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, June 10, 2015

Update for Wednesday, June 11, 2015

Slippery slope edition. Obama to send 450 additional troops to Iraq  and establish a 5th U.S. base, this one in Anbar province, to "train and advise" Iraq troops -- or more accurately, it seems, Sunni tribal forces not integrated with the Iraqi army. This is because the $25 billion the U.S. has spent training and advising Iraqi forces since 2003 has apparently failed to have any useful effect.

Some of it might have helped the more than 1 million Iraqis who currently lack basic food, water and shelter. Heck, even $1 billion probably couldn't hurt.


Posted by Cervantes at 10:45 AM

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