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, May 6, 2009

War News for Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Iraq's April oil exports rise to 1.821 mln bpd:

100 'non-combatants' killed in Afghan strikes:

US planes 'kill Afghan civilians'

Red Cross: U.S. Air Strikes Kill Civilians In Afghanistan:

Record bombs dropped in Afghanistan in April:

More than 40,000 flee Pakistan violence:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A car bomb exploded Wednesday at the entrance to a fruit and vegetable market in south Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding about 30, police and hospital officials said, in the latest sign of rise in attacks.The blast, which occurred about 7 a.m. local time at the Rasheed market in the city's southern Dora area.

Iraqi police say a car bomb has killed 15 people and wounded about 40 at a Baghdad produce market.

#2: Hours later, another car-bomb attack in the Iraqi capital killed two people and wounded six others. Authorities say the bomb apparently targeted a police patrol, but missed.

One civilian was killed and four others were wounded in a second car bomb explosion in central Baghdad, a police source said on Wednesday. “A booby-trapped car, left by unknown gunmen in al-Nedal street in central Baghdad, went off, killing a civilian and injuring four,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Three civilians were injured by a roadside bomb in Zafaraniyah area in southeast Baghdad on Tuesday afternoon.


Baiji:
#1: Three explosive charges stuck to oil containers went off in Baiji, north of Tikrit, injuring three people, a source from the Baiji Oil Refineries Company said. “Three people were severely wounded as three bombs stuck to oil containers went off on Wednesday morning (May 6) near the Baiji refinery,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Three people were wounded when two bombs attached to oil trucks exploded near the Baiji oil refinery, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: Unknown gunmen early Wednesday blew up two oil pipelines from Iraq's northern Bai Hassan oil field near Kirkuk, but the flow of the country's northern oil exports weren't affected, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said. "It is a sabotage attack against two pipelines which took place at 2.45 a.m. local time today," Assem Jihad told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Baghdad. He said the two damaged pipelines were carrying crude oil from two wells in the field to a gathering station. Jihad said the two damaged pipelines are used to transport more than 3,000 barrels a day from the two wells. He said production from Bai Hassan oil field wouldn't be affected too much as there are some 300 producing wells in the field.

#2: One police officer was wounded on Tuesday by unknown gunmen in southern Kirkuk city, a senior police officer said. “Unknown gunmen shot and wounded Major Khalaf Hassan on Tuesday (May 5) near the fourth bridge in southern Kirkuk,” Colonel Ghazi Ali told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: Police forces on Tuesday found a civilian body in southern Kirkuk, the chief of al-Muqdad police said. “Policemen found a civilian body Tuesday (May 5) near al-Jamasa village in front of the Technological Institute in southern Kirkuk,” Colonel Ghazi Ali told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The body belongs to a 35-year-old young man,” he added, noting that it bore signs of torture.


Hawija:
#1: Police forces on Tuesday killed two al-Qaeda gunmen and arrested six others during a security operation in west of Dalouiya in Salah el-Din, a police source said. “The U.S. army ended a security operation waged in al-Huwiyja al-Bahariya region in the west of Dalouiya, using choppers, river boats and air drops to hunt down al-Qaeda gunmen,” Major Mahmoud al-Zahemi from al-Dalouiya police told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A policeman was wounded in a bomb explosion in southern Mosul. “An improvised explosive device went off targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Matahen neighborhood in southern Mosul, injuring a policeman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: A civilian was killed by a roadside bomb that targeted a police patrol in west Mosul on Tuesday morning.

#3: A civilian was injured by a roadside bomb that targeted a police patrol in west Mosul on Tuesday afternoon.

#4: A policeman was injured by a roadside bomb that targeted a police patrol in west Mosul on Tuesday evening.

#5: A roadside bomb killed a man and wounded two people in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#6: A roadside bomb wounded a woman and a child in western Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two soldiers of the U.S.-led Coalition forces sustained injures in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika province, while they were defusing a mine, provincial administration spokesman Hamidullah Zawak said Wednesday. "The incident occurred in Yusufkhil district late Tuesday evening, as a result two soldiers defusing the mine found from the area were wounded," Zawak told Xinhua. However, he did not give more details.

#2: Pakistan attacked Taliban militants with helicopter gunships and mortar rounds in a northwestern region Wednesday, as residents hunkered down in their homes ahead of an expected offensive in the extremist stronghold, witnesses and officials said. The army action in the Swat Valle. "It is an all-out war there. Rockets are landing everywhere," said Laiq Zada, a 33-year old who fled the valley late Tuesday and was now in government run tent camp out of the danger zone.

#3: Seven police officers were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday when their jeep hit a roadside bomb apparently planted by insurgents, a provincial police chief said. The bombing in the central province of Ghazni, an area wracked by a Taliban insurgency, came as authorities investigated claims that dozens of civilians were killed in U.S.-led air strikes against rebels in western Afghanistan. "Seven policemen were killed and one is wounded. The bodies are on the way to Kabul." The interior ministry confirmed the blast but said five policemen were killed and two wounded.

#4: Unknown armed men gunned down a district chief and three others in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Wednesday, provincial governor Mohammad Akbar Barikzai said.

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