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, April 17, 2009

War News for Friday, April 17, 2009

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Force – West Marine soldier from a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location in Al Anbar (Habbaniyah?) Province on Thursday, April 16th.

The Norway Post is reporting the death of a Norwegian ISAF soldier in a roadside bomb attack west of Mazar-e Sharif in Meymaneh, Balka province on Friday, April 17th. Three additional soldiers were wounded in the attack.

The San Antonio express news is reporting the death of a soldiers at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio Texas. Chief Warrant Officer 1 died Tuesday, April 7th from an unexplained cause and has been recovering from a car bomb blast in Baghdad on Saturday, November 8th 2008.


April 15 airpower summary:

Bush-era interrogation memo: No torture without 'severe pain' intent: (These bastards need to be prosecuted for authorizing these policys. And the people who followed them also need to understand that obeying an illegal order comes with a price -- whisker.)

Interrogation Memos Detail Harsh Tactics by the C.I.A.:

Iraq's economy is booming six year after the operation:

21 killed as quakes hit Afghanistan:

US sergeant gets life for detainee murders in Iraq:

Taliban Exploit Class Rifts to Gain Ground in Pakistan:

Bailed-Out AIG Pampers Execs While Denying, Delaying Claims of Contractors Injured in Iraq:

Horror of war at Iraqi morgue even as attacks fall:


Reported Security incidents:

Amarra:
#1: Police forces on Friday defused three bombs planted on the main road in south of Amara, the director of the Missan police’s media department said. “Policemen on Friday (April 17) managed to defuse three explosive charges on the main road linking al-Kahlaa district to Qalaat Saleh district in south of Amara,” Colonel Sadeq Salam told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Taji:
#1: Four Stryker Brigade soldiers from the 56th brigade combat team were wounded Sunday in an attack north of Baghdad. The unit was on routine patrol south of Camp Taji, Iraq, Cleaver said.


Sulaimaniya:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Friday kidnapped two drivers in southwest of Sulaimaniya city, according to a security source. “Two drivers were kidnapped on Friday (April 17) in Jabara region in southwest of Kafri district in southwest of Sulaimaniya,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: Three guards of the Badosh prison were wounded in a car bomb attack while transporting prisoners in western Mosul on Thursday, a police source in Ninewa said. “The explosive vehicle targeted a patrol of personnel from the Badosh prison in al-Shifaa neighborhood, near al-Jumhouri hospital, western Mosul, leaving three, including an officer in the rank of first lieutenant, wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber blew himself up in Nimroz province west of Afghanistan on Friday, killing three persons and injuring three others, all of them civilians, provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said. "Two terrorists tied explosive device in their bodies wanted to target minister for Refugees Affairs in provincial capital Zaranj but police shot one of them dead while other blew himself up, killing three civilians," Azad told Xinhua. Three more civilians were injured, he added. The minister for Refugees Affairs who is touring Nimroz is safe and there were no casualties on police, he further said.

#2: A suicide bomber targeted a convoy of NATO-led Norwegian forces Friday in northern Afghanistan, killing himself and wounding two soldiers. The bomber rammed his explosives-filled vehicle into the Norwegian convoy in the Takht Pul area of the relatively peaceful province of Balkh, said Abdul Raouf Taj, deputy provincial police chief. Two NATO vehicles were destroyed in the attack, he said.

#3: Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed six suspected militants in an operation Thursday night in Kandahar's Maiwand district, the US military said in a statement.

#4: Seven Afghan security officers including four policemen and three guards for NATO supply trucks were killed by a roadside bomb in the Waze Khwa district some 150 km (90) miles southeast of Kabul on Thursday, the provincial police chief said.

#5: An Afghan civilian was wounded near Kabul on Thursday afternoon when U.S. troops fired into his car after he failed to stop, U.S. forces said in a statement.


Casualty Reports:

first lieutenant Reed Preece is serving in Iraq was wounded on Easter Sunday after his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. He is recovering in a military hospital in Iraq. “He was very fortunate to be alive,” he said.

Pfc. Mitchell Baldwin of Chambersburg has been transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., He is from the 56th brigade combat team were wounded Sunday in an attack north of Baghdad.

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