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 22, 2016

Update for Wednesday, June 22, 2016


As of Tuesday, the U.S. military was saying that the Iraqi government was exaggerating the success so far in Fallujah and that 2/3 of the city remained contested . Nevertheless, Iraqi commanders continue to claim that they are in a mopping up stage.

Regardless of the stage of battle in Fallujah, the humanitarian disaster continues unabated as refugees lack any shelter whatsoever and face critical shortages of food and water.

U.S. military leaders are not asking president Obama to send humanitarian aid, rather they are preparing to ask for more U.S. troops to be sent to Iraq.

Turkey continues its air campaign against the PKK. (I don't routinely link to these stories, this is pretty much a daily occurrence, but we get no information on the effectiveness of these strikes. The Kurdish Regional Government does not object, as far as I can tell.)

As you probably know, the pentagon normally does not publicly announce non-fatal combat injuries. They are now being explicit about this. U.S. forces are being injured in Iraq and Syria, but it's a secret. Unless they die.

[I may have an update later today including Afghanistan news.-- C]


Posted by Cervantes at 6:43 AM

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