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, October 6, 2015

Update for Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Gen. Campbell continues to change his story, now telling the Senate Armed Services Committee that the attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz was authorized within the U.S. chain of command, but that targeting the hospital constituted an unexplained "mistake."

The attack was carried out by an AC-130 gunship, a slow, low-flying prop plane bristling with many kinds of weapons including cannons, missiles and guided bombs. The plane orbits its target and can sustain fire over an extended period, as happened in this case.

It turns out, according to Gen. Campbell, that the lesson is that the U.S. war in Afghanistan must continue for a longer time. "Campbell told lawmakers that he has given the White House a plan, containing various options and “pros and cons,” for keeping a larger force in Afghanistan beyond January 2017. The administration is considering it, the general said."

There is currently no international humanitarian assistance in Kunduz, as fighting in the city continues. Insurgents have once again taken down the Afghan flag from the city's central roundabout and are engaging government forces with captured tanks. The population still does not have food or water and circumstances are growing desperate.

NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the Resolute Support mission.

Joanne Liu, president of MSF says:

Statements from the Afghanistan government have claimed that Taliban forces were using the hospital to fire on Coalition forces. These statements imply that Afghan and US forces working together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning hospital, which amounts to an admission of a war crime.

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