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


Monday, May 28, 2007


Security Incidents for Monday,May 28, 07
A picture released by the US military 27 May shows Marines paying their final respects to two comrades in Fallujah. Arch foes Iran and the United States began their highest-level official face-to-face talks in 27 years in Baghdad on Monday against a backdrop of mutual recriminations over the chaos in Iraq(AFP/USMC/Ryan M. Blaich)
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Baghdad:
#1: A security detainee died May 26 at Camp Cropper, Iraq. The detainee was pronounced dead at 2:59 p.m. on May 26 by an attending physician at Camp Cropper’s medical facility. An investigation is pending to determine the cause of death, a standard procedure for detainees who die while in custody of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I). The suspected cause of death is complications from diabetes.

#2: A car bomb in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 19 people and wounded 46 more, police have said. The bomb went off at 1400 (1000 GMT) in the Sinak commercial district on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, the Associated Press reported. Two traffic policemen were among those injured and at least eight civilian cars were damaged by the blast, AP quoted police as saying.

#3: Also in central Baghdad (Fadhil area), a battle raged after insurgents hijacked two buses and kidnapped at least 15 passengers, police said. At least three policemen had been killed and eight wounded, including four passers-by, authorities said. The small buses where traveling through the Fadhil neighborhood, a Sunni enclave in central Baghdad, when they were waylaid by unidentified gunmen in three cars at 10:15 a.m. The insurgents then abducted at least 15 passengers and took them to a nearby abandoned government building, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. The buses were heading from Baghdad's central Bab al-Mudham bus station to the city's eastern Shiite neighborhoods. The fighting began when Iraqi security forces reached the scene about 30 minutes later, police said. Nine militants were arrested as they attacked security forces from nearby alleys with light weapons. According to Iraqi police, at least two U.S. helicopters were hovering overhead and U.S. forces had taken up positions near the fighting, but were not directly involved.

#4: (update) Forty-five unidentified bodies were found Sunday in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said. So far in May, the bodies of 631 victims of sectarian violence have been found in Baghdad, surpassing the total of 585 bodies found in all of Iraq last month, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Authorities across the country found 682 bodies in February and 673 in March.

#5: A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded nine others in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

#6: Unidentified gunmen killed three policemen on Monday morning in the area of al-Bayyaa in western Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said. "The gunmen, in two civilian vehicles, opened fire at three policemen inside a garage in al-Bayyaa, killing them instantly," the source, who declined to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#7: Separately, police said that a roadside bomb killed two people and injured nine when it detonated under a parked car in the central Baghdad district of Bab al-Muadham.

#8: Another two people were killed and six were wounded after two mortar rounds slammed into a street in Karrada, a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, police said.

#9: A sniper killed a female college student near in al-Mustansiriya University in northeastern Baghdad, police said

#10: The Iraqi army killed an insurgent and arrested 45 others during the past 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said

#11: Four people were killed and 29 wounded when a bomb was detonated inside a restaurant in the Bab al-Muadham district of north-central Baghdad, police said.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: One person was killed and 11 wounded by a mortar round in Baquba, police said.

#2: Early in the day, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol at Ameen neighborhood north of Baquba, killing a police officer.

#3: After mid-day, police patrol found two dead bodies in Doura neighborhood north Baquba. The corpses had bullet wounds in their heads and chests and signs of torture.

Muqdadiya:
#1: Before mid-day, a squad of the fifth division of the Iraqi army raided a site in Shaqraq village north of Muqdadiya ( 45 km north east of Baghdad) killing four terrorists. They seized a large cache of weapons and ammunition.

#2: Around mid-day, an armed group opened fire randomly at Barawana village in Muqdadiya ( 45 km north east Baghdad) killing one civilian and injuring three.

Saisabana:
#1: Around 1 pm, gunmen killed one civilian and injured three when they opened fire on them at Saisabana village on the Baquba-Balad Rouz highway east of Baghdad.


Nahrawan:
#1: Two people were killed and one other was wounded in a mortar attack on Sunday in Nahrawan, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said


Uwaireg:
#1: The bodies of 12 men were found dumped in a large hole in the Uwaireg area south of Baghdad, police said. All the victims had gunshot wounds and showed signs of torture.


Baji:
#1: Hamad al-Jouburi, the head of a regional "salvation council" set up to fight al-Qaeda, said that gunmen attacked his brother's two houses and abducted four of his sons and set the houses on fire in a village near Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad. Earlier, local officials said gunmen killed the four sons of Jouburi's sister.


Hawija:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded four soldiers near the town of Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded five policemen in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police said


Mosul:
#1: Police found the bodies of three men in different parts of Mosul, police said.

#2: Four policemen were killed when a car bomb exploded in central Mosul, police said. The car was booby-trapped and contained the bodies of two men.


Al Anbar Prv:
Ramadi:
#1: A car bomb in a busy market killed seven people and wounded 12 on Sunday in the western outskirts of Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, a hospital source said. Police said a suicide car bomber rammed his car into their checkpoint, wounding three policemen and a child.



Afghanistan:
#1: Thirteen people were killed and 35 wounded in Afghanistan on Monday when police opened fire to break up a violent protest against a provincial governor, witnesses said. More than 1,000 people were protesting to demand the removal of Juma Khan Hamdard, governor of the northern province of Jowzjan, and were throwing stones at several government offices in Shiberghan, the provincial capital, witnesses said. Police fired to stop the protesters from raiding the offices, the witnesses said. A provincial government spokesman said the protesters were supporters of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, for years a powerful military commander in the Afghan north.
#2: Taliban militants ambushed U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces escorting supply trucks in southern Afghanistan, sparking a 10-hour battle the coalition said killed an estimated two dozen militants, though villagers said Monday seven civilians also died. The southern violence began Sunday when an Afghan police and coalition convoy hit two roadside bombs and was ambushed by Taliban fighters while escorting 24 supply trucks in Helmand province, a coalition statement said Monday. The blast killed one Afghan truck driver and wounded three coalition soldiers, it said. Militants then launched rocket-propelled grenades and opened up with small-arms fire and the ensuing 10-hour clash and air strikes killed "an estimated two dozen enemy fighters," the coalition statement said. The coalition said "one enemy fighting position" was destroyed and "no Afghan civilian injuries were reported." But Abdul Qudus, a villager from Helmand's Gereshk district, said by phone that air strikes hit a civilian area. "They came and bombarded the houses of innocent people. Three houses were destroyed." "Seven people - including women and children - were killed and between 10 and 15 were wounded," Qudus said. "Villagers are still searching for five missing people." Another villager, Abdul Wahid, said the air strikes hit 16 ki;ometres away from the convoy ambush site on the main highway.

#3: In the north, a suicide bomber targeted foreigners in a four-wheel drive vehicle Monday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding two others, officials said. In northern Kunduz, a suicide bomber targeted foreigners in a four-wheel drive vehicle but they were unhurt in the blast, said Kunduz provincial police chief Gen. Ayub Salangi. Two civilians in a nearby car were killed, he said. Provincial health department director Azizullah Safer said two other civilians were wounded.

#4: A suicide attack aimed at US private security contractors in northern Afghanistan killed two Afghan civilians and wounded another on Monday, officials said.

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