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


Saturday, November 12, 2016

Update for Saturday, November 12, 2016

Suicide boming at Bagram airbase kills 4, injures 14. There is as  yet no word on the nationalities of the casualties, but it appears the explosion occurred among laborers lining up for work.

Update: Explosion at Bagram killed 2 U.S. military personnel and 2 U.S. civilian contractors, injured 16 additional U.S. and 1 Polish military personnel. This is an astonishing lapse of security. Some additional detail from NBC News.

 

Afghanistan establishes a special tribunal to prosecute corruption. We'll see what comes of this.

The battle for Mosul continues, with Iraqi forces making slow gains amid intense fighting while some civilians manage to flee. IS continues to try counterattacking with suicide car bombers, with little success as tanks manage to stop them.

Asharq al-Awsat interviews some escaped civilians who describe harsh IS rule.

Iraq has not been publishing casualty totals, but CNN describes a hospital near Mosul struggling to cope with wounded soldiers as well as some civilians.

Gareth Brown for the New Arab publishes a photo blog of a recaptured suburb of Mosul.


Posted by Cervantes at 7:01 AM

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