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


Friday, December 16, 2016

Update for Friday, December 16, 2016


[Due to largely static situations in both Iraq and Afghanistan, I haven't updated this week until now.]

As Iraqi forces capture IS-held territory, the scale of IS weapons production is revealed. "The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s weapons production was highly organized and sophisticated, relying on a “robust and reliable” supply chain from across the border in Turkey, according to a report by the London-based Conflict Armament Research group (CAR)." Iraqi forces have captured several sophisticated workshops for the production of mortars, rockets, and car bombs.

Iraqi military claims to have captured an IS media center in Mosul.

U.S. commanders worry that the hard battle for Mosul is causing severe damage to Iraq's elite 1st Special Operations Brigade which is chiefly responsible for progress in the city.

Iraq claims to have killed 20 IS commanders and 50 troops in an air strike near Tal Afar.

Institute for the Study of War provides an updated map on territorial control in Iraq. IS now controls only western Mosul, the area around Hawija, Qaim, and a sliver near Tal Afar. Note, however, that Shiite militias are the predominant force in southern Nineveh province, which has a mostly Sunni population, and that various Kurdish forces hold parts of northern Nineveh including the Mosul dam.

. . . speaking of which, Al Jazeera reports that danger of the Mosul dam collapsing is still high, and the result would be an unimaginable catastrophe. The only long-term solution is to build a new dam on firmer ground downstream, but that isn't happening.

Number of civilians displaced from Mosul nears 100,000.


6 comments:

Unknown said...

When Trump and his anti Communist Generals get into power in January 2017, ISIS is in big trouble. ISIS is a Communist Islamic geo political group being exploited by Israel and Suadi Arabia to use against Iran, Hezbolla and Syria, all the biggest military enemies of Israel on this earth.

Freedom2016 said...

31 more U.S Soldiers killed yesterday.
Get our guys out of there.

Cervantes said...

IS is definitely not Communist! And the reports of U.S. soldiers being killed are Iranian propaganda, not true.

Unknown said...

Any person who believes that 31 U.S soldiers were killed in the Middle East within the last few months is being silly indeed. I agree with you Cervantes that the person who typed that they believe 31 U.S soldiers were killed should not have believed that an occurence of that type took place. Indeed ISIS is pure Communist. I do and always will stand by my assertion that ISIS is pure Communist as their entire worldview is based on the ultimate goal of Communism of which the original pacemaker was the world view of Karl Marx, and that world view as it was during WW2 is to enslave the White race, into economic, political and military capitualtion. Indeed the first major Marxist battering ram against White people was WW1, and the second was the extermination of 16,,000,000 Ukranians in the early 1900's and the third was the treaty de versailles. Today the form of battering ram used in this war against Whites is mass immigration and Communist Islam, as well as Zionism. Israel continued the work of Bolshevism when the Bolshevists died out, and to this day is the greatest threat to Christianity as Israelis hate Christianity. Additionally they are using mass immigration against the White countries including using radical Islam as a battering ram against White Nations which was proven again yesterday with the extermination of Germans with the attack in Berlin. Additionally the E.U is Communist. As a matter of fact the entire world is in a gigantic struggle between strength and weakness. And the wotld is in a massive struggle between Marxism and Nationalism, as was the case during WW1 and WW2 as well!

Unknown said...

Edit - the "world" is in a massive struggle, instead of the "wotld" is in a massive struggle.

Unknown said...

Edit - their entire "world view" is based on, instead of their entire "worldview" is based on.