whats happening over there.

December 13, 2014 at 8:23 PM

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