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, June 5, 2009

War News for Friday, June 05, 2009

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - North soldier in a grenade attack in an undisclosed location in Kirkuk Province on Thursday, June 4th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - West Marine a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location of Iraq on Friday, June 5th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Iraq soldier in a grenade attack in an undisclosed location in Diyala Province on Thursday, June 4th.


June 3 airpower summary:

June 2 airpower summary:

Philippine army kills 13 rebels in heavy fighting:

U.S. troop buildup in Afghanistan is in full force:

Number of roadside bombs surge in Afghanistan:

Blog Versa Vice: The Temple of Enlil


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Two roadside bombs targeted a U.S. military convoy in Yarmouk neighbourhood, western Baghdad at 1 a.m. Thursday destroying one military vehicle. No casualties were reported.

#2: A roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad, wounding two civilians, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb exploded near Bunniyah Mosque in Allawi neighbourhood, central Baghdad at 1.30 p.m. Friday injuring two civilians.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy on Muhammed al Qassim highway at 3 p.m. Friday. No casualties were reported.


Al Anbar Prv:
Garma:
#1: One U.S. soldier was wounded when his patrol came under attack east of Falluja district, a local police source said on Thursday. “The incident took place at Garmat-Ali district, where a gunman opened fire from an elevated position targeting the patrol,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “It is not known yet whether the soldier died,” he added. The U.S. side denied over the phone that it knew anything about the attack.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber ripped through a mosque packed with worshippers in northwest Pakistan Friday, killing 32 people and wounding dozens more in the deadliest such attack in more than two months. The bomb exploded at the mosque in the remote, mountainous village of Hayagai Sharqai in Upper Dir, which borders the district of Swat where the military has focused its blistering air and ground assault against the Taliban. "Thirty-two people are confirmed killed and more than 40 were wounded in a suicide blast inside the mosque," Atif-ur-Rehman, the top government official in Upper Dir, told AFP by telephone. "We fear the death toll may rise to 45 because people are still trapped under the debris. Rescue work is under way and there are body parts scattered in the courtyard of the mosque," Rehman said.

#2: A discarded mortar shell in war-torn Afghanistan exploded among a group of children Friday, killing three of them, police said. The children, aged between four and 10 years, touched the mortar which was left over from a clash between the Taliban and police Thursday in the central province of Ghazni, said the provincial police chief, Khial Baz Sherbaz. "It went off, killing three of them and wounding one," he told AFP.

#3: Elsewhere, police killed three Taliban militants in the eastern province of Paktya on Thursday, the provincial government said.

#4: Fifteen Taliban insurgents were killed in an air strike after they attacked a post manned by Afghan and NATO-led coalition forces in eastern Sabari district on Thursday, NATO and provincial district chief Dawlat Khan Qayumi said.

#5: U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops killed 24 militants during joint operations in two villages of southern Shahid-e- Hassan district on Thursday, a U.S. military statement said. A significant cache of booby-trapped weapons and drugs was also destroyed, it said.

#6: Afghan and U.S. forces detained seven suspected militants during an operation in the southern village of Marja in Nad Ali district overnight, U.S. military said

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