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 22, 2010

War News for Friday, October 22, 2010

Iraq province says foreign gas firms are unwelcome

American influence dwindling in Iraq


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: Three persons, including a policeman, were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near a police patrol in southern Baghdad on Thursday, according to a security source. “A roadside IED went off near a police patrol in al-Sayeddiya, southern Baghdad, leaving a policeman and two civilians wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: One policeman and a soldier were wounded in an armed attack in western Baghdad on Friday, according to a security source. “Unknown gunmen opened fire on a joint checkpoint in al-Mansour region, western Baghdad, on Friday morning (Oct. 22), injuring a policeman and a soldier,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A civilian man was wounded by policemen fire during a manhunt for a wanted person in central Mosul city on Thursday, a local security source in Ninewa said. “The civilian was injured by policemen fire in the area of Bab al-Toub, central Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: One Civilian was killed by mistake in a wedding in south of Mosul city, a police source said on Friday. “The man was killed when he got shot by mistake in the wedding in al-Qayara district, south of Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#3: A roadside bomb wounded a young girl in Badush, west of Mosul, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol, killed one civilian and wounded six others in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#5: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol, killed one soldier in northern Mosul, police said.

#6: Gunmen opened fire at an Iraqi police checkpoint, killing one policeman and wounding another in central Mosul, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A leader of an Iraqi government-backed Sunni militia was killed in a blast in the city of Fallujah, a police source said Friday. The leader of Sahwa in Fallujah, some 60 kilometres west of Baghdad, was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded. A woman in the car was also injured.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A bomb exploded near a mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar. "Three people were killed and 22 wounded in the attack," city police chief Liaqat Ali told reporters, updating an earlier police toll of two. "The target was people in the mosque and the purpose was to create a scare," he added. Most of the wounded sustained minor injuries, he said. The attack took place in the congested neighbourhood of Pushta Khara on the western outskirts.

#2: Another IED killed six Pakistani soldiers in the tribal district of Orakzai, which is close to Peshawar. It was the third deadly attack on paramilitary troops patrolling the tribal belt this week.

Six Pakistani troops including a senior army officer were killed Friday when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in a northwest tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, local sources said. Another two soldiers were injured in the blast in upper Orakzai tribal area on their way to nearby Kohat, a main city in the area, they said. The deceased senior Pakistani military officer was identified as Colonel Yousuf. The vehicle was completely destroyed in the incident at Yakh Kandaou area.

#3: Khorshid, the governor of Dur Baba district in southeast of Nangarhar province, was driving to work when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle on Friday. "The district governor has been martyred. Three other people, his driver and guards have been injured," AFP quoted police spokesman Abdul Ghafour as saying.

#4: Earlier, a powerful bomb explosion killed the governor of the Kunduz province along with many other innocent civilians in a mosque in the Takhar province in northern Afghanistan.

#5: An Afghan official says insurgents have attacked a NATO convoy in southeastern Afghanistan, killing three drivers and setting 13 fuel tankers ablaze. Muhammed Jan Rasolyar says the attack happened Thursday night in Shahra Safa in Zabul province. He is the spokesman for the provincial governor.

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