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 5, 2008

War News for Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier during a small arms fire attack in the Musa Qaleh area of Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, November 4th. No other details were released. Here's the ISAF statement.


Nov. 3 airpower summary:

Iran warns U.S. not to violate Iranian airspace:

Russia to station missiles near Poland: (Iskander SS-21 / Scarab/Tochka
Iskander E (SS-26 Stone))



Baghdad:
#1: Anti-bomb squad on Wednesday defused a bomb planted in central Baghdad, a security source said. “Anti-bomb squad defused the bomb planted in Abu Nawas street in central Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.“The operation ended without casualties,” he said.

#2: An improvised bomb exploded Tuesday near the car of an Iraqi official, missing him but killing two people and injuring several others, police said. It was the latest in a series of apparent assassination attempts against Iraqi authorities. The attack on Ahmed Shyaa al-Barak, head of a government property and claims office, occurred amid bombing and shooting attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul that left nine people dead and dozens injured.

#3: Also on Tuesday, an explosive device also went off under a police commander's car in the Karrada neighborhood, killing him and wounding two other officers, police said.

#4: Two roadside bombs exploded in a market in the Qahira neighborhood in northern Baghdad, killing at least one person and wounding nine, police said.

#5: In eastern Baghdad, an improvised explosive device blew up in a parking garage in the neighborhood of Mashtal, killing at least four people and injuring 17, police said.

#6: A booby-trapped car exploded in another parking garage near Baghdad Technology University in central Baghdad, killing one civilian and injuring five, police said.

#7: A car bomb near a checkpoint on the road to Baghdad's airport killed four people and wounded nine on Wednesday, police said. Two policemen were among the dead and three policemen were among the wounded in the blast, which took place by a statue near a major checkpoint outside the heavily guarded airport, police said.


Amarra:
#1: A policeman was killed and three more were wounded in a bomb explosion in central Amara, a security source said. “An improvised explosive device went off near the police station in central Amara, killing a policeman and injuring three,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.

The deputy chief of the Missan police on Wednesday survived an attempt on his life, while a policeman was killed and four more were wounded in a bomb blast in central Amara, a security source said. “An explosive charge went off targeting the motorcade of Colonel Sadeq Abdul Aziem, killing a cop and injuring four,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq, noting that the deputy chief of police survived. A security source had said earlier a policeman was killed and three more were wounded in a bomb explosion in central Amara.

#2: The executive director of the Sadr office in Missan said on Wednesday that unknown gunmen stormed the office and locked up the staff in a room. “Four gunmen stormed the Sadr office in Awasha region in central Amara and confined the office’s staffs in a room and set the special office of the social committee on fire,” Sheikh Hadi al-Fridawi told Aswat al-Iraq.


Numaniya:
#1: An armed group kidnapped a girl in north of Kut and took her to unknown place, a police source said on Wednesday.“Unknown gunmen kidnapped a girl in central Nuaamaniya district in north of Kut and took her to unknown place,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.


Riyadh:
#1: Police found two dead bodies (man and woman) in Riyadh town (west of Kirkuk) on Tuesday night.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two bodies of a young man and a woman were found by police forces in southwest of Kirkuk, a police source said on Wednesday. “The bodies were found on late Tuesday in Mezher al-Aasi village in Riyadh district, southwest of Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq.


Mosul:
#1: In eastern Mosul, gunmen shot dead a policeman in a prison for political detainees, a police source said.

#2: Another policeman was also killed by gunmen in al-Shefaa district in western Mosul. Mosul is located some 405 kilometres north of Baghdad.



Afghanistan:
#1: An Afghan villager at the scene of an apparent U.S. bombing says 23 children and 10 women attending a wedding party are among 37 Afghans killed during a U.S. fight with the Taliban. Kandahar province villager Abdul Jalil says he was hosting a wedding party for his niece when Taliban militants fighting U.S. forces took cover near his home. Jalil says 37 people were killed when U.S. warplanes later bombed the wedding party.

#2: Three children were killed and six injured when an old shell they were playing with exploded in Kabul on Wednesday, a source in the republic's interior ministry said.

#3: Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) backed by the U.S. -led Coalition forces have killed five insurgents during a combat security patrol in southern Afghan province of Helmand, said a Coalition statement received here on Wednesday. Insurgents engaged the combined patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire in Nahr Surkh district of Helmand on Nov. 3, the statement said. The combined forces returned fire killing five, and "no ANSF, Coalition forces or civilians casualties were reported," it said.

#4: A roadside bomb killed four police when the device hit their vehicle in Logar province, 80 km (50 miles) south of Kabul, on Tuesday, a provincial official said.

#5: A rocket attack killed two civilians and wounded three more in a residential area in eastern Kabul overnight, a police official said. One civilian was killed and four wounded when an old bomb exploded in western Kabul, the official said.

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