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, November 28, 2007

War News for Wednesday, November 28, 2007

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of Two Multi-National Division – North Soldiers in an explosion in Salah ad Din province on Tuesday, November 27th. Two other soldier were wounded in the attack. McClatchy Newspapers reports a roadside bomb targeted an America patrol near Suleiman Beck destroying a Humvee. The eye witnesses also saw a helicopter came to the scene taking the killed and injured soldiers with them.

The Daily Globe is reporting the death of an American contractor when an improvised explosive device hit his convoy about 50 miles outside Baghdad on Monday, November 26th. William Juneau was helping to train the Iraqi police service as an employee of DynCorp.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb detonated near an Iraqi army patrol in the Mansoor district in western Baghdad, injuring two soldiers and a bystander," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The blast destroyed a military vehicle along with damaging several nearby shops, he said.

#2: Another roadside bomb went off in Baghdad's western neighborhood of Jami'a, wounding three civilians and badly damaging several nearby shops, he added.

#3: Iraqi soldiers killed four suspected insurgents and arrested 27 others in different parts of Iraq during the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said.

#4: An 11-member family of an Iraqi journalist, reported to have been slain by unknown gunmen two days ago, denied the death news and said they had repudiated him for making the allegation, a source from the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) said on Wednesday.

#5: Three civilians were killed in an explosive charge attack that ripped through western Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi authorities said.

#6: Iraqi police said 4 bodyguards of state minister for tribal affairs were injured by Iraqi army soldiers in a checkpoint in Al Harthiyah west Baghdad. Police said the convoy was stopped and bodyguards were arguing with the soldiers and the arguments developed to a clash.

#7: Iraqi police found 3 dead bodies throughout Baghdad. 1 in Doura, 1 in Amil, 1 in Bayaa


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: A woman wearing an explosives belt blew herself up near an American patrol northeast of Baghdad -- a rare female suicide bombing that wounded seven U.S. troops and five Iraqis, the U.S. military said Wednesday. A statement said the Diyala suicide attack happened Tuesday near the provincial capital Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when the woman detonated her explosives belt.


Hawija:
#1: Around noon, gunmen killed Muhaned Mekhlif at a used cars dealership in Al Hawija west of Kirkuk.


Mosul:
#1: A policeman was killed when unknown gunmen showered him with bullets in Mosul's eastern neighborhood of al-Karamah," Brigadier Abdul-Kareem al-Jubouri, director of the provincial security operations office, told Xinhua.

#2: In separate incident, another policeman was severely wounded when gunmen opened fire on him near his house in the Palestine neighborhood in southeastern the city, al-Jubouri said.

#3: Al-Jubouri also said that a team of explosives experts defused a car bomb and three roadside bombs in different parts of the city.


Al Anbar Prv:
al-Haqlaniyya:
#1: Five civilians were killed and 11 others were wounded in a mortar attack that targeted a popular market in western Anbar, a local official security source said on Wednesday. "On Wednesday afternoon, a mortar shell landed on a popular market in central al-Haqlaniyya city, 250 km west of Baghdad, killing five individuals and injuring 11 others," the source, who requested anonymity, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq



Afghanistan:
#1: U.S.-led coalition troops killed 14 road construction workers in airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan after receiving faulty intelligence, Afghan officials said Wednesday. The coalition said it was looking into the incident in Nuristan province, but did not immediately comment. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it has conducted airstrikes against Taliban fighters in the area, but did not say when. "ISAF was engaged in Nurgaram and Du Ab (districts), and in those places we used airstrikes against (Taliban)," ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco told a news conference. "The situation is not clear at all at this stage. We are carrying out the investigation and trying to get a clear picture."

#2: Three Canadian soldiers were injured Tuesday morning when their light armoured vehicle hit a suspected homemade bomb just outside Kandahar city. The improvised explosive device (IED) went off at about 10 a.m., 40 kilometres west of the provincial capital near the village of Sperwan Ghar in Panjwaii district.

#3: The Taliban insurgents in an overnight attack on a police patrol have killed two policemen, injured another and taken away four others in western Afghan province of Farah, provincial governor said Wednesday. "The incident occurred in Bala Buluk district of Farah province Tuesday night as a group of policemen were patrolling in the area," Farah's governor Mohaidin Baloch told Xinhua via phone.

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