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


Monday, July 19, 2010

War News for Monday, July 19, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from a vehicle accident in the vicinity of Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Friday, July 16th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an unidentified location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, July 18th. (Note this is the death Cervantes listed yesterday.)

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an unidentified location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, July 19th. News reports this is an American.

The Washington Post is reporting that a second U.S. soldier died in a separate IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, July 19th.


Top-secret America: A hidden world, growing beyond control


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Undersecretary of the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry, Mahdi Dhamad, survived assassination in central Baghdad on Monday. “Two roadside bombs subsequently hit Dhamad’s convoy passing today through the al-Gaylani Intersection, central Baghdad,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The source noted that Dhamad was not harmed in the attack, but the two bombings caused injuries to one of his guards, as well as four civilians who were passing nearby.

#2: “A roadside bomb went off on Palestine Street, eastern Baghdad, targeting a police patrol, wounding a cop and damaging the patrol’s vehicle,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: “A roadside bomb went off in al-Bayaa area, southwestern Baghdad, wounding three civilians,” the source added.

#4: He noted that police forces were able to defuse two roadside bombs in al-Rissala neighborhood, southwestern Baghdad, without causing any casualties or damage.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunman in a car shot dead a civilian on Sunday in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: A suicide car bomber ploughed into a convoy carrying employees of a British company in northern Iraq, killing four, Iraqi security officials said. The suicide bomber targeted the last vehicle of the convoy in restive Mosul and the force of the blast threw the armoured vehicle 40 metres into a ravine, killing everyone inside, police said. "I saw the other members of the convoy bring out four dead foreign civilians from the smashed car," an Iraqi military officer, asking not to be named, said by telephone from the site of the attack in northern Mosul.

#2: Three policemen were killed and one injured when an explosive device went off targeting their patrol in western Mosul.

#3: Four members of the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces were injured in a blast targeting their patrol, which was heading for a raid and search operation, the source added.

#4: In northern Mosul, five civilians were injured in a car bomb attack. The suicide bomber was driving the car near a foreign real estate company in al-Islah al-Zeraei neighbourhood.

#5: Gunmen equipped with silenced weapons shot dead a former Nineveh Provincial Council member as he left his village mosque on Sunday in Qahira, near Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: One civilian was killed on Monday and three people wounded when a sticky bomb went off near a bridge in Falluja city. “A Sahwa fighter is among the injuries,” a local security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He noted that the blast occurred near the al-Falluja al-Jadeed Bridge. The source did not mention further details, but noted that the attack caused damage to two civilian vehicles.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A roadside bombing has killed six Afghan policemen in the country's south. Chief of Khakrez district in Kandahar province Abdul Qayum Khan said four others were injured in Monday's blast. He said the policemen were on their way to Kandahar city when the bombing occurred.

#2: At least 20 Taliban fighters were killed today when Pakistani jets struck militant hideouts in the restive Orakzai tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The air strikes targeted rebel positions in Gandi, Taal, Dalaai, Zawando Kalay and Tanga Dar areas of Orakzai Agency. Officials said 15 militants were injured and four hideouts destroyed in the air strikes.

#3: Four German soldiers with ISAF were wounded when their military vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb during a security patrol in northern Kunduz province on Monday, a German press officer in the province said.

#4: Afghan and international forces killed and wounded several insurgents during operations in the southwestern Nimroz province on Sunday, NATO said.


MoD: ArticleMarine Jonathan David Thomas Crookes

MoD: Senior Aircraftman Kinikki "Griff" Griffiths

MoD: Sergeant David Thomas Monkhouse

MoD: ArticleStaff Sergeant Brett George Linley

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quote Of The Day.

Somehow a bachelor never quite gets over the idea that he is a thing of beauty and a boy forever.

Anonymous said...

there is faulty information on this day. for security reasons im not saying whats wrong but one of these reports is incorrect.