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, December 6, 2010

War News for Monday, December 06, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from a small arms fire/gunshot wound attack in the Nad 'Ali district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Sunday, December 5th. Here's the ISAF statement.

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a suicide bombing in the Gardez district, Paktiya province, Afghanistan on Sunday, December 5th. News reports other ISAF casualties from the blast.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, December 6th.

NATO is reporting the death of another ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, December 6th.


Iraq oil minister: Oil exports from Kurdish region to resume early next year

More foreign fighters seen slipping back into Iraq

EU no longer believes in Afghanistan:cable

Meddling Neighbors Undercut Iraq Stability

Cash Flow to Terrorists Evades U.S. Efforts

As U.S. Leaves, Iraqis Suffer Economic Toll

Afghan poll shows falling confidence in U.S. efforts to secure country


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: “An IED went off near a store selling liquor on al-Saadoun street, central Baghdad, leaving two civilian men wounded and causing severe damage to the store and other nearby stores,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Meanwhile, the same source said an IED attached to the vehicle of an engineer working for the housing ministry went off right in front of his house in al-Siha neighborhood, al-Dora area, southern Baghdad, causing severe damage to the vehicle and the apartment building where the targeted man lives.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Three members of one family were killed Monday when their house was blown up by a member of pro-government militia in the central Iraqi city of Baquba, police sources said. 'Gunmen, affiliate with al-Qaeda, blew up a Sahwa member house in centra Baquba, killing three members of his family and injuring him and three others,' the source told the German Press Agency dpa.


Ninewa Prv:
#1: Policemen in Ninewa defused an improvised explosive device (IED) inside a souk (outdoor market) in a predominantly Christian town east of Mosul city on Monday, a local security source said. “Policemen dismantled an IED in the Christian majority Qarat Qosh town, (40 km) east of Mosul, without incident,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The charge was found in a waste dump and bomb squad personnel managed to deactivate it,” he added.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A member of the Qatari royal family was killed in a car accident during a hunting trip in Iraq's western Anbar province on Sunday, a provincial official said. The victim was identified as Khalifa bin Abdulla bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, said Sadoun Al Shalan, a member of the Anbar provincial council. Thani's car rolled over in the desert south of the village of Nukhaib, about 200 km southwest of Anbar's capital, Ramadi. "He was driving a GMC, hunting for prey when he hit some sort of a bump and the car started to roll over," Shalan said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide bomber killed two foreign soldiers and two Afghan civilians in a bazaar outside a NATO base in southeast Afghanistan on Sunday and wounded nearly 20, NATO and Afghan officials said.

#2: Unknown militants have destroyed at least one NATO fuel truck in the outskirts of Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. The gunmen first opened fire on the fuel truck and then set it aflame in the Pashkhara area of Peshawar on Monday morning, a Press TV correspondent reported. The NATO oil tanker was completely destroyed in the attack, but no loss of human life was reported. The truck was on its way to Afghanistan to supply fuel to US and NATO forces stationed in the war-torn country.

#3: A suicide bomb attack in north-west Pakistan has left at least 40 people dead, local officials have said. The attack took place at a government compound in the Mohmand Agency as officials met anti-Taliban allies. Dozens of people have also been hurt in the attack, local media say. The latest attack was carried out by two suicide bombers and targeted a local administration compound in Ghalanai, the main town in Mohmand, about 175km (110 miles) north-west of the capital Islamabad. More than 100 people were said to be in the compound, where talks were taking place between government officials, tribal elders and local anti-Taliban groups. One official, Mohammad Khalid Khan, told Associated Press that tribal elders and police officials were among the dead. He told Reuters news agency: "There were two bombers. They were on foot. The first blew himself up inside the office of one of my deputies while the second one set off explosives when guards caught him."


DoD: Sgt. Matthew T. Abbate

DoD: SFC James E. Thode

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