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


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

War News for Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier at the Queen Elizabeth NHS Hospital in Birmingham U.K. on Tuesday, April 19th. The soldier was wounded in a demining operation in the Nahr-e Saraj (South) District, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Monday, April 18th.


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A bomb targeting a police patrol wounded three people, including one policeman, in Baghdad's central al-Mesbah district, an Interior Ministry source said.

#2: Gunmen opened fire at a police patrol, wounding one policeman in the Hurriya district of northwestern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said

#3: Istabraq al-Shouk, deputy minister of construction and housing, escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy in northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said. The source said four passers-by were wounded in the incident.

#4: Two bombs killed three people and wounded 10 others when they went off in Baghdad's northeastern Sadr city slum, an Interior Ministry source said.

#5: A bomb targeting a police patrol wounded two people, including one policeman, in Khilani square in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

#6: Armed men using silenced weapons killed an Iraqi policeman in Baghdad's southwestern Jihad district, police said.

#7: A roadside bomb went off in Palestine Street in northeastern Baghdad, wounding two civilians and an Iraqi soldier, an Interior Ministry source said.


Nassiriya:
#1: A bomb exploded on Tuesday by gunmen near a U.S. convoy in northern Nassiriya, according to chairman of the Thi-Qar council's security commission. "A bomb exploded on Tuesday targeting a U.S. convoy in Albu Halala region between al-Shatra and al-Nasr districts, northern Nassiriya, without causing casualties," Sajad al-Asadi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kut:
#1: A policeman was killed on Tuesday when his colleague shot him in northern Kut, according to a security source. “A policeman shot and killed his colleague using a Kalashnikov near Kut-Baghdad checkpoint in northern Kut,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Tikrit:
#1: In Salahudin province in the north of Baghdad, a booby-trapped car parked in central the provincial capital city of Tikrit detonated at about 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) near the convoy of Faisal al- Azzawi, chief judge in the Salahudin's Court of Appeal, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Azzawi escaped the attack unharmed despite damages to his vehicle, but four of his bodyguards were wounded by the blast, the source said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a high school student in southeastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: An employee of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission in Mosul escaped unharmed when a bomb attached to his car exploded just south of Mosul, police said.

#3: The bodies of two men were found near a town southwest of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: A Peshmerga element was killed on Tuesday by gunmen in eastern Mosul, according to a security source. "Unknown gunmen opened fire on a Peshmerga element from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in al-Shuhadaa neighborhood, eastern Mosul, killing him instantly," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#5: A kurd and two Shabaks were kidnapped on Tuesday by gunmen in western Mosul, according to a security source. "An unknown armed group kidnapped a Kurd and two Shabaks on Tuesday afternoon in al-Maash market in western Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol, wounding four policemen and two civilians, in Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, according to a spokesman for the governor of Anbar province.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Two insurgents were killed when one of the homemade bombs they were constructing exploded in Zormat district in southeastern Paktia province overnight, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.


DoD: Spc. Paul J. Atim

DoD: Spc. Charles J. Wren

DoD: Pfc. Joel A. Ramirez

DoD: Capt. Charles E. Ridgley Jr.

DoD: Sgt. 1st Class Charles L. Adkins

DoD: Staff Sgt. Cynthia R. Taylor

DoD: Sgt. Linda L. Pierre

DoD: Spc. Joseph B. Cemper

Posted by whisker at 2:54 AM

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