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, May 6, 2011

War News for Friday, May 06, 2011

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, May 5th.


Hudson family tries to reverse ruling of suicide for Marine


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A group of unknown gunmen, using guns with silencers, have assassinated an officer in the Iraqi Defense Ministry, carrying a Lt.Brigadier rank on Thursday, east of Baghdad, a security source said. “An armed group, using guns with silencers, has assassinated Lt. Brigadier, Moayed Khalil Abdul-Aziz, who works in the Training Division of the Iraqi Defense Ministry,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The security source said that “the armed men had followed the victim, while leaving his house in Jamila district, east of Baghdad, shooting him dead and escaping to an unknown destination.”

#2: Four civilians were wounded on Thursday by an improvised explosive device blast in southeast of Baghdad, a security source said. "The bomb exploded in al-Maahad street in al-Zaafaraniya region, southeast of Baghdad, injuring four passing civilians," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two civilians were wounded late Thursday by a sticky bomb explosion in central Kirkuk, according to a local police chief. “A bomb, stuck to a civilian car, exploded at 8:30 pm on Thursday in central Kirkuk, wounding two civilians, one of them is in critical condition after cutting his leg,” Colonel Taha Salah al-Din told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: “Another explosion took place at the same time, when a bomb, attached to a private car of an army officer, went off in al-Baath neighborhood,” he added. “The blast left no casualties, but caused material damage to the car,” he said.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: At least eight people have been killed in the latest unauthorized US drone attack on Pakistan's tribal district of North Waziristan. A senior Pakistani security official was quoted by AFP as saying that eight missiles were fired in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan.

#2: At least eight people were killed early Friday morning as unknown militants fired rockets at the people doing exercises at a soccer ground in the Hazara town of Quetta, a capital city of Balochistan province in southwest Pakistan, reported local English TV channel Express. According to the local media reports, the attack took place at about 7 a.m. local time when six to eight unknown militants riding in two cars attacked the people who were doing morning exercises in a soccer ground in the city. The militants first fired indiscriminately at the people in the ground, then fired three rockets at them, said eyewitnesses. The attackers fled the scene after a brief fire exchange with the police. Police have cordoned off the area and the dead and injured have been shifted to nearby hospital.

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