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


Monday, May 4, 2015

Update for Monday, May 4, 2015

A U.S. air strike in Aleppo province, Syria on Friday killed 52 civilians. According to the British-based Observatory for Human Rights, this brings the total of civilians killed in U.S. operations in Syria to at least 118. The Reuters report goes on to say "The U.S.-led air strikes have had little impact on the hardline Islamic State group, slowing its advances but failing to weaken it in areas it controls."

Anbar provincial council calls on the government to protect refugees from criminal gangs in Baghdad province. (Last I heard they weren't being allowed into the city proper.)

Tikrit (in Salah-u-Din province) remains a ghost town. Residents fear returning as militias remain in control.

Iraqi journalists face imprisonment and murder. 

 In Afghanistan, Taliban attacks in Badakhshan kill 16 police. DPA, apparently referring to the same incident, says the dead were soldiers and that there were 18 of them. The accounts are very different and I can't reconcile them.

Update: This appears to be the correct account of the Badakhshan incident. Taliban overran 10 police checkpoints in Warduj district. Seventeen police are known dead and 26 are missing.

 

 

Posted by Cervantes at 9:57 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)