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, September 18, 2009

War News for Friday, September 18, 2009

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Sgt. Robert D. Gordon II Died at at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany on Wednesday, September 16th from a non-combat related illness, after becoming ill in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, September 11th.

The DND/CF is reporting the death of a Canadian ISAF soldier in a roadside bombing in the Panjwai District, Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Thursday, September 17th. Eleven additional soldiers were injured in the attack.

NATO is reporting the death of an American ISAF soldier in a roadside bombing in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, September 17th.


Sept. 15 airpower summary:

Sept. 16 airpower summary:

Berlusconi seeking Afghan exit for Italian troops:

U.S., British generals lay out complex Afghan picture:


reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Three mortar rounds were fired at the Green Zone at around 9 p.m. Thursday. One fell in the Green zone, with no casualties reported. And the other two fell short, one behind Babil Hotel and the other near Jadriyah Bridge, injuring four civilians.


Al Khidhir:
#1: Unknown gunmen killed on Thursday the chief of a district in Babel and wounded two of his family members in an attack in the northern part of the province. “The incident took place at al-Khidhir area, 45 km north of Hilla city,” a local police chief told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The chief was on his way to a mosque in the neighborhood when he came under the gunmen’s fire,” the source said.


Hilla:
#1: Three civilians were wounded Friday by unknown gunmen in southern Hilla, a police source said. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire randomly on civilians’ vehicles on Hilla-Kefl road, southern Hilla, injuring three civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Two militants were killed and another was wounded as they engineered a car bomb in Abu Ghraib district of western Baghdad, the office of Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi said.


Mussayab:
#1: A man and a woman were wounded Friday in a bomb blast in northern Babel, according to a police source. “An improvised explosive device, planted on the Mussayab-Karbala road, north of Hilla, went off targeting a U.S. convoy,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the blast damaged a civilian car in front of the convoy and injured the driver and the woman beside him.


Zammar:
#1: Thursday A bomb planted in a parked car wounded two members of Kurdish security forces and two civilians in Zammar, 440 km (270 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.


Al Riyadh:
#1: An improvised explosive device went off near an electricity tower in southwestern Kirkuk, causing some damage to it, a local police chief said Friday. “An explosive charge went off late Thursday (Sept. 17) under an electricity tower in al-Riyadh district, southwestern Kirkuk,” Brig. Sarhad Qadir told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: The police found the body of a civilian man while another was shot dead by gunmen in different incidents in the city of Mosul on Thursday, a Ninewa police source said. “The body, which showed signs of having been shot in the head and chest, was found dumped in the area of Bab Lakash in central Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Another civilian was shot down by gunmen on the main street in central al-Islah al-Ziraie neighborhood, western Mosul, while other gunmen raided a garments store in al-Muthanna neighborhood, eastern Mosul, and opened fire at the owner, leaving him wounded,” the source added.

#2: Gunmen in killed a civilian in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, police said.

#3: Gunmen stormed a shop in Mosul and wounded the vendor, police said.


Tel Afar:
#1: Three people were killed and five others wounded on Thursday evening when a truck bomb went off near a checkpoint in Talafar district, northwest of volatile Mosul city, a security source said. “A truck carrying cement went exploded near the al-Shahidain checkpoint in Talafar, leaving three persons, including two policemen, killed and five others who happened to be nearby the blast scene then wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A gunman was killed when an improvised explosive device he was planting on a roadside in central al-Amiriya district, southern Falluja, went off on Thursday, a local police source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: An Australian Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle has been struck by an Improvised Explosive Device, resulting in damage to the vehicle. The road-side bomb did not cause casualties to Australian troops and there are no reports of Afghan locals being injured. The soldiers, from the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, were operating north of Tarin Kowt when the incident occurred on the morning of Wednesday 16 September 2009.

#2: A suicide car bomb destroyed a two-story hotel and several shops in a northwestern Pakistani town on Friday, killing 25 people in an apparent attack on the country's Shiite community, police and a government official said. The blast took place in the Shiite-dominated village of Usterzai.


MoD: Acting Serjeant Stuart McGrath

MoD: Trooper Brett Hall

DoD: Sgt. Robert D. Gordon II

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Bradley S. Bohle

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Shawn P. McCloskey

DoD: Staff Sgt. Joshua M. Mills

DND/CF: Private Jonathan Couturier

MoD: Tenente Antonio FORTUNATO

MoD: Sergente Maggiore Roberto VALENTE

MoD:

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