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, October 1, 2010

War News for Friday, October 01, 2010

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldier from an IED attack in undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Friday, October 1st.

Daily News (Ge.) is reporting the deaths of four Georgian ISAF soldiers from a roadside bombing in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, October 1st.


U.N. Reports Mixed Results on Afghan Poppy Crops

U.S. tense over Pakistan

UN chopper crash lands in Pakistan; 3 hurt


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A senior police officer escaped an attempt on his life late Thursday in southeastern Baghdad, according to a security source. “Brigadier Mohammad Katafa survived an assassination attempt when a bomb, stuck to his vehicle, went off in al-Mualameen region, southeastern Baghdad, on Thursday (Sept. 30),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The officer was wounded and one of his guards was killed in the explosion,” he added.

#2: Three Sahwa fighters were killed and seven others were wounded Friday in an improvised explosive device blast in southern Baghdad, a police source said. “An explosive charge went off Friday (Oct. 1) near a checkpoint of Sahwa forces in al-Doura region, southern Baghdad, killing three fighters and injuring seven, including three fighters and four civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Hilla:
#1: Three civilians were wounded in an attack with 12 mortar shells that landed near a military base in al-Hilla city, according to a statement by the U.S. forces’ media affairs office in southern Iraq. “An attack with 12 mortar shells waged on a military base in central Hilla left three civilians wounded. Two of the wounded were women, one of them was an 80-year-old who was injured in her leg while the other was a 66-year-old who received shrapnel in her neck,” read the statement as received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The three were injured outside the parameters of the military base.


Mosul:
#1: “Unknown gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in 17 Tamouz neighborhood in western Mosul, killing a policeman,” a security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “Two policemen, one of them is a lieutenant, were wounded in a bomb blast in the same region while hunting down the attackers,” he added.

#2: “A policeman was killed by a gun with silencer in a crowded market in Bab al-Toub region, central Mosul,” another police source said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Suspected militants in southern Pakistan set ablaze more than two dozen tankers carrying fuel for foreign troops in Afghanistan on Friday, highlighting the vulnerability of the U.S.-led mission a day after Pakistan closed a major border crossing. The convoy of tankers attacked Friday was likely headed to a second crossing in southwest Pakistan that was not closed. It was not clear if the vehicles had been rerouted because of the closure at Torkham. Around 10 gunmen attacked the vehicles when they were parked at an ordinary truck stop on the edge of Shikarpur town shortly after midnight. They forced the drivers and other people there to flee before setting the fires, said police officer Abdul Hamid Khoso. No one was wounded or killed. The trucks were alight several hours after the attack, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene. Another officer, Nisar Ahmed, said the tankers had arrived in Shikarpur from the southern port city of Karachi and were heading to Quetta, a major city in the southwest. From there, the road leads to the Chaman border crossing.

#2: Security forces killed 15 insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. The fighting occurred in the Tsowkey district of Kunar province. Soldiers spotted militants preparing an attack position and called in an air weapons team, which struck the militants.

#3: ISAF also released numbers on Afghan-ISAF operations during September. It said that more than 438 suspected insurgents were detained and 114 killed.


DoD: Senior Airman Mark Forester

News: Col. Ramaz Gogiashvili

News: Sergeant Davit Tsetskhladze

News: Corporal Giorgi Kolkhitashvili

News: Corporal Nugzar Kalandadze

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