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, June 14, 2016

Update for Tuesday, June 14, 2016


For the first time since October, 2014, a U.S. Army Apache helicopter has engaged in direct combat in Iraq. The attack destroyed a car or truck bomb near the town of Qayyarah, south of Mosul. The U.S. has been pressing Iraq to accept involvement of Apaches in combat and the Iraqi government has finally consented.

The Iraqi army, after an embarrassingly stalled offensive, has recaptured the village of Nasr, also south of Mosul.

Doctors without Borders says that the thousands of civilians fleeing Fallujah lack adquate shelter and clean water.

Hundreds of men are missing from among the refugees, whose families fear for their fate at the hands of Shiite militias. Some, however, may be in detention while being screened by government forces, and will eventually be released. The government says 6,000 men have been detained of whom 1,000 have already been released and that most of the rest will be soon. (We shall see.)

Officials claim continuing advances in the Fallujah area,

In Afghanistan, a border skirmish between Afghan and Pakistani forces is in its third day. It seems quite odd that the governments are unable to put a stop to this.  One Afghan soldier has died in the fighting.

Nine Afghan soldiers are killed and 5 injured in an attack on their post in Nimroz. Some wounded are in critical condition. There are said to have also been an unknown number of Taliban casualties.

Posted by Cervantes at 10:18 AM

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